#TakeABreak
Just now, I saw a post on my Newsfeed that has a picture of a perfectly turquoise sea with a couple of snorkelers, and the meme says "55 percent of Americans left vacation days unused last year. Let's take them back #TakeABreak"
Can this be true? Americans, you don't take your full vacation days??
I teach ESL to adults. In the places where I've worked, I get summers off. Depending on the institute (as well as other factors), my summers off have been between 1 month to nearly 4 months. I love summers off. Is it the only reason why I became an ESL teacher? No, not the only reason. But it's certainly a perk. And I take every single one of those vacation days.
I realize there are a variety of reasons why people wouldn't take vacation days.
Before I went to graduate school, I had an office job in Seattle where I got the requisite two weeks of vacation per year. I always took my vacation, to either visit my parents in Mexico or Ex-husband's family in New York. I loved taking my vacation, but there was always a looming dread when I returned because I took a vacation, but my workload did not. As a matter of fact, it seemed to reproduce and grow while I was gone. I'd come back to the office to a dangerously tall pile of files that all needed to be worked on RIGHTNOW! A fleeting thought would enter my consciousness: this is the result of taking a vacation. But this thought never occurred to me: I shouldn't take vacations.
Perhaps that's an issue. It's not something that I encounter as an ESL teacher because summers off are built into the job. But I can see that for the vast majority of workers, that could be a reality.
What happens to those vacation days Americans don't take? Can you cash them out? Because if so, I can also see that as motivation not to take vacation days. I've been in the US recently - the economy is not booming. Sometimes going away on vacation is just not financially feasible, so staying at work and getting paid extra makes sense.
Another reason could be that American culture glorifies workaholism. It's considered a positive characteristic, to the point of thinking that someone who works only 40 hours a week is kind of a lazy bum. How did that happen? At what point did we, as a collective culture, decide that someone who works a 60, or even better, an 80-hour work week is a better person that one who works 40 hours? When did we equate how long we work with being a good worker?
Sweden introduced a 6-hour work day and do you know why? Can you guess what their rationale is for this? To increase productivity! WHAAAAAAAAT? Yes! Don't we tell college students to study intensely for 1 hour then give themselves a 10-minute break? Shorter times of focused intense work are more productive than longer times of scattered multitasking attempts. Plus, the Swedes also want people to be able to enjoy their private life outside of work. WHAAAAAAAAT? Those Swedes could be on to something!
Here is what The Independent reported on Sweden's 6-hour work day:
"Toyota centres in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second largest city, made the switch 13 years ago, with the company reporting happier staff, a lower turnover rate, and an increase in profits in that time."
[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sweden-introduces-six-hour-work-day-a6674646.html]
It seems to be working!
When I was at my office job, I spoke to my boss and asked if I could get a slightly longer lunch break, which I'd make up for by staying a little extra at the end of the day. The building where I worked was across the street from a YWCA and I wanted to go over at lunchtime for a yoga class. My boss was a little reluctant at first, but I told her that a noon yoga break might help me beat the afternoon, post-lunch slump and make me a lot more productive. We tried it out for a while and wouldn't you know: it worked! Having that hour to get away from my desk, treat myself to asanas for an hour, then head back to work helped me focus better and get more done in the second half of my work day.
I'm not against work. I enjoy working and I love being able to dedicate myself to work-related tasks for hours. But unless I give myself time away from my desk, away from my computer, away from the daily grind, I will just grind myself down until there's nothing left.
Sometimes, to be our most productive selves, we need to give ourselves a break. If you possibly can, America, take those vacation days! Even if you have a staycation where all you do is allow yourself to run through the sprinklers in your own backyard and buy a soft serve at Dairy Queen.
