What Taking Time For The Holidays Does For Productivity In The New Year
In 2020, 56% of Americans left paid time off on the table, according to a survey by IPX1031. Interrupted travel plans had some professionals double down on work. But more work doesn’t mean more productivity, and that’s where there is a disconnect. Especially during the holidays, which is a critical period for taking time off in order to come back refreshed and ready to crush it in the new year.
Guilt-free time off, to be more specific. “Too often the mindset around taking off over the holidays is that it’s what you do to see family or friends. Instead, the mindset needs to be that you’re taking time off to improve your career happiness, stress, or anxiety,” says motivational speaker and leadership coach and consultant Jenn DeWall.
“Taking time off is a good thing. We need to recharge our batteries. Research has actually shown that unplugging leads to less burnout, turnover, and underperformance,” adds Marc Ian Prine Ph.D., an industrial and organizational psychologist.
And, according to him, it’s even more important to have this conversation now: “In the last two years, work-life balance has turned into work-life integration. People have not unplugged because they have not had any reason to do so. Making sure that you explicitly tell your employees to take some time off will remove the ambiguity that has been created via Covid.”
Why leaders should prioritize time off during the holidays
“If you don’t talk about it as a leader, don’t take time off, and don’t prioritize self-care, you are telling your team that it’s not a priority. Having the conversation tells people that you want them to make their mental health and self-care a priority,” shares DeWall.
And not only does this increased focus on self-care help boost individual productivity, but it can also foster conversations with your team that can lead to productivity breakthroughs and workflow improvements for the group.
“When you talk about self-care with your employees and listen with curiosity, you will hear about some barriers and obstacles for your team. When you hear about these barriers or challenges, it gives you the opportunity to assist. You could either delegate the work to someone with more capacity or prioritize tasks,” she adds.
Plus, with the Great Resignation in full swing, a phenomenon that has millions of workers quitting their jobs in favor of career pivots or different lifestyles, employee retention is key. If your people are quitting in droves because they feel burned out by the lack of holiday break, it’s not exactly going to help your productivity. Instead, you’ll be spending Q1 and Q2 frantically hiring in a hot market and overextending your existing team members.
Boosting creativity and innovation in the New Year
Taking time off for the holidays also works wonders for creative and innovative thinking, which is more important than grinding hours for the sake of working.
“By stepping away from work, we are able to come back with a different perspective. Not looking at something for a period of time will bring about an ability to see something we might have missed in the past,” says Prine.
“Also, we ruminate and daydream a lot when we are not in eight hours of Zoom meetings. You never know when that next idea may come.”
How to make the most of your holiday break as a team
But not all breaks are created equal, and one of the reasons people avoid taking time off during the holidays is dreading the idea of coming back to an overwhelming pile of work. If you want to take a holiday break that will boost productivity, get your ducks in a row first.
“Productivity in the new year can be negatively impacted by a holiday break if there is no true structure and expectations set. If there is a lot of ambiguity in roles, who does what, by when, and what the expectations are, then you will likely have to invest more time at the start of the year level-setting your team,” says DeWall. “You will likely need to comm8unicate strategies and expectations, draining your productivity and your team.”
So use your time before the holiday breaks wisely, and you’ll reap the benefits when the first week of January rolls around.
