The importance of taking vacation

Summer’s here, and vacation season has begun. Taking time away is vital, I believe, to being effective in your job. 

Plenty of studies show that after a certain amount of time at work, you begin to lose your effectiveness. If you’re working 10 and 12 hours a day, your last four or five are probably not super effective. 

Over the last 10 years, people generally assumed I was busy all the time because I was Sharonview Federal Credit Union’s CEO. And I’d always say: Being CEO is what I do; it’s not who I am. The idea of work/life balance, for me, has always been about staying fresh and avoiding burnout. 

Here are a few thoughts on vacations and their benefits: 

You can gain some perspective. 

Getting away from the office allows you time to create some perspective. That’s tough to do when you’re right in the thick of it. 

We need to get outside our workplaces and do the things that make us feel refreshed. It’s good for our mental health. 

You get unfettered time to do something you love. 

That might be reading, journaling, meditation, yoga, running, swimming. Whatever your thing is, stepping away from the daily routine allows you time to dive headfirst into it. 

Putting work aside for a few days – or a couple of weeks – is good for you. 

It clears your head and allows you to look at issues with a fresh eye once you’re back. 

I’ll add here that I think, as leaders, we need to model the behavior we’re seeking to instill. We can’t tout the benefits of time away without taking some ourselves. The old days of “first-in, last-out” are, mercifully, over. I never bought into that philosophy, anyway.  

Leaders set the tone for everything in an organization, and that includes taking time off.  

As leaders, we need to be in tune with the individuals on our teams. We should be able to see when someone’s stressed. It should be our job to initiate a conversation to find out what’s going on in their lives and then, perhaps, suggest they take some time off. 

When I was CEO, I made sure people could see my white car leaving the parking lot at 5 p.m. I’d tell people, “I’ve got a nine-pound Chihuahua and a loving wife to get home to.” Sure, I’d work late occasionally. We all do. But I didn’t make a habit of it. 

Taking PTO is important, too. 

And for the same reasons taking vacation is important. It’s OK – or it should be – to leave early to support your kids’ endeavors. 

Years ago, my then-boss told me I couldn’t take time off to see my daughter play high school volleyball. I told him I was going to have to find a new job because my family came first. 

That wasn’t always the case. Early in my career, I was all about the hustle. I did whatever it took to get my next promotion. But when my wife, Kim, told me she felt like she’d become a single parent, I knew it was time to reorder my priorities. 

Enjoy the benefits of unplugging. 

I’m adamantly opposed to taking a laptop on vacation. As CEO, I had to “threaten” a few people who said they were taking their work laptops to the beach or mountains or wherever they were headed. 

I’ve always been big on taking vacation and PTO. All of it. And if someone told me they couldn’t go on vacation because a big project was at a crucial stage, I’d often tell them they hadn’t delegated appropriately. 

To the person who says they “need” to take their laptop on vacation, I would ask why they didn’t trust their people.

In our hyper-connected world, we have to unplug occasionally. I realize entrepreneurs don’t always have that luxury. (When you’re a one-person shop, there’s no one to whom you can delegate.) 

People at every level of an organization should be able to fully leave work behind. Even as CEO, I never felt I couldn’t leave the office. I knew my team would take care of business. And they knew I was just a phone call away. 

Be available (if you want to be). 

My team had my personal cell phone number, and they knew they could call me after hours or while I was on vacation, if they needed me. But I trusted that they could handle most anything that came up. And they did. In 10 years, I got just two after-hours phone calls. Both were due to branch robberies, and it was part of our protocol for leadership to be notified. 

If you need to leave, LEAVE. But don’t take advantage of your employer. 

If you’re new to an organization, you may be wondering about the right amount of PTO to take in your first few months. 

I’ve been hearing about companies adopting an unlimited PTO policy, which is an interesting idea. Unlimited PTO sounded scary to me at first, but then, I thought: For people who do a good job and appreciate accountability, that’s actually a great benefit. It sends the message that you’re treating people like adults. 

At Sharonview, we enabled our leaders to be liberal if people needed time off to get to a school function for their kids, take care of a family issue, those sorts of things. That was before COVID. After COVID, we moved to remote and hybrid work environment, and folks were able to get some (non-work-related) things done during their workday.  

Prepare well to be away. 

Don’t blow out the door for vacation and leave work undone and your teammates in the dark. Finish the most pressing things on your list, and delegate someone to shepherd a thing or two while you’re gone, if need be. 

Kim and I recently visited our grandkids in Oklahoma. Before we left, I started a file labeled “When I’m Back from Vacation …” and began putting in it the things it was clear I probably wasn’t going to get to before I left. So, when I returned, I knew just where to look to remind myself of the work I needed to finish, continue or start.  

You don’t have to go anywhere. 

I love exploring new places and seeing how other people live. I think travel has the power to change your life. But not everybody feels that way. (And certainly, air travel has become a hassle in recent years.) 

If you’d rather not get on a plane or hit the road, it’s still important for you to take time off work. Having a staycation can be a great way to recharge. And you won’t return to work jet-lagged as people who love to travel sometimes do.

Read that book you've been meaning to read. (Or write it!) Tackle that painting project. Kim tells me painting relaxes her. For me, spending time in the garden is a de-stressor. Trimming bushes, mowing the yard – I enjoy any chance to be outdoors. 

I’m also playing golf again and have taken up baking. I’ve started cooking pizza on the Traeger grill. Kim got me a pizza stone and a wooden pizza peel. They don’t always look great – in fact, they’re usually lopsided – but I’m having fun channeling my inner Gordon Ramsay.