If you’re thinking once again that this summer is not a “good time” to take a break from the grind, especially with open-enrollment season just around the corner, you’re in good company. Nearly half of American workers don’t take their full paid vacation time off.
I get it. We want to do great work for our clients and don’t want to drop the ball, burden our co-workers, come back to a mountain of catch-up work, or put our jobs in jeopardy. These feelings are amplified even further for professionals whose job it is to help see to the needs of others, like HR and benefits. The issue is that it’s nearly impossible to design policies and resources that really feel useful and appropriate when you are burned out yourself and lack the resilience and spaciousness of mind to do so. We have to walk the talk in order to cultivate work cultures that value excellence over perfection, outcomes over “face time” and humanity over rigid process.
