The
business reasons to take a vacation
Organizations are beginning to understand
the importance of requiring
managers and staff to take time off from work.
By Neil Amato
June 1, 2017
In this connected age, people have different definitions for
vacation or different strategies for how they go about taking time away from
work.
Some people remain loosely plugged in to
the office, with scheduled check-ins by phone, even if from a beach chair on
some warmer shore. Some continue to monitor and respond to email, keeping
projects on schedule. Some unplug completely, leaving explicit instructions for
others and leaving their mobile devices off.
Technology may have changed the way workers
vacation, for better or worse. "In this day and age, with technology, you
think you have to be plugged in at all times," said Byron Hebert, CPA,
director of entrepreneurial advisory services at PKF Texas, a CPA firm in
Houston. "You're never really off." (See the sidebar "How One
CPA's 6-Week Vacation Changed His Life.")
What hasn't changed is that there is a
business need to take vacation, even if it's a few three-day weekends at a
time.
There are reasons aplenty: to avoid
burnout, to come back to work refreshed, or to spend time with loved ones who
might have been neglected during busy season or a time-consuming project.
What some organizations are starting to
understand is this: Taking time off is better for business in the long run.
Here are six business
reasons employees—from the C-suite to the assembly line, from managing partner
to entry-level accountant—should take regular vacations.
They
set expectations for how vacationers should be treated
The leader who sets the expectation that he
or she is not going to check in with the office is showing that others should
feel free to disconnect during their vacation.
"I don't believe you can truly refresh
if you are still connected," said Tim Jipping, CPA, CGMA, a senior manager
at Plante Moran in Chicago. "Checking email on vacation is a difficult
habit to break. Setting boundaries and communicating those boundaries and
living up to them—if you don't check email while you are on vacation, people
will figure that out, and they won't expect you to."
Those sorts of expectations can help build
an organization's culture—that vacation is not frowned upon and it's not to be
interrupted.
Better
culture makes you a more desired employer
Employees are, more than ever, seeking
balance between work and home life. That includes the ability to take time off.
"Any company that promotes and encourages life/work balance is going to be
a preferred company to work for in the future," Hebert said. "If you
have an organization that's a good place to work and recognizes life/work
balance, then you're liable to attract better talent."
Model
the behavior, and workers will follow
Americans in particular are not good at
taking their allotted vacation: 41% leave some vacation days unused, according
to a 2016 survey by Project: Time Off, an initiative created by the U.S. Travel
Association to promote vacation.
An earlier survey by Project: Time Off and
Oxford Economics showed that the amount of paid time off taken by U.S. workers had declined
from 20 days in 2000 to 16 days in 2013. American workers are averaging five
unused days of paid time off per year, and not taking vacation isn't helping
them. The report found that those who left some PTO unused were not more likely
to earn a raise or bonus than those who took all their time off.
Partial-week vacations became more common
than full-week vacations in the mid-1990s, but now the instances of both are
declining.
Managers who take vacation set the standard
that employees should take vacation. The Project: Time Off surveys show what
many of us already know: When we don't take vacation, our work ends up
suffering.
Vacation
helps workers avoid productivity declines
Research shows residual effects on workers
who fail to take scheduled time off—and on their co-workers. That failure has
the potential to lead to worker burnout, which can produce more unscheduled
absences. Those types of absences cost companies more money than planned time
off.
In a study by Kronos and the Society for
Human Resource Management in 2014, 69% of workers said that unplanned absences
of others added to their workload, 61% said they increased stress, and 48% said
they hurt employee morale.
The same research showed that planned
absences resulted in a 22.6% productivity loss, while unplanned absences
produced a 36.6% decline in productivity.
Studies show that working long hours can
lead to health problems
and can bring on sleeplessness, more consumption of alcohol, and depression.
"Long working hours may have a negative effect on cognitive performance in
middle age," one study concluded.
And then there's the anecdotal evidence
that workers know when they're in need of a break.
"I
definitely have noticed that my productivity changes when I haven't had a vacation in a
while," said Kam Karamshahi, CPA/CITP, CGMA, managing member at Rise
Consulting Group in La Jolla, Calif. "It's usually to the negative, and
you tend to slowly burn out. What happens is you look at your work, and it's
just something that you're doing. You may not feel as passionate about it if you haven't taken time
off in a while and had the opportunity to clear your head."
Karamshahi admits that part of his
reluctance to take vacation is fearing a backlog of work when he returns (see
the sidebar "How to Prepare for Your Vacation"). But he admits that
the break is worth it. He recalled taking extended vacations during his days in
public accounting—right after tax season.
"I would come back truly reenergized," he said.
"I was excited to work with a client or take on new projects and actually
look at solutions to existing problems. [Taking a vacation] is not just about
coming back and getting more work done. You're able to look at things
differently. You come back to the office with a renewed vision."
Requiring
vacation reduces instances of fraud
Some regulatory bodies recommend that
employees take two consecutive weeks of vacation and that workers' tasks be
handed over to peers. The FDIC and the SEC are two regulatory bodies that have
made statements about vacation
guidelines. FDIC guidance says that mandatory vacation rules "are
highly effective in preventing embezzlements, which usually require a
perpetrator's ongoing presence to manipulate records, respond to inquiries, and
otherwise prevent detection."
Organizations that implement mandatory
vacation or job rotation
policies are less likely to be victims of fraud, according to the Association
of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). In its 2016 Report to the Nations on
Occupational Fraud and Abuse, the ACFE said that the median amount lost to fraud was reduced 47.6%
in instances where organizations had a vacation or job rotation control in place, and the
length of time the fraud continued was 44.4% shorter when such a control was in
place.
Requiring
vacation can reduce balance sheet liability
Most organizations don't allow vacation to
accrue in perpetuity any longer, in part because it could come back to hurt
them financially. If a
company has a use-it-or-lose-it policy, meaning workers must take allotted vacation within the
organization's fiscal year, then the liability of unused vacation time is zero. Most organizations have
use-it-or-lose-it policies or limit the hours that can be carried over to the
next year.
Hebert said the issue is not as big as it
used to be because of such policy changes. But organizations that allow staff
to accrue months of
vacation time over many years will take a hit when a worker leaves and is paid
for the accrued months.
How
one CPA's 6-week vacation changed his life
Byron Hebert, CPA, had rarely taken a
vacation longer than seven days when he received an invitation from a friend in
England. The proposal: Take six weeks off in November 2011 to sail from the
western edge of Europe, across the Atlantic Ocean to St. Lucia in the Caribbean
Sea.
"I was the only American, so I was the wild
card," Hebert said. "The only people [in the U.S.] who can take six
weeks off are either self-employed or unemployed. But my partners encouraged me
to go, and I changed after that. My focus was better. I came back
renewed."
Not only did Hebert feel refreshed, but he also felt
free and ended up taking on a new, more strategic role at his firm, PKF Texas.
The trip, he said, emboldened him to take on more-challenging projects.
"Having had that adventure, I wanted
to make my career as fun and as adventurous as the trip," Hebert said.
"I started 'playing to win' instead of 'playing not to lose.' "
"I came back and frankly had less fear
about giving up some things that I had held on to for a long time, such as some
of the financial reporting requirements that I was still hanging on to,"
Hebert said. "I needed to let go."
His staff was given instructions, but in
general they were left to carry out ongoing monthly accounting duties.
"They rose to the occasion," Hebert said. "Some issues came up
that could wait, or they were just handled, which was a growth opportunity for
[the staff]."
Hebert said the firm's leaders embraced his taking the trip,
at a traditionally slower time of the year for the firm. Another partner, a
"hard charger" in Hebert's words, later took four weeks away from the
office in Colorado, working some mornings remotely. That partner followed
Hebert's example.
"I certainly think I broke the ice on
that, a partner taking six weeks off," he said.
Hebert is still seven years from official
retirement, but he plans to take another longer vacation before he leaves the
firm. Those plans involve sailing with his wife, but they do not include a
specific itinerary other than heading toward the mainland of Florida.
"Then on to the Keys and the Bahamas," Hebert said. "Then
wherever the wind takes us."
How
to prepare for your vacation
Some workers who don't take all their
allotted vacation time cite having too much work to do upon return as a reason
not to take time off in the first place. Here are some tips from CPAs to
prepare for vacation.
Create
your prioritized to-do list: Pauline Le, CPA, CGMA,
vice president of finance at Birkman International in Houston, writes a task
list three business days before a vacation, and that list is stuck to her
computer monitor, greeting her each morning. She puts time-consuming tasks
(e.g., reviewing complex contracts with legal counsel) above simple ones (e.g.,
setting an out-of-office email message) that must be taken care of before she
leaves.
Set
expectations with your out-of-office email: Most
people know to set an out-of-office message, but consider what you will say in
the email. For instance, Tori Blake, CPA, practice leader at Allied Global
Services in Lenexa, Kan., suggested that professionals consider auto-forwarding
email to a trusted colleague.
That way, certain requests are getting to others in your organization, and your
inbox is not as full when you return.
Communicate
well in advance, down and up: Le has a
three-pronged strategy that includes communication with direct reports, fellow
vice presidents, and her supervisor. In the weeks leading up to a vacation, she
meets with direct reports to delegate tasks. "Team members are instructed
to reach me in case of emergency but should know what to do in my
absence," Le said. She briefs other VPs on topics that her staff can
handle while she's away. With her manager, Le schedules a meeting for a day or
so before vacation to provide an update about what has been delegated and what
should be accomplished when she's gone.
Establish
a protocol for acceptable methods and reasons for contact during vacation: For instance, give a phone number where you can be reached to a few
people, and stress that the number is to be called only for work emergencies. Sean Stein
Smith, CPA, CGMA, DBA, an assistant professor at Rutgers University—Camden,
said that act alone, setting the expectation that you'll be unplugged, helps
reduce stress because you won't get the constant barrage of email. Blake
recommended turning off email to your phone while on vacation.
About the author
Neil Amato is a JofA senior editor. To
comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact him
at Neil.Amato@aicpa-cima.com or 919-402-2187.
