According to one recent study, The number of employers at companies with fewer than 100 workers who plan to take a summer vacation has continued to fall in the past four years. Two in three bosses worry about their businesses when they're out of the office. Fully 75 percent check in by phone or E-mail even when they're on "vacation," many of them several times a day.
A life! There's a good chance the benefits of vacation will go straight to the bottom line. According to a study by American Express, more than a third of small-business people say their best ideas—the ones that lead to business growth—come not at work but during their downtime. "Having a life outside of work doesn't detract from work success" but enhances it, a study by the Families and Work Institute concluded in 2005.
Happier people, no surprise, tend to be more productive than unhappy people. Two business professors, Sigal Barsade of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and Donald Gibson of Fairfield University, found in a recent study that employee moods have a measurable effect on just about everything anyone does at work-job performance, decision making, creativity, turnover, teamwork, and leadership.
Overwork also comes with serious health risks. Researchers have found that people who work long hours can even become addicted to their own stress hormones. They feel sluggish when they're out of the office, so they head back for their fix, and the cycle repeats itself. Continuous stress also affects the performance of the part of the brain responsible for memory.
Why don't you taking some time off can work wonders on health and productivity. Studies show the psychological benefits of vacation start accruing after seven days. It takes most people two or three days just to start relaxing.
So if your work is struggling, here's a solution: Go to the beach. It'll be good for you—and it might even be good for your company.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment