Are you stressed at work? Maybe it’s time for you to take a vacation.
According to a recent poll, Americans who work 50 hours a week or more are not taking the vacation days they’ve earned throughout the year.
More than that, “30 percent say they do a significant amount of work while on vacation,” said Robert Blendon, a professor and health policy analyst at Harvard and director of the survey, in a news release.
Instead of taking a traditional week-long vacation, Americans have started to take days off here and there and are always available via phone and email.
The reason for this shift? There are not enough people to pick up the workload if someone leaves for vacation.
Unfortunately, this new trend is not good for your health. According to Blendon, “not only can time off alleviate stress, it can also be personally rejuvenating and motivate people to be more productive once they return to the job.”
If you have to be connected while you’re on vacation, here are a few tips to stay relaxed:
- Don’t answer emails immediately
- Using a “delayed-delivery” function in your email responses, if possible
Still not convinced you should take a week off? We wrote a post a few weeks back that is sure to do the trick.
