As I prepared for my family vacation this summer, I thought about how Americans are terrible at taking vacations. If you didn’t know, check this out.
In fact, I recently heard someone say, “I get 4 weeks of paid time off each year, but I only use 3 or 4 days.” Sound crazy? Well, I used to operate this way.
After a few years of not taking my vacations, I burned out and decided enough was enough. You can call me lazy, say I’m not a team player, and make me feel bad for being offline – I don’t care.
I’m taking my vacation.
Use All of Your Paid Time Off
Many of us have a hard time taking time off because there’s “too much work to do.”
Others can’t imagine what they’d do with themselves if they weren’t at work.
Some of you are great at taking vacation, but you don’t let your assistant or other direct reports get a breather. Sure, you let them have days off or go on vacation, but you constantly ping them while they’re offline. I wrote about leaving your assistant alone during off hours here.
Whatever the reason is for letting your PTO expire, it’s not a good one.
Here are just a few benefits to taking your allotted time off…
You’ll be a better employee.
You’ll be a better mom/dad/son/sister/friend.
You’ll be a better neighbor.
You’ll be healthier.
What do you think? Can we celebrate, encourage, and even require our teams to use all of their paid time off? I think so.
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