How Sabbaticals Can Be A Useful Tool For Retaining Productive Employees

When an employee leaves the company of his or her own volition, it is called voluntary turnover. In this essay, I will discuss why voluntary turnover is a problem for many organisations and how to retain employees.

The United States is commonly known as “No-Vacation Nation” (Thompson, 2012) because Americans typically prioritize work over studies and family. (1)Although people in America take fewer vacations than any nation in the world, socioeconomics may be a reason for why employees focus more on work than research and relationships in the American culture. "There is simply no evidence that working people to death gives you a competitive advantage" (Pawlowski, 2011). (2)As a citizen of the United States and one who has often fallen prey to these ideals, the trend to overwork has been an affliction to overcome. Family and scholarly efforts have been sacrificed, but over the past year or two, I have made a conscious effort to alter my “live to work”

Retaining employees is one way the turnover rate can decrease, Branham (2000), focuses on retaining valuable employees by incorporating four key elements. The first key elements is, “be a company that people want to work for”. There are many companies that have been labeled as, “employers of choice”. These employers all have something in common, which is how they value their employers (Branham, 2000). They treat their employees with respect and like family. With being an “employer of choice,” people are the most valuable asset; not just customers but employees too. Many companies go above and beyond for their customers, but not for their employees, yet they wonder why they are losing valuable talent.

In “Hit the Rest Button in Your Brain,” Daniel J. Levitin successfully argues that taking a vacation will not only allow you to be with family but also help your brain rest. Appealing to ethos and logos, he uses statistics and reasoning to reach out to his intended readers on how taking a vacation can be a “false break” (Levitin 1). Also, Levitin explains certain suggestions and proposals towards to what a human being does and ties in with how it can affect people throughout the day. Levitins context readers would be people who work many hours and never take a vacation or who read this specific newspaper The New York Times.

The typical U.S. employee with paid vacation time took just a little more than half of his or her allowed time off in the previous 12 months, according to an April 2014 Harris survey conducted for Glass door. Just a quarter reported taking all the time off given to them, while 2 in 5 said they had taken 25 percent or less of their available time off (Milligan, 2015). For these employees, they may have the perception that when say “unlimited vacation”, it really means that there is “no vacation”.

It is imperative that the employee can balance his/her working life against his/her personal life. With sufficient time off and rest periods, employees will feel “looked after” and be motivated to put in more effort. There will be a reduction of mistakes because the employee has had adequate rest which results in a more positive working environment. Employers who introduce such practices in the work place in order to help employees achieve a better and satisfactory work/life balance can expect to see an increase in motivation, enhanced performance/productivity and greater staff loyalty. By implementing a positive work/life balance, companies are successful, secure a good reputation and promote positive employee relations. The Working Time Regulations 1998 stipulates that employers should provide employees with the following basic rights:

In addition to excessively long work hours, a lack of vacation time negatively affects productivity. However, American workers often do not or cannot take a vacation. The United States is the only advanced nation that does not guarantee paid vacation, while European countries allow for 20 to 30 paid days off annually (Covert, 2014; Olen, 2014). Even with these

Organizations are always looking for ways to improve their company so they can have continued growth and success. Netflix did this by re-evaluating their vacation policy. Each organization must adapt ways to improve their culture by what works for their organization. Working in the healthcare field more structure and control are needed. For companies like Netflix more emphasis is placed on flexibility and being able to adapt for different situations. Through Netflix’s success many companies, including my own, could use some of their ideas to promote employee satisfaction.

There are fifty-two weeks in a year. Of those fifty-two weeks, forty-seven are used for work and only five can be used to rest, relax, and recharge. What happens after those five weeks? The only thing left is to return to work at the same monotonous job as before. It seems like those five weeks should be used to their fullest extent, but they often are not. I have heard family members complain, countless times, that they do not want to use their paid time off. Whenever I ask why I either get a shrug or a slow “I do not know”. This has left me to ponder. As a student, I have always been able to feel and see the importance of breaks. A nice, long break can create time for me to rest and focus so that not even the minutest detail can get passed

The average employee who gets paid time off only takes about half of it, and three-quarters are only using some of it. Fifteen percent report not taking any time at all. Most of the people who do take their vacation time still do some type of work while they are away. They may also be driven by the fear of high expectations, as nineteen percent report that they work on vacation because they feel like they can’t be disconnected, seventeen percent are afraid that they won’t meet their goals and the same percent fear they’ll lose their job, and six percent say they work during their time off because they’re afraid of their bosses. The failure to take vacation time doesn’t just mean that Americans are working themselves too hard. It also means that companies and the economy suffer (Nehamas

In the song “The Day Off” from the musical Sunday in the Park they talk about taking time off to better prepare for the week ahead. I believe this is a very important concept. Taking time to just chill or even rest your brain for five minutes can make the next thing on your schedule more productive than if you went straight into the activity.

When an employee must leave, the employer encounters substantial costs in relation to hiring new employees to replace those who have left. Additional costs such as temporary employees can also accrue, when there is an immediate need for replacement, and training for new hires is significant. One way employers are attempting to retain employees is job perks. Employee perception of the benefits they receive can impact how long they stay with a particular employer. According to the Aflac Workforce Report, employee perception of wellness programs can lead to employee retention through job satisfaction and morale (Aflac, 2012).

After working all year long, sometimes sixty plus hours a week, the mind and body can become very worn down. You have to have a break or your work performance could suffer. The last part of winter or the first part of spring, is when

A recent survey by The Society for Human Resource Management ranked tuition reimbursement programs and vacation/holiday time as the top two retention initiatives being offered by employers. In addition, instant recognition programs, such as spot bonuses, are being used to reward excellence in performance as it occurs. Such programs give employees immediate gratification for their efforts rather than delaying it until annual reviews. Also, flexible work hours and telecommuting programs that allow employees to better balance their work commitments with their family duties are becoming more common. According to Ceridian Employer Services (2004), "90 percent of companies with more than 5,000 employees allow telecommuting.... And ... 52 percent of large companies use virtual teams." Organizations must continually search for innovative ways to retain their best employees. Fortunately, the costs of these efforts are low in comparison to the high costs of turnover.

          Personally, I felt that as a worker that I spent my leisure time more constructively. I had once worked as a tollbooth worker in a local amusement park. I enjoyed that job and had nothing if little to say bad about it. I noticed that when I had time off, I took more time to spend it with my friends. I read more and did the things that I wanted to get to that I previously didn’t have time for. I am presuming that these events occurred because I didn’t have to worry about going back to work the next day. That my next hours of work wouldn’t be a personal hell, but rather a place where I can consider something that I like doing, I get paid for.