Avoiding “Vacation Deficit Disorder”

American workers take fewer and shorter vacations than workers just about anywhere else. All this while working 100 hours per year more than the Japanese, and three months a year more than Europeans. This last summer only 49% of U.S. residents said they planned to take time away of any length.

According to John de Graaf of the nonprofit group Take Back Your Time overwork is damaging the U.S.. He says long hours result in poor worker health, lack of family and community development, and poor environmental stewardship. Clearly everyone could use a break, and a longer one at that. For you and your employees, some thoughts on how to make the most of vacation, whatever the length, from Psychology Today:

• Indulge in your passions. Build your vacation around the things you like best or have been wishing you could do.
• Get off the grid and unplug from the internet.
• Wander …explore and discover, with no purpose whatsoever.
• Linger with friends over meals.
• Do something childlike — reconnect with play.

Above all, allow for enough time not to feel rushed. A busy vacation can be little more than time away from work, and not the rest it is meant to be. If you can’t take time for travel, notice that these tips can be incorporated in a long weekend or “staycation”. Whatever time away you can manage, make it set apart from your normal routine.

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