joe alim He is the vice president of products and operations for compt, an employee stipend platform. Alim was also the co-founder and COO of ScholarJet, a talent and technology startup.
I had only been working in the company for eight months when our CEO told me to pick a week to take off, or she would pick for me. While he had learned that this was his typical, simple way of doing things, he knew that the strategy of requiring time off was emerging as a way for companies to promote wellness and engage employees. Regardless, after committing and taking that time off, I was able to avoid burnout and continue to thrive in my role.
The culture of burnout is accelerating as mass layoffs continue across all industries. Already exhausted employees are expected to work longer hours or leave; It’s about a ultimatum given by Elon Musk the rest of the Twitter staff.
It is also a warning sign about your organization. Instead of addressing the symptoms, forward-thinking companies seek to solve the root of the problem by committing to employee well-being. One significant way to end a toxic work culture is to mandatory free time.
The bbenefits of ordering free time
Emphasizing the importance of health and wellness as part of mandatory time off policies is a great way to help your team take care of themselves. Research has shown numerous benefits of free time:
- Increased engagement and productivity. The Society for Human Resource Management reported that employees who were granted mandatory vacation reported higher job satisfaction than those that were not. And as Shashank Nigam and Neil Pasricha stated in a 2017 Harvard Business Review articletaking some time off can lead to more creativity.
- best culture. If employees lack true work-life integration, they will burn out. Mandatory time off creates a culture in which people feel comfortable taking time off when needed instead of feeling guilty about taking time off work or not performing at your best due to lack of rest. It also gives employers the incentive to make sure every employee has all the tools they need to succeed in their jobs while managing stress effectively without sacrificing their own mental or physical health.
- Fewer sick days. Aon Hewitt i found a link between employee well-being and absence management, concluding that organizations that invest in well-being should reduce lost productivity over time. A 2012 report from the International Foundation for Employee Benefit Plans found that cost savings of one to three dollars in health care costs for every dollar spent on an employee wellness program, finds that US Chamber of Commerce (pdf) has supported.
Like you they can support employees with mandatory time off
Be accommodating. The first step is to create a program that can meet the needs of all types of employees. It’s important to consider how they’ll spend their free time and whether you want to place restrictions on what they do with it or limit the amount of time they can use. Just keep in mind that placing too many restrictions defeats the purpose of this concept.
Create a policy that is clear and adaptable. A mandatory time off program requires clear rules that are easy to understand and follow. Having the following elements in place allows for organization and structure:
Review current federal and state laws, company policies and procedures. Look at these in relation to vacation accrual so you understand what employees are entitled to under existing policies before developing new ones. Next, decide what benefits will be offered through your mandatory time off program (especially if it is an extended leave such as a one month sabbatical). Finally, document these benefits by creating a Employee Handbook that clearly states when employees should expect their first paycheck after the start date of their leave period(s).
As with any benefit program, please adapt accordingly. As your company grows and the needs of your employees evolve, so should your vacation policy (among others).
Lead by example and reinforce. Employees need to feel like they can use their free time however they choose without feeling like they are sacrificing job security or productivity. Forcing people to take time off seems like an easy sell: Who doesn’t want more time to enjoy their personal life? But the truth is, toxic workplace culture has long been instilled in employees, making people feel afraid to take time offlike they don’t deserve to relax or put their well-being before work projects and OKRs.
If you really want to get people out of the office, go on vacation yourself. As a leader, people will follow your example, which includes taking time to rest and recharge.
Setting and supporting limits also helps. When employees are away, make sure they are completely offline. A team approach helps ensure this happens:
- Make sure employees know when a coworker is on vacation and don’t disturb them.
- Kindly remind them that email and communication tools allow scheduled messages (a nice invention) to respect time limits.
- Be picky about what you message to ensure they’re not inundated with emails that might have waited for your return or issues that others could have solved.
How much free time should a company demand?
Whether a mandatory PTO policy accompanies a bank or unlimited vacation days, it’s important to determine how many days you expect employees to take vacation. There are a couple of ways to approach this: require employees to take a specific amount of time off intermittently or in a consecutive period. For example, a policy might allow employees to take at least one consecutive 5-day vacation each year or one day off each month to make a three-day weekend.
Some employers set a minimum number of quarterly or annual days off and leave the decision up to employees. Goldman Sachs, for example, requires staff to take 15 days off every year. It was a move to improve retention and morale by giving everyone a much-needed break. Similarly, the marketing company We Are Rosie requires at least 5 quarterly days off to combat employees who don’t use days because they feel guilty about taking time off.
In a survey of 1,000 employees, Cornerstone found that 87% believed three-day weekends were more beneficial to relieve stress than longer vacations. It also helps prevent everyone from leaving at once for the holidays (for fear of use-it-or-lose-it-it policies that some states still allow), racking up days to move into the next year, or withdrawing cash, all of which are counterproductive for work-life integration.
The workforce has had to handle and overcome a lot in the past two years: a pandemic, a recession, and now mass layoffs as the holidays approach. So it’s no wonder stress levels are high. Yet, half of employees won’t take time off unless they are forced to, and the fear of layoffs will likely exacerbate this. As an employer, he can help his team and the bottom line by recommitting to work-life integration through mandatory time off policies.
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