Given the stress and pressures most people are under, is it OK for people to take working vacations?
There’s an obvious temptation for some people in taking a workcation. People need to take time off and get away, but the work doesn’t stop. Taking the laptop and doing a few hours of work each day while at the cottage or on the beach takes the pressure off remaining staff and prevents a barrage of emails, tasks and issues from piling up when they get back.
Statistics show many Canadians are doing work while away. An Accountemps survey of Canadian employees released in May found 42 per cent of men and 30 per cent of women check in with their office while on vacation. And when it comes to chief executive officers, those numbers increase to 43 per cent overall.
Read: KPMG seeks workplace flexibility through vacation purchase plan
And according to new research from the United States, taking the time off owed is getting more and more difficult. A study by the Project: Time Off Coalition found 55 per cent of Americans didn’t use all of their vacation in 2015 and, in doing so, forfeited $61.4 billion in benefits.
There are obvious concerns with the idea of working when someone is off, but is it realistic to expect people can completely leave their work behind? Many experts say that regardless of the challenges, employers should find ways to encourage their staff to take truly meaningful time off so they can disconnect from the pressures of work and avoid burnout.
“They key is effectiveness,” says Lara Dodo, regional manager with Accountemps, a staffing company for accounting and finance professionals. “History shows that sustained high productivity is not possibly when people are burnt out.”
Read: Vacations good for employees’ mental health
Project: Time Off says the employer role is crucial. Its study found managers are the most powerful influencer when it comes to taking vacation, with 80 percent of employees saying they’d be more likely to take more time off if they felt their boss fully supported and encouraged them to do so. The study also found a lot silence around vacation in many workplaces.
So what’s your view? Are workcations a practical response to the difficulties of taking time off? Or is it time for employers to get more proactive about ensuring staff can take meaningful time off? Or is doing a smattering of occasional work while on vacation harmless? Have your say in this week’s Benefits Canada online poll.
As for last week’s poll, Benefits Canada asked respondents their thoughts about the revelations that the Ontario government spent $70 million on the now-abandoned Ontario Retirement Pension Plan. About 25 per cent of respondents agreed with the government’s assertion that the spending was reasonable as the ORPP was key to getting the recent deal to expand the Canada Pension Plan. Another four per cent felt the ORPP was a good plan in the first place, while the remaining respondents were critical of the expenses: 38 per cent felt $70 million is too much to spend on something that didn’t happen; eight per cent said the CPP deal could have happened even without the deadline pressures of the ORPP; and 26 per cent said the ORPP was a bad plan in the first place.
