Dread Taking Vacation? Maybe It’s Time to Rethink

As a boss, I’ve also been on both sides of this too.

• There’s a business emergency. I know this was previously approved, can you reconsider the timing of your vacation? If not, let’s go over your coverage plan. You might need to check-in each day to ensure this is going smoothly.
• You shouldn’t have booked tickets without getting approval in advance – we already maximized who is out of the office on those days.
• You had vacation during the holidays last year, it is someone else’s turn this year.
• You have weeks of vacation. Please schedule them before this date so they are used by year end. These are your benefits that you aren’t using. Also, it helps ensure we can better resource plan.

Have you been part of these conversations?

Remember: Vacation is a benefit that has to be supported

Employers offer vacation as part of total compensation package, but depending on where you work you may feel like they begrudgingly allow it. Vacation is part of your employment contract & the company policy, so needs to be honored. Even if taking vacation is not openly encouraged, your boss needs to allow you time off. 

Additionally, you may feel uncomfortable if the boss comes and asks for alternatives, but you never know what happens when you openly discuss options. For example, there was a time when a big emergency arose right before a key individual was scheduled to take a family vacation. It had been approved months earlier. We had conversations about coverage plans and changing dates. In the end, the person went on vacation, and I traveled to the site to support the emergency and help cover it. We agreed that I would text and call his personal cell, only if there was something the team couldn’t answer or handle. (The team was great; I didn’t need to reach out, but he still chose to check in a couple of times for his peace of mind.)

Whether you don't take your vacation because of your own pressure or because of the work environment, maybe it is time to rethink your perspective.

Vacation for US Employees

Did you realize that millions of US employees are “paying” their employer by not taking vacation? Also, plenty of you work on holidays and days off, giving your employer even more of your time.

According to a survey on 2023 vacation usage – 62% of workers with PTO did not use their vacation time and 5.5% did not take any vacation time off! Over 30% of PTO went unused.

Friendly vacation accrual policies

There are a few states that ensure you are paid for unused time. If you live in a state where the employer is required to pay you back, you might enjoy a bit of “bonus” money at the end of the year for any unused paid time off. That might be enough incentive for you to decide to save your days. If the company policy is that you can accrue them through your career, you may also save them for a rainy day or retirement.

One person I worked with had accrued 10 weeks of vacation over the years and used the pay out as part of his retirement plan. Another person in a similar situation, used the time to slowly transition into "part time" and then retirement, with no payout at the end. A different person I worked with, intentionally saved up time to use when his first child was born so he could regularly have late starts when it was his turn to wake up in the middle of the night for the babies first few months.

For many years, because I had more vacation than my husband, that payout was part of our end-of-year planning, even if I decided to visit family without him for a few days a year. (Then we moved to state that didn’t require payout and the company didn’t use vacation cap / rollover, so I admit there are years I gave up time.)

But this is not the case everywhere

By these examples, you can see there are certainly very valid reasons to accrue vacation (if that is allowed). But if you have a use it or lose it policy at the company you work at, you probably really want to reconsider why you aren't taking your time off.

As you work on reducing your stress and improving your work-life balance, even scheduling half days on a regular cadence can go a long way toward giving you more time for yourself or with loved ones.

If that is too hard, as you are still strengthening up your boundaries about getting out of work on time, maybe a more seasonal / quarterly approach works better.

RELATED: How Do I Maintain Boundaries?

Why aren't people taking vacation?

There are many reasons that people don’t take vacation, and it’s not necessarily because of work environment or the boss says no. Here’s just a few of them that I’ve heard:

• I’ll get too far behind.
• Everyone is busy enough already, I don’t want to dump my work on them while I am out of office.
• The pace of change is crazy – the one time I took vacation I came back and several of my projects had taken a new turn it made it even harder to catch up. I won’t do that gain.
• I don’t trust that I can delegate my work to others, they’ll mess things up and make it even harder to catch up.
• I’m indispensable.
• I’m just going to be working anyways, so I may as well not take the time off.
• I’ve got to just finish this project and then I can take time off (but isn’t there always another big project?)

Have you challenged your thinking? 

Look around you. Are other people taking vacation? Do you feel resentment if you help cover for someone taking a well-deserved break? Are things grinding to a halt if a higher-level leader or another expert goes on vacation? Are there people still being successful in their performance, even if they take a long 2-3 weeks vacation?

God’s Natural Rhythm – Seasonal Celebrations (aka in the modern world vacations)

When you neglect to use your vacation and take your days off, you are not living with God’s natural rhythm. This goes beyond the seasonal flow of agricultural work and the weekly sabbath. God intends for His people to have periods of celebration, rest, and community.

For generations, people have predominantly worked according to the annual cycle of activity for agriculture and animal husbandry. There are natural periods of ebb and flow. The whole community, even those that did not have these professions, supported the seasonal activities and celebrations.

The Bible calls out times when the community would get together to rest and celebrate the season's wins. Multiple annual festivals, like Passover, are listed in Leviticus. Others were added over time with Israel’s victories, like Purim or Hanukkah. One of the common themes across all of these Holy Days is coming together with loved ones in the community, praising and giving thanks to God, and not doing customary work.

At the height of Jesus’ ministry, even he took days off and recognized the Holy Days of his time. When he needed to be refreshed, Jesus would step away, sometimes without informing his disciples. The Last Supper was part of celebrating Passover. Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit, also fell on a Jewish holiday.

(You determine which Holy Days are important to your faith practice – that’s between you and God. I’m certainly not qualified to get into a theological discussion on this…)

This modern American view of intensely working 52 weeks a year is not what God intended for us. This hectic pace, without rest creates separation from Him and each other.

Keep it simple!

I’m just advocating that you take some time off and “do no regular work” (Numbers 28:26 NIV https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%2028%3A26&version=NIV)

With as many hours as you work for your employer, vacation doesn’t have to be elaborate, exotic trips or being a local tourist with a staycation. Your loved ones may appreciate you being at home, where you get a chance to be more involved in their day-to-day activities.

If you aren’t comfortable just relaxing or can’t think of any hobbies because you’ve been too busy for a long time, be “employed” by your loved ones for your vacation. I’m sure they’d love to come up with a list of chores or activities they want you to be involved in. Either approach enables you to bond, unwind, and maybe reinforce some habits that can carry over when you return to work.

RELATED: If you aren't comfortable relaxing, you may want to consider this question... check this out.

Reducing Vacation Stress

It's all about planning, coverage and a plan to on how to address the major items when you get back. A few key steps:

• Before you leave, brief the individuals that are covering for you.
• Ensure your out of office note is clear on who is handling what.
• Depending on the volume of email and the duration of your time off, you may want to add a note on your out-of-office notification that when you return, you may not be able to respond to everyone in the backlog of communication, so request someone to leave a voicemail or resend the email when you get back for the highest importance issues.
• Set up appointments on your first day back to meet with your boss and everyone in your coverage plan to catch you up. A conversation is much more informative than reading emails.
• Block some time to read the most recent sets of minutes or long string emails.
• When you get back to the office, it’s totally acceptable not to be up to date on every twist, turn and plot twist of what occurred while you were out of office.

If you truly feel that you need to check in on email / voicemail when you are on vacation, set clear boundaries on your time and minimize the number of people you directly communicate with. Alternatively, set specific escalation points where you will receive a text message if something is turning into a 5-Alarm fire while you are gone and only then will you check-in.

I’m sure you can creatively figure out how to give yourself some time off, where you truly disconnect. You’ve earned it – from all of your efforts and dedication as well that it is a paid benefit that you are entitled to.

My hope for you...

I hope that you are able to make a decision to use your vacation time. It may feel uncomfortable talking to your boss about taking vacation, but they have to work with you to grant you time off. A solid coverage plan goes a long way to making both you and a difficult boss feel comfortable with you taking time off, even in the midst of challenges.

Making a clean break for a few days will help you reduce stress and have a healthier mindset when you return. Even a staycation, working half days from home while the kids are at school so you can freely enjoy being home and interacting with them in the morning and when they get home, will soothe your stress.

God wants you to thrive and flourish, not languish under the heavy burden of constantly and intensely working. This is a chance for you to grow to be kinder to yourself and your loved ones by taking off the time that you have earned.

Looking for simple and quick tips instead of strategies on how to reduce stress and boost your energy naturally? Check out these 8 ideas.

Interested in seeing if working with me on stress recovery will benefit you? Book a free consultation.