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Other articles in this issue:

• The difference between time management and controlling events
• The major time robbers and how to avoid them
• How Owners and Managers should manage their time
• Effectively schedulling your time to maximize your accomplishments

Vacationing for Better Health and Productivity

The Advertising/Creative Industry has always been very fast paced with heavy workloads. As a nation, we now work 160 hours more each year than we did in 1976 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is about one month more.

.We are putting in more hours, and taking less time off. A study conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation revealed that only 14% of the US workforce took a vacation of two weeks or longer last year. And, 25% of American workers have no paid time off.

While our Gross National Product continues to grow faster than any other country, our life span is getting shorter. In 1980, people in only ten other countries lived longer than Americans. Today, people in 41 countries live longer. Europeans are a little more than half as likely to suffer from chronic illnesses like heart disease, hypertension and Type 2 diabetes after age 50.

Europeans work about 300 hours less each year than Americans, giving them more free time to exercise, eat more slowly and healthily, get more sleep and socialize more. This does wonders for their health, which helps explain why Americans pay over twice as much for health care than our European counterparts.

Europeans enjoy longer vacations. By law, every European worker is guaranteed four weeks of paid time off. Most take six or more weeks. According to the Opinion Research Corporation study, 29% of Americans took no paid vacation at all last year, and only 24% took off a week or less.

Meaningful productivity is vital to the pursuit of happiness. But so is free time to enjoy all that we have earned. It all comes down to a balance between the two. In our effort to out produce and out consume the rest of the world, Americans have gotten out of balance.

The Framingham Heart Study found that women who don’t take vacations are eight times more likely to suffer from heart disease than women who take two vacation breaks in a year. They are also twice as likely to suffer from depression. And, vacation deprived men are 68% more likely to die of heart attacks than those who take regular time off.

In addition to improving our health, a study conducted by Air New Zealand found that after vacations, workers got an extra hour of quality sleep and their reaction times were 30-40% faster. The study found that this lasts for several months after the time off. Daycations don’t have the same effect since they are usually spent running errands. Time to unwind can reduce workplace stress and burnout dramatically.

Gary Naumann, Director of the Spirit of Enterprise Center at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, says that without vacations: “You lose perspective and become over involved in details. You’ve got to recharge to keep going. You need to get away to see the forest, not just the trees to get the big ideas and new ideas.”.

Time away from work makes us healthier and more productive, but as managers and business owners, it requires an infrastructure that will keep your business running smoothly in your absence. You need to be able to empower and trust your staff. In addition to giving them room to grow, giving them the power to decide and execute will make your business better: an added benefit to your vacation time!

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Copyright 2008© CSB Consulting and Connie Burtcheard