Fact: taking a break from your work has a positive influence on your body, mind, and soul. Time off restores you, helps you recover, reset your priorities. After all, there’s a reason why God made the Sabbath a command, not a gentle suggestion.
Fact: Americans find it incredibly hard to take a break, even when they’ve earned it as paid time off in their jobs. In fact, one study showed as much as 41% of interviewed people did not plan to take their earned time off.
It’s not that Americans don’t see the importance or value of time off, they do. Theoretically.
96% of workers affirmed the importance of using their paid time off for instance, including 95% of senior business leaders. 90% stated time off helps them relax and recharge and 61% reported greater satisfaction at work after returning from a break.
So what’s the problem? If people know time off is important, why aren’t they taking it?
Are You Taking a Break?
One of the reasons I find this so interesting (and you may have noticed from my not-so-subtle use of the word ‘Americans’) is that this is an American problem. I’m not saying it doesn’t occur anywhere else in the world because I haven’t looked at statistics in, say, Japan, or China. But I do know that this is far less of an issue in Europe, where I’m from.
The first obvious reason is that employed people get way more paid time off in Europe. In The Netherlands, my country of origin, you get at least four times your contracted weekly hours per year. For a full time worker, that means four weeks full time off. But in most companies, it’s more than that, especially in the public sector. Plus, the older you get, the more days are added. A fifty-five year old in the public sector could easily rack up eight weeks a year or more.
In that case, it’s easier to use at least a solid portion of it, since you have so much. But it’s more than that. Paid time off is seen as a right, and companies acknowledge that right, for the most part.
Also, many countries in Europe have laws that prevent you from firing somebody without legal reason, so you have way more job protection. Even if your boss were unhappy with you taking your time off, there’d be little he could do about it (unless he can prove that you taking a break would negatively affect the company, but then he’d have to give you a reasonable other opportunity to take your vacation).
One reason Americans aren’t using their breaks, is because they’re getting mixed signals about using them. 67% stated that their company wasn’t all on board with them taking time off. No wonder, when business leaders stated that they thought people who took a break were less dedicated, less successful, and less productive. It’s a mixed signal indeed when you know time off is good for you, but if you do take a break, your boss thinks you’re slacking.
Other reasons people mentioned were that they didn’t want to return to a mountain of work or that they were irreplaceable. Both are issues that are easy to fix, by the way. The first is all about preparing well, and the second is about gaining a healthy perspective on your own importance.
What it really comes down to, then, is that mixed signal people receive, or perceive about taking time off. It’s a right, paid time off, but at the same time it’s frowned upon.
These stats are all from the business world, but would they be that different in non-profits, Christian organizations, or even the church? I know many youth pastors find it next to impossible to take time off, especially if it’s longer than one week in a row. Why can’t even the church acknowledge the God-designed need for rest and recovery?
And more importantly: how do we fix this? Considering the alarming rate of church workers suffering from burnout related issues and all kinds of mental struggles, how do we change this culture?
How good are you at taking a break from work?
And how does the culture in your company, organization, or church influence your decision to take time off?
I’d love to hear some thoughts about this!
[Photo Credit: Pexels, cc]
Michael Hamilton says
Solid article Rachel! I have a small push back. How would you approach this from the point of view of someone who is either self employed, or in my case, who is an employee but works from home? When i worked a regular 9-5 job it was easier to take a break. Come in at 8, break at noon or 1pm, and then head home at 4:30.
For those of us that do have the luxury to work from home, it may be not so easy to have that time to break away from our work, since we literally live with it. Also, how do you see these practices changing in the next few years as people start moving from the 9-5 sector and into more of a freelance or self employment roll?
Thanks in advance. Take care.
Rachel Blom says
Thanks for your pushback, Michael! It’s a valid point you make. I work from home myself and taking regular breaks (both short ones throughout the day and longer ones on the weekend and for vacation) is something I’ve had to learn. After some experimenting, I now work in ‘bursts’ with breaks in between, for instance 45 min work, 5 min break, 45 min work, 10 min break, 45 min work, 5 min break, 45 min work, 30 min break, etc. And I made it a rule to never eat behind my desk, at least, not while working.
The longer breaks, you really have to schedule ahead. As in: make a year schedule for 2017 right now and plan in your longer breaks. And once you’ve done that, make them ‘sacred’. Since my longer breaks often involve traveling, I book plane tickets way ahead of time so I have to go 🙂 It comes down to planning and prioritizing. If you don’t schedule your breaks, they won’t happen. And if you don’t prioritize them and make them ‘sacred’, you’ll end up canceling them for every sorry excuse that comes along.
What helps me is to think of my breaks as both a necessity and a reward. I know I need them to keep healthy, but at the same time they’re a reward for working hard the rest of the time. It’s a commitment to myself so to speak.
I hope that helps, let me know!
Jeremy Smith says
The type of work I do, if I took it home or worked more than 40 hours a week, I’d burn out in 3 months. A common practice in my profession is sick days, vacation days, and PERSONAL DAYS. Personal days are treated as sick days, but you don’t have to be sick and if you want, you can schedule them. Also, if you don’t use them, you lose them and get docked professional points.
Rachel Blom says
What a great concept, Jeremy! I love the idea of personal days, since it allows you to schedule them or take one as needed when you feel it’s getting too much. At a previous employer my friend-colleague and I used to joke about taking a day off every now and then as a ‘mental health day’. Meaning: I need this day to stay sane. It helps you to prevent burnout, it really does.