How employers can help employees unplug on vacation

The 38-year-old marketing professional had just landed a podcast interview for an executive she worked with and he had a short window to prepare. As she laboured away through most of the vacation, she regretted not being present for her toddler’s introduction to the ocean.

Read: Canadian employees working 13.6 additional hours to prepare for, catch up from vacation: survey

“I know my husband and my son are having this once-in-a-lifetime first experience, and I am missing it,” Walley-Wiegert said. “And it’s heartbreaking in some regards, because that first will never come again.”

Navigating the line between work time and personal time is tricky for a lot of people. With laptop computers and smartphones making it possible to log in anytime to do work from anywhere, many find it hard to disconnect even when they take vacations.

“It doesn’t take much to just quickly answer an email on your phone or just quickly open up the laptop whilst you’re lying next to the pool,” said Marais Bester, an occupational psychologist in the Netherlands and senior consultant at SHL, a talent acquisition and management platform. “You get your company-issued phone, you get your company-issued laptop and there is an expectation to some extent to respond as quickly as possible.”

The compulsion to keep working while on vacation can be so strong that some people carve out time by feigning illness as an excuse to skip group outings, said Amy Biedenstein, senior vice-president at human resources software and services company Dayforce Inc.

“There’s starting to be some pressure from families, too, to say, ‘Hey, we need you to be focused and with us when we’re on vacation,’ so I think people are feeling increasingly like they have to hide it,” Biedenstein said.

Read: Employees hesitant to take time off turning to ‘quiet vacationing’: expert

Some people recommend leaving work phones behind entirely during vacations. Others temporarily delete work apps such as Slack or email from their phones, although they may need help from tech support to reinstall the apps when they return.

Pressure to perform turns work into an obsession for some people, especially if they’re concerned about getting a promotion, Bester said. One coping strategy is a “quiet vacation” — traveling to a vacation destination discreetly but checking email regularly and doing some amount of work.

“You know you need to take a vacation, you know your body desperately needs the rest, but you still might keep up appearances … or there’s a culture which expects you to always be on,” Bester said.

One way to improve the chances of vacationing without interruptions is to put a structured plan in place to hand off projects to colleagues, he noted.

Read: Six in 10 workers feel anxious when taking paid time off: survey

Leaders can encourage those steps. A manager or executive who immediately answers calls and emails or checks in with employees instead of unplugging while on vacation sends the message that the people working under them should do the same. “When leadership models good behavior, when leadership can take a break and disconnect, then we see employees follow suit,” Biedenstein said.

Employers also can show a workplace that recognizes the importance of time off, as well as a commitment to workers who struggle to pay for vacations, by offering corporate discount programs for airlines or cruises, she added.

After work intruded on her wedding anniversary trip, Walley-Wiegert plans to go back to the same beach with her family. This time, as someone who now works as a freelancer, she’s setting her own rules. She let her current and potential clients know that she’d be offline for a few days. “This is my take two,” she said.

Read: Survey finds 40% of workers admit to faking sick to take more time off during summer