How to Have Guilt-Free Vacation Leaves
By John Reily Baluyot
Editor and Researcher: Kurt Allen De Castro
In my almost two decades of work experience, I've not filed for a leave longer than three-consecutive days. I always felt bad about the work that I will leave, or who will be shouldering them while I am away. Even with those three vacation leaves (VLs), I felt guilty because I thought it was too long to be away from work.
As Filipinos, we would forgo going for long refreshing vacations typically because of guilt. Guilt that the team will have to catch our workload while we are gone. Guilt that things might go wrong because we are the only ones who know certain types of work or output. Guilt that we are having fun while our team mates are taking the brunt of what we left. Especially in the Philippines where the concept of "hiya" is culturally very strong, it generally dissuades us from going for that much needed long break, or worse, trying to go for that break but still working a lot during the vacation. Sounds familiar?
We all know that vacations, travels especially, contribute to our wellbeing and they reduce our chances for burnout. In particular, vacation time and holidays are associated with higher levels of wellbeing because they allow you to soak in the spirit of mindfulness, breaking routines and allowing yourself to become more aware of the present (Davidson, 2020). Breaks are good for us in general, even more so if employees are able to take their vacation leaves to travel and rest intentionally. Finding the time to disengage from work is considered to be a strong indicator of increased levels of wellbeing, particularly in the areas of job and life satisfaction, as well as less reported stress, sleep problems, and general health complaints (Weir, 2019).
Because I just finished quite a fulfilling two-weeks off of work, let me share some tips that might also work for you:
Plan Way Ahead
The least we can do is to prepare our teams for when we take a long break. Let’s remember that we are borrowing from their time and energy. If we can make it easier for them to carry out some of our tasks and not give them little time to prepare in doing them, that helps a lot. For some useful tips, we can:
Target the dates of our vacation long enough to have good turnover (long planning also gets us cheaper flights for our travel).
Communicate to your team about those plans so they are not too pressured when we take our VLs.
Establish clearly who else can people ask when we are not around.
Start turning over earlier and not just a day before.
These are only a few of the many things that we can do to make turnover more convenient. It can help lessen our guilt and consequently increase our chances of being in the present during our vacation.
Set boundaries and agreements with your team
When things are clearer about our vacation situation, expectations from us are more vivid as well. That information gives our teammates some room to act or make decisions while we are away. However, if really needed, it might help to provide specific information on when we can be contacted, where and under what circumstances. In my case, I did two things: First, I became clear about the time difference and provided a time when I could be contacted. And for urgent matters, I also shared where I could be contacted fastest. These not only helped manage expectations but also some sense of comfort that in worse case scenarios, I may still be reached even with the time difference. I would just like to note that related to the first tip, with proper planning, it helps limit the possibility of being contacted at all during our vacation. In fact, when I let my team know in advance that I will be away for two weeks, the running directive from the other leaders while I was away was, “Leave John be during his vacation”.
Allot a specific time of the day to work — ONLY IF YOU HAVE TO
It’s not easy to disconnect from work cold turkey. Especially for workaholics like me, my day does not feel complete without working. I already recognize that it is part of who I am. To satisfy that part of me, but not dampen my vacation, I will look for a downtime in my day and just spend an hour at most working on what I have to. But after that short period and I already got my fix, I intentionally stop and go back to vacation mode. The ideal state is not not to work at all during vacations. It is to find the right balance between how much work you are willing to do and your vacation. If you are the type who gets satisfied by not working at all during vacations, that is perfectly fine. If it helps reassure and comfort you that you get an hour of work to satisfy the fix, do it. We know ourselves best. It is our time. Let’s freely use it as it satisfies and energizes us. Autonomy is a big factor even in our vacations.
Trust that this is your team's opportunity to grow.
Looking back, one of the richest growth moments I had was when my boss was away and I got to do my own thing for what she left me. These moments forced me to toughen up, be more creative, and grow more capabilities to make sure things do not go haywire while my boss was away. We have to keep in mind the same thing. If we always supervise from afar, not only are we wasting our vacation. It also creates an impression that we do not trust our team with what we left them. At the same time, we deprive them from the opportunity to grow from the experience where we assign them as OICs on our behalf. Believe me, I know how tempting it is to micro-manage. But really, are the trade-offs worth it?
Build strong work cultures
Cultures make carrying out work easier. With or without us, they help make the organization organically adjust to things, even leaders or crucial staff who’d be taking long vacations. In our case, the team members were very intentional about not disturbing people who are on leaves. That was from our core value of compassion and being intentional about wellbeing. It’s also the idea that we do not want to discourage people from taking their vacations because it might be an inconvenient experience for them having to worry about work all the time. This tip is easier said than done but the start is always trying to process what the organization's core values are and if there are capabilities scaffolded to support those values so that they can live in the activities of the organization. Otherwise, you can always read some of our resources for free: www.positiveworkplaces.org/resources to learn more about creating positive cultures in organizations or reach out to us via thrive@positiveworkplaces.org for more customized consulting work on culture building.
Had I not done all these things, I would not have been able to tick a very important bucket list which was to travel around Europe. That trip made me so excited and energized to go back to work with a renewed sense of worth and clarity — having been able to see where I am and getting more ideas as to where I want my future to look like.
Had I not followed these tips, I would not have:
Seen the top of Europe
Enjoyed the Castles of Gent, and seen where Jose Rizal published El Filibusterismo
Met fellow Filipinos in Europe and hear their stories of how much they miss the Philippines despite the First world feels they are surrounded by
Savored Isetwald, that iconic small town in Switzerland where my favorite kdrama "Crash Landing on You", shot where Se Ri heard Captain Ri playing the piano at the lake.
My team would have felt that I did not trust that they can do their work without me
My team would have not grown from the experience of being able to run the show even when I was not around
And lastly, I would not have gotten the well-deserved break I needed after months, no, years, of grinding and pushing for targets to be achieved.
Most of us do a lot of good because of our work. And what we do will only be sustainable if we get regular meaningful refresh.
Yung makina nga kailangan ng pahinga, yung tao pa.
Let’s try to be more intentional with our breaks and less guilty about taking them. Our work can be a great source of wellbeing only if we also take care of ourselves. Besides, without us, who will do them well?
References:
Castrillon, C. (2021, May 23). Why Taking Vacation Time Could Save Your Life. Forbes.
Clemence, S. (2020, February 26). 5 Reasons You Need to Take a Vacation, According to Science. Travel and Leisure. https://www.travelandleisure.com/trip-ideas/yoga-wellness /why-vacation-matters-the-science-of-taking-time-off
Weir, K. (2019, January). Give me a break. Monitor on Psychology. https://www.apa.org/ monitor/2019/01/break
