I’m a strong believer that offering flexibility and promoting the act of taking time off is important for the mental health and productivity of all your team members and employees.

 

Business owners have seen a definite culture-shift thanks to the enforced hybrid working arrangements imposed by the Covid-19 lockdowns, causing managers to rethink their approach to work. By losing the twice-daily commute, employees have started to see a re-balance in their lives . It’s predicted that by 2025 over 75% of companies around the world will adopt the practice of hybrid working and many employers are taking things a step further by introducing the shortened working week and promoting a healthier lave culture within their teams.

 

In this blog I will show how you as a business owner embrace this culture of better work life balance by promoting and managing your team’s planned absences, re-thinking the working week and most importantly, leading by example and taking your own breaks.

 

Manage time off as the CEO

We know that taking time off is important for the mental health and productivity of all employees and team members. So as the CEO (if that’s you), how are you leading by example in taking time off from the workplace? As a role model to the team, you need to be seen to respect and value your time away from your job, seeing it as an un-negotiable part of life that helps you to perform better as part of your holistic work-life balance.

 

Show your team how you value your own vacation time, compassionate and parental leave. Encourage your team members to do the same and actively engage with them on planning their time away, so you can plan ahead for any gaps in service or productivity.

 

Do you have a process?

This might sound all well and good, but in practice it can be harder than you realise. The key to sustained productivity while supporting your team’s time off is to have a process to follow and policies to back things up.

 

Your team might not have thought about this yet! Make sure you have clear guidelines for booking holidays with your team so that there is no confusion or stress around it.

 

Most importantly, don’t let anyone feel guilty about taking time off. It’s a natural part of life, and it’s important for the mental health and productivity of all employees. Consider having a “no questions asked” policy around taking time off, so people don’t feel like they have to explain why they need to leave early or take an extra vacation day.

 

Holiday Booking process for the team – top tips!

 

• Create a process

If your company doesn’t already have a process for taking time off, create one today! Set up an internal calendar where people can book vacations and holidays months in advance — this will help prevent conflicts when multiple people want similar dates (think website maintenance or conferences). You’ll also want to include information about how long people should leave in between each type of leave request.

 

• Make it easy

Make it easy for employees to take time off by showing them the holiday booking process so they can complete it themselves when they need time off. This will allow them to plan their holidays in advance. They should also be given access to a calendar of upcoming events so they can see if there’s anything coming up that might clash with their plans to take leave.

 

• Avoid bottlenecks

Allow employees to book multiple days or weeks in advance or at any point during the year (rather than just having one holiday block). This will prevent bottleneck situations where everyone wants to go away at once. This also helps reduce costs because employees won’t need to save up weeks or months of holiday pay before going on vacation (since there are no restrictions on when you can book leave).

 

So that’s annual leave, what about the way we work when we’re not on leave?

What will the regular working week look like for us in the future? A four-day work week could become the new normal for some companies. At the time of writing, the UK has just embarked on a six-month trial to assess the effects of a 4-day week on productivity and morale. Researchers will look at how employees respond to having an extra day off per week whilst keeping all the same pay and benefits.

 

Netflix and Adobe are among the bigger firms that have already introduced a four-day work week, and more companies are considering following suit. Adobe’s workforce will be partaking in the shorter working hours, after the company said it had “seen results” from its pilot program in Europe.

 

Netflix has been testing a 28-hour work week for its employees since last year. And in June, the company announced it would be expanding its “limited trial” to all of its US employees.

 

And the proof is already starting to come through. Statistics have already shown that working reduced hours can boost productivity by up-to 25%, according to a study by McKinsey & Company.

 

Working four days a week is great – who doesn’t love a three-day weekend, right?

 

My experience and the future

I took a well-earned break myself recently (the catalyst for this post, clearly). It was the first proper break in over five years. I decided to lead by example, not only to my team, but also my peers, showing that a break from social media, client calls and emails didn’t mean the end of my business.

 

Experiencing the positive effect this time out had on my own mental well-being and on the well-being of my family made me re frame my need to create flexibility and time away. My mission following this is to reduce my working days down to 4 days a week, and leave weekends free to be with my family.

 

Have you struggled to take a proper break in the past? What is the leave culture like where you work? Leave a comment below, I’d love to hear your thoughts. And if you need help taking time away from your business, or setting up the processes I’ve talked about here, book in for a call and we can make a plan.