Make The Most Of Your Holidays

When was your last holiday?

Have you ever been told to take a holiday?

Are people around you noticing that you have not had time off?

Or are you working through your holiday, so you don’t feel rested upon your return?

I have just left Sorrento in Italy and I have made a promise to myself that I will come back and give myself 4 weeks to explore the spectacular Amalfi Coastline. But how can we manage a long trip like this and still stay gainfully employed I hear you ask. I had a heated conversation with an American traveller in Pompeii who had disparaging comments about taking 4 months to travel the world. In addition, he believed the concept of purchased leave was bad for employers. This was coming from a man who has only 2 weeks annual leave each year and had to wait until his mid 70’s to travel. The irony was not lost on me when he had to turn back on the hike to the top of Mt. Vesuvius because of his “old knees” his words not mine.

In Australia, we are entitled to four weeks annual leave per year and 10 – 13 public holidays yet there are very few of us who are using it effectively. In many companies, there is also the ability to salary sacrifice or purchase leave and long service leave provisions (a concept unique to Australia) so it is feasible that we can have up to six weeks leave a year but very few of us are taking this. Six weeks works well for me, at least three weeks at Christmas. Some time off at Easter and another two weeks break somewhere in the year. Regular holidays for team members ensure that they always have a carrot to look forward to and remain engaged in their work.

Another tip that far too many people don’t take advantage of is taking time off around public holidays. Often, Easter and ANZAC day fall close together so you can often have 3 weeks off and only use 12 days leave. This year in Queensland, Easter, ANZAC day and Labour Day all fall within a month of each other so if you play your cards right and get in early, you can have 25 days off for 12 days annual leave! How good is that?!

But what is more important than using your leave wisely is taking a proper break. Leave means putting on an out of office, having a reliable person to answer urgent queries and not checking emails, taking phone calls, or even thinking about work issues. Do you think you can do that? Someone confessed to me that they had only 3-day maximum breaks over a period of 15 years. Unsurprisingly, they told me this after having a serious health scare that led her to realise she had not been looking after herself. She vowed to take more regular (and longer) breaks.

Our brains and bodies need significant downtime to recover rejuvenate from the stresses of our work lives, one of the arguments I used on my American mate. I can hear some of you protesting already… "I can’t take three weeks off work, everything will fall apart, I will just come back to three weeks’ worth of work if I took leave, no one else will do my work for me." That is what many fear (particularly the overworked and those with control issues), but has anyone ever actually done it to find out what happens? I will tell you what happens. You receive one email asking for assistance, they see your out of office, realise you won’t be back for three weeks and find someone else to help them or do it themselves. When you come back, of course, there are emails to look through, but 95% of them have been actioned or are no longer urgent. It is, in fact, more beneficial to take a break longer than one week because many things can wait one week, but if they have to wait two weeks or more, the person looking for you will find another solution.