Mandatory time off: When taking holiday is part of the job – By Aishwarya Jagani (BBC) / July 31, 2022
People were already working long hours before the pandemic, but Covid-19 further extended workdays. It’s taking a toll. According to recent data, nearly three-fifths of employees reported experiencing negative impacts of work-related stress in 2021. Yet despite their elevated stress levels, more than 50% of American workers end up leaving paid vacation days unused.
To counteract this trend, some companies are experimenting with mandatory vacation policies, under which workers are required to take a minimum amount of time off every quarter, half-year or year. These policies can even include financial incentives that reward staff for taking full holiday allocations.
This concept, which is fairly new, began gaining ground amid the Covid-19 pandemic, and is being pioneered largely by knowledge-work companies of various sizes (the most high-profile example is finance firm Goldman Sachs, which is combining unlimited holiday for executives with a policy requiring staffers to take at least 15 days leave each year). These firms say their goal is to foster a working culture that encourages rest, removing barriers – both perceived and overt – that prevent workers from leaving the office. In this way, companies hope they can mitigate burnout and improve worker satisfaction.
As more companies look for ways to ensure a healthy, productive workforce, could mandatory vacation be an important part of the puzzle?
