As we near the end of the annual holiday period we are offered yet another opportunity for reflection. I also returned from holiday this week as August is a very quiet month here at Expressions. Most people are on holiday at some point during the school summer break making our training programmes and workshops difficult to deliver. This does mean that Autumn is typically a manic period of the year as people return refreshed and ready for the next push (whatever that means).
One of the factors within remuneration packages that seems to be increasing is the number of days holiday allocated to a role. We all start 2027 with an additional day due to how Boxing Day falls this year.
With all this holiday allocation, it sounds as though any employee would be well off with plenty of time to optimise their work life harmony. As workplace wellbeing is still a hot topic for consideration, this would seem to be a very useful countermeasure to fatigue and burn out.
The reality is that workload, staff cutbacks, and hybrid working to name a few, all contribute to the need for greater productivity from people within any organisation. So, one of three things tends to happen:
1. People don’t take their holiday, and they carry over what allocation they can to the next period, or they lose it.
2. People do take their holiday, but they work whilst on holiday as they don’t want to come back to a mountain of work. This tends to render the holiday null and void.
3. People do take their holiday allocation; deadlines get missed and pressure builds when they are at work adding to the stress and working time.
There are a few other reasons why people don’t maximise on their holiday allocation.
FOMO is a real issue with some people as they feel they cannot be absent (physically or digitally) or they will miss something that is important to know or be included in. This is a control issue that can be rectified through coaching and support.
Trust in others to do the work whilst you are away. This is a delegation issue that again can be rectified with the right development, boundary setting, objective agreements and alternative support if required.
We need to enable people to deliver the work at the expected levels within the agreed timeframe and, as we state with every manager we work with, you should be able to go on holiday and come back with everything working as if you were there. Then you are truly a good manager.
Good organisations recognise the issues through hands on experience, and they work to rectify the situation before it gets really bad. Great organisations put proactive solutions in place before the fall out happens. I guess the relevant question here is which one are you?
Insights
A new Financial Times article has been asking a rather timely question: when we go on holiday, do we actually know how to be on holiday anymore? There’s something all too familiar about the idea of checking emails “just quickly”, joining a meeting because it’s important, or spending the first day away thinking about everything waiting for us when we get back. But taking time away from work isn’t time wasted.
In fact, Acas says that encouraging employees to take their holiday can help improve productivity, reduce unplanned sickness absence and support staff retention. So perhaps the most productive thing you can do this summer is… stop being productive! For leaders and managers, that means more than simply telling people to “switch off”. It means creating a culture where people genuinely feel able to take their leave, disconnect and come back refreshed, without worrying that everything will fall apart while they’re away. We encourage you to create healthy boundaries, model sustainable working habits and support your teams to perform well without burning out.
https://www.ft.com/content/189160ac-a79e-4ea2-bcef-39c576acce68?syn-25a6b1a6=1
News
The ‘Keep Britain Working Review’ provides a compelling case for organisations to rethink how they support people to remain healthy, engaged and productive at work. For employers, the message is clear: prevention, early intervention and inclusion need to become part of everyday management practice, rather than something addressed only when an employee reaches crisis point or goes on long-term absence. This puts line managers at the heart of the solution. They need the confidence and practical skills to have early, supportive conversations, recognise when someone may be struggling, understand reasonable adjustments, signpost effectively and manage absence and return-to-work positively. The Review’s proposed ‘Healthy Working Lifecycle’, covering recruitment and onboarding, healthy working, becoming unwell, absence and return to work, provides a useful framework for identifying where learning and behaviour change can have the greatest impact.
For organisations considering investment in learning, the Review highlights not simply employee wellbeing, but retention, productivity, resilience and reducing the cost of absence and turnover. It highlights the potential gains from moving from reactive to preventative approaches and calls for employers and providers to work together to develop and evaluate solutions that deliver measurable outcomes.
To read the review in full, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keep-britain-working-review-final-report/keep-britain-working-final-report#executive-summary