Should Spring Break be a Thing for Corporate America? This Company Just Said YES
LinkedIn just read my mind.
When a teacher friend posted how she was spending her Spring Break, the sting of jealousy was real. The only thing that ever made me want to be a teacher was the intermittent breaks throughout the year. Spring break, Christmas break, and up to 3 months off during the summer. Teachers have a HARD JOB, and they deserve that time off. But, those of us who work for corporations work hard, too. We have our fair share of vacation hours, but research has proven we’d rather let those hours sit like money in a bank than cash them in. What gives?
According to a pre-pandemic article from Marketplace based on an annual report from the U.S. Travel Association, "More than half of Americans don't use all of their paid vacation days...employees said that worries about work were the biggest factor holding them back from taking time off."
For some, it’s the fear that already overloaded coworkers will have to cover for you. Maybe the obsessive anxiety to check work emails non-stop negates the need to take a vacation? Others fear the never-ending emails that will flood our inbox the second we open that little icon. (This is ABSOLUTELY the source of my Sunday Scaries.)
Then, I saw a post: LinkedIn gave 15,900 full-time employees the same 1 week off.
Paid.
It’s Spring Break, corporate-style.
Why’d they do it? “Soaring rates of burnout” and “mental health afflictions” said Human Resources Executive.
Then, LinkedIn said this: “There is something magical about the entire company taking a break at the same time…and the best part? Not coming back to an avalanche of unanswered internal emails.”
Told ya…they read my mind. TWICE.
I work at a company that’s done some incredible things to help prevent burnout, from setting up no-meeting hours and giving us free access to one of my favorite apps (Calm) to giving company-wide full days off. And I remember there WAS something nice and collaborative about knowing we ALL had the freedom to rest, recharge, and not work.
Here’s to hoping my own company is clairvoyant and can read my mind…or read this.