Supporting Employee Well being

By Lisa Friscia

Summers usually bring up memories of summer vacation- the joy of freedom and being out of school without a schedule. Sadly as adults we don’t have the time given to us, but many of us still use the summer to take time. Some of us do so because it’s when our children are off. For others, the childhood association is still so strong. Regardless though, taking time- whether it be summer or at other times- is good for our mental health and well-being. However, according to the Pew Research Center, 46% of U.S. workers report taking only some of their PTO. In 2023, 78% did not take all their PTO. This is an issue for a few reasons. Stress reduces our cognitive abilities and can have serious health implications. From a business outcomes perspective (which should not be the sole metric, mind you) employees taking vacation benefits the long-term goals of the organizations.  An Ernst & Young study showed that for every additional 10 hours of vacation time that employees took, their year-end performance improved by 8%, Further, according to the EY study, those who took vacations more frequently were less likely to leave the firm. Similarly, in another company’s experiment with mandatory vacation time, there were clear increases in creativity, happiness (mood), and productivity. Really, a win-win.  When I took over an HR team, people either didn’t take much vacation or they remained plugged in when they did take off. And while I appreciate, we were working through a global pandemic, that sort of behavior is not going to serve anyone well. Conversely, when I took over our recruitment team, there was no consistency in how or when folks could take vacation which led to the feeling that recruiters were always wrong when they took vacation or worse that doing so put an undue burden on everyone else.  There is a middle ground here! Part of the reason I advocate for clear and strong systems is because they make work sustainable. And there are certain practices that can support people in taking much needed time off. Below are my five key actions to take.  

• Have a set time where everyone shuts off. Some organizations shut down for a full week or two- I’ve seen this most with the time around July 4th and the stretch between Christmas and New Years.  
• Understand the rhymes of your organization to understand and communicate times that we can take extended periods off. Finance teams will be busy during audit season. Recruiters in school systems are packed from May through August. If your team already knows there is a time when everyone is truly needed, communicate that so they can prioritize vacation at a different time.  
• Normalize teammates communicating when they're out earlier rather than later. This also helps others to plan ahead in case they’ll need someone for a project or initiative.
• Communicate what it means to create an out of office plan. Too often folks need to stay plugged in because they haven’t communicated where key documents are or prepped others to step in. Have a great document that lists key documents and project plans, who to go to for what, and status updates what you are working on.  
• Create and document systems and processes. Too often a specific process or system is in someone’s head, which means we have to consistently reach out to that person. This is not just inefficient but not sustainable for the organization and person. Instead, take the time to codify processes. Leverage tools like google docs, airtable, or Loom to develop standard operating procedures that allow others to step in if need be.  

Not all of the above may be possible for you or your organization 100% of the time. The goal is not to find the perfect solution but to find the best right thing to do (a slight variation on the Next Right Thing, the mantra from Frozen 2 that I’ve recently embraced). And as always, communication and forwards planning will always serve you well.