How to Really Take a Break: Tips for Restorative Time Off
The Need to Unwind and the Struggle to Do So
Taking periodic time away from work recharges employees, boosts creativity, and even strengthens organizational productivity. And at a time when many mission-driven organizations face uncertainty or unpredictability, the need to recharge may be more urgent than ever. Yet many employees let their vacation days go unused or return from vacation exhausted rather than restored. So, how do you really take a break from work?
During TriMetrix’s June all-staff lunch and learn, team members gathered to discuss the value of time away from work and how to take breaks that truly allow for needed recharging. Together we explored ways to unplug, identified what’s holding us back from recharging, and set personal goals to make time off more meaningful and restorative.
Tips for Really Taking a Break
Together we talked about the importance of protecting our time off and structuring it in a way that allows us to fully disconnect from work. We explored the following tips:
Avoid overplanning. When it comes to restorative time away, less activity is likely to recharge more than a tight, stressful schedule. Instead of scheduling your vacation around obligatory sights, consider what is most important for you to see and build your trip around those experiences. Don’t overlook the benefits of wandering and surprise; unpredictability increases the pleasure you get from events you enjoy. Surprises generate a dose of noradrenaline, which helps with focus and attention. Finally, consider a buffer day at the end of your trip. Of course you want to get the most out of your days off, but downtime at home is important to gently reacclimating to your space and routines.
Turn off the tech. A break from technology reduces stress and anxiety and inspires us to move our bodies, resulting in reduced stress and improvements to our physical and mental well-being. It can be hard to start a new habit, so start small by turning off unnecessary notifications or temporarily deleting certain apps during a vacation.
Plan ahead. Predictable time off can improve well-being, work-life balance, efficiency, and productivity. Predictable time off means a designated time away from tasks that you associate with your job, including checking emails. Other research has found that even just looking forward to a vacation can lower your stress levels.
Adopt team practices that allow everyone to take time off. Cross training team members for critical tasks and projects allows for work to continue during others’ time off. Keeping a team calendar to document time off is also a great way for staff to coordinate and make sure workloads are covered during vacations and other leave. A team calendar can help support early planning, good communication, and collaboration around time off.
Take restorative breaks even on non-vacation days. Taking short breaks for movement can boost your energy and reduce strain from sitting too long. Stretching, walking, or light exercises will improve blood circulation and help improve your mood and focus. If you can incorporate movement outside, all the better! Exposure to nature is important in keeping us emotionally, psychologically, and physically healthy. If you’ve got no time for or access to nature during a work day, even nature documentaries or just the sound of a stream trickling can do the trick. One last way you can take a mental break from work is to spend a few minutes doing a creative activity – drawing, reading, or doing a puzzle can help you reset your brain.
Tips for Leaders
It is true that leaders’ actions drive organizational cultures, and the ways leaders recharge is no exception. Your actions set the norms for what staff perceive as acceptable behavior during non-business hours. So, if vacations always involve checking email or you’re “always available” during weekends, expect your staff to adopt similar expectations of themselves. It can be helpful to ask, “Am I modeling the healthy behaviors I would expect from my team?” OR “What kind of work culture are my actions perpetuating?”
The tips noted earlier are all useful for leaders. In fact, leaders may need to underscore them, as their roles bring frequent added stressors and pressures, necessitating even more effective recharging. In addition, leaders should consider the following:
Be available in case of an emergency, but define what “emergency” means. What feels like small potatoes to you may seem like a crisis to your team and vice versa. Have a conversation ahead of time off to let your team know what constitutes an emergency worthy of a phone call and what can wait until your return.
Leverage time off as a way to initiate leadership development and/or succession planning. By granting someone else responsibility or decision-making authority while you’re away, you provide opportunity for emerging leaders to strengthen their decision-making skills and build trust and respect among the team. The result may be opportunity to better delegate once you’re back in the office, easing your workload while growing another’s career.
Schedule a buffer zone. Some leaders avoid taking time off because they fear the extra hours of catch-up work upon return. Catching up is inevitable, though practicing the first two bullets should help reduce it. Consider scheduling a buffer zone on your calendar in the days before and after vacation. Block out time dedicated to catching up on email or checking in with delegatee for the “CliffsNotes” of what you missed.
We all need breaks to recharge, but how we take those breaks matters. We hope these tips can be of use to your team.
At TriMetrix we value our employees’ health and well-being and continually work together to create a culture that allows employees to thrive. Visit our values and culture page below.
