Take A Break: The Importance of Giving Yourself Time Off

Do you feel overworked, tired, unfocused, burned out, stressed, overwhelmed, or depressed? Maybe you just need to take a break and recharge your batteries.

Unfortunately, if you live in America, the chance of you actually getting to take a break and refocus your attention is much smaller than that of any other country. According to the International Labour Organization, Americans work hundreds of hours per year. More than any other industrialized nation (137 more hours than Japanese workers, 260 more hours than British workers, and 499 hours more than French workers).

Americans should be afforded more benefits and paid time off than other countries to balance out the inequality, but that just isn’t the case. The United States is the only industrialized country in the world that does not have legally mandated annual leave, which often leads to employers offering very few if any vacation days for their employees.

take a break, paid time off Take A Break: The Importance of Giving Yourself Time Off

It gets worse, America is also the only developed country that does not have a law requiring employers to provide paid sick days. That’s not even vacation time, that’s just time to sit on your couch, trying to let your body take a break and heal from whatever illness infected your system.

Since over 45 million Americans straddle the poverty line, more often than not they choose to go to work sick, rather than taking an unpaid day to get better. This affects more people and causes millions of days of productivity to be lost every year. The flu alone has an economic impact of $87.1 billion each year due to the productivity loss that is caused by people going to work while sick.

take a break, paid sick leave

But why is any of this important? Because it’s incredibly dangerous not to take a break. Human beings need downtime to de-stress and relax. It is vital to their physical, psychological, and emotional health. It is also vital for companies to allow their employees to take a break.

 

It has been proven by Mark Rosekind, a researcher at Alertness Solution, that a vacation can increase the performance of workers by 80% and their reaction times by 40%, yet according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 77% of privately owned companies even offer paid time off to their employees. Of those that do, the average paid time off offered is a mere 10-14 days per year, which is the lowest amount mandatory.

Humans need vacations and Americans want a vacation. According to the US Travel Association, 28% of Americans are afraid that if they take their allotted vacation time, they will be seen as slackers and their dedication to their company of employment will be questioned. In a self-poll by Gallup 48% of Americans identified themselves as working (or lower) class – a class that was once reserved for blue-collar workers with low levels of education. These are people making less than $32,500 per year despite their degrees, often with no paid vacation or sick leave. As noted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the income required for a single worker to have a chance at economic security (not prosperity) is a whopping $30,000 minimum.

Because of the wage inequality gap shown by the Economic Policy Institute, people are working harder, for more hours and less vacation time to significantly increase productivity without being adequately compensated for their efforts. Since 1973, productivity has raised 80.4% while the growth in compensation has increased by only 10.7%. This shows that the majority of the businesses money is going towards the owners and the lenders, while a small sliver is divided among the workers.

If individuals and companies continue on this path, there is a severe risk of burnout and self-destruction. Take a look at just how beneficial a little time off would be for ourselves, our families, and even the companies for whom we work. When we fail to prioritize a healthy balance in our lives, it not only affects our personal lives but our professional lives as well.

First, let’s take a look at the benefits that you will reap for yourself. Not just in your personal life, but more specifically within the core of who you are as an individual. Vacations are not perks, and we must start shifting our perspective away from that dangerous way of thinking, to regain our sense of self-worth. When you skip out on vacations, you are essentially working for free and lowering your value. When you take a well-deserved vacation you are presenting to the world that you know your importance, and deserve time for yourself. Vacations and time off are necessary to our health, so set off on an adventure to take advantage of some of these fantastic perks.

Take A Break To Benefit Yourself

  • Decreased stress
  • Gain self-confidence
  • Increase self-reflection
  • Happier
  • Better sleep
  • Better lifestyle habits (exercise/eating right/socialization)
  • More productive
  • Healthier heart – lessen the risk of coronary heart disease and heart attacks
  • A better outlook on life
  • Less likely to overindulge (alcohol/unhealthy foods/risky behavior)
  • Lowered stress allows the body and mind to heal in ways it cannot under pressure
  • More motivation
  • Adequate rest

take a break, benefits of self

Not only will you personally benefit from taking a vacation, but so will your family. During the average week, your family is put on the back burner to simmer while you finish up work projects. On vacation the amount of quality time spent with your family more than doubles from the quality time you spend together at home. So pack your bags and start to reap these rewards.

Take A Break To Benefit Your Family

  • More time together
  • Closer bonds
  • Relationships are enriched
  • Learn more about each other
  • Children feel love, support and safety
  • Expand kid’s perspective of the world
  • The family that plays together, stays together
  • Make memories/experiences they will never forget
  • Kids won’t be kids forever
  • Increased quality time

take a break, benefits of family

If those reasons aren’t enough for you, we have even more benefits to taking a vacation that might do the trick. If you’re like most Americans you never entirely unplug from work, even when you’re on vacation your fear of an insurmountable amount of work piling up for you back home. However, it’s been proven that taking advantage of vacation time is the best way to increase productivity and performance on the job.

Take A Break To Benefit Your Company

  • Increase productivity
  • Increase performance
  • Cultivate a happier work environment
  • Relieve stress
  • Reduce the likelihood of burnout
  • Foster creative thinking
  • Make fewer mistakes
  • Focus better
  • Gain a new perspective
  • Reset your mind and Increase your mental power
  • Enhance motivation
  • Save company money
  • Heighten Energy Levels

take a break, benefits of company

It’s time for Americans to take back their lives, and start valuing vacation and their health. As John de Graff, the national coordinator for a group dedicated to researching the effects of the overworked Take Back Your Time has tried to remind us, “There is simply no evidence that working people to death gives you a competitive advantage.” And in fact, as we’ve noted throughout this article, it could provide a significant disadvantage to both the personal growth of self and the financial growth of a company. Of the World’s Economic Forum the United States came in third of the most competitive economies, but Switzerland (a country that offers a mandatory four-week vacation package) came in first, proving once and for all that time you spend on the clock does not equate to economic success.


 

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Sources:

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http://cepr.net/documents/publications/psd-summary.pdf

http://cepr.net/documents/publications/paid-sick-days-2009-05.pdf

http://cepr.net/documents/publications/no-vacation-update-2013-05.pdf

 

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