438 million. No, that’s not the number of stars in the universe or sand dunes in the Sahara. 438 million is the estimated number of vacation days Americans failed to take in 2007. We were speechless, horrified, depressed just to learn it. How hard do we have to beg—TAKE A HOLIDAY!
Every year the travel gurus at Expedia. com conduct a survey on the benefits of vacation time (and yes, we get it, they have a dog in this fight—but even so, their findings are pretty compelling). Expedia cites both a peculiarly American puritanical work ethic—the fear of being seen as slackers—and the more prosaic tendency to horde vacation days for an unexpected emergency, as the main reasons behind this terrifying inability to take time off.
You get vacation for a reason. You need it. Take it. All of it. Then, if at all possible, take more. We don’t need Expedia to tell us workers perform better if they’ve had a rest.
As you can see, we have pretty strong views on vacation. Everybody knows that Americans take a lot less vacation every year than the rest of the industrialized world, but did you know how much less?
Americans work two weeks longer than the work-till-you — drop Japanese and several weeks longer than most Europeans, where employees sometimes receive fifteen weeks of paid holiday per year. The United States is one of the very few industrialized nations where the government doesn’t mandate any paid vacation days at all. And only Mexicans receive less paid vacation time than Americans—a pathetic six days a year. So just in case you were feeling guilty about booking your vacation time, don’t. You probably aren’t taking enough anyway.
You really do need it to recharge those flagging batteries. If it helps, see it like this: you are a more effective employee if you take your holiday, and since you get so little of it to start with, you better take it all to maximize your productivity when you are at work. But the reality is that in addition to working better, you will also think better and feel better. You will be a better mom, a better wife, and a better daughter and friend. And you will have the mental energy to really focus on something profound like Womenomics.
katty A few years ago as I was set to go visit my family in Europe, an American colleague gasped: "You’re really going for four weeks—wow, you Europeans take so much time off!” She’s right, we are very lucky compared to most Americans. We can still, just, get away with taking month-long vacations. My colleague hadn’t had more than a week’s holiday in years—could never remember taking two weeks, let alone four. Suddenly, I felt like a slacker. My God—what would she make of my four-day workweek, my mental thirty-hour clock or my determination to be at home on the weekends? So I found myself slipping into the classic career machismo of pretending I was never off. Then it dawned on me— what I had done—which was basically achieve the same career status as that colleague but with far more time at home—was actually pretty impressive. I had managed professional satisfaction and perfectly respectable seniority without being wedded to my job. Surely—in today’s crazy work-obsessed world—that was quite an accomplishment. It suggested that I had efficiently managed my time, performed well on the job, and knew my priorities, even though they went against the work-addicted norm. I never hide my holidays anymore, and in fact I get a certain pleasure from shocking people and telling them I’m off—yes, for a month.
We don’t really understand why anyone needs help taking vacation time; neither of us ever seems to have enough. Whatever the reason, and we suspect some of it is that old office machismo we want you to get over right now, it is clear that some people never manage to use up their allotted days. So to make sure you don’t sail into December with two weeks of unused leave in your pocket, here are a few tips on how to chill like a European.
• Plan your vacation early. We usually plan our next vacation the day after we return from vacation. If nothing else, it boosts morale!
• Put your vacation time in the office schedule months, not weeks, in advance. That way you’re more likely to get the dates you want and everyone has plenty of warning time.
• If you’re going away book your flights early; they cost less, and once you’ve paid for them you are less tempted to cancel the holiday.
• If you’re not going away don’t be tempted to offer to go into the office if they need you. This is still your vacation time, and even though you are at home you need to relax as much as possible. Remember those batteries!
• If you are staying home on holiday, unplug from technology as much as you would at the beach. If you have to check your e-mail account, leave the work ones unread. Turn off your cell phone. Cancel the newspapers. Take day trips to the countryside, where you’ll be less tempted to waste time in front of the computer.
• Try taking a big chunk of time at once; if you usually take only one week, book two together. If you’ve already progressed to two, try three. You will be amazed at the difference. The more time you take at once, the more you really relax.
• Use a downturn to win more vacation time. If your company wants to reward you but can’t give you a bonus, pay raise, or promotion because of falling profits, why not suggest an extra week’s vacation as an alternative?
The time you can find by mining the concepts in this chapter, by herding those extra minutes and hours and days, will
astound you. It’s unclaimed and freely available—yours for the taking with a few smarter, not harder, tweaks to your system. And there’s even more to reap, as you’ll see in chapter 6, as you employ Womenomics wisdom toward some key strategic and psychological shifts that will put you firmly in control of your work life.
news you can use
1. Work smarter, and wield the 80-20 yardstick. Put out if it pays off.
2. Set meetings, deadlines, schedules early—and on your terms.
3. Exploit—but tame—your technology.
4. Take—and relish—all of your time off.