The fallacy of leave

Many people these days suffer from burnout and work related stress. It seems that there is not enough time in a day to meet all the demands placed on us in a timely fashion.

If asked, many people would opt for a bigger staff compliment to share the workload as opposed to more money.

The daily grind is often placated with the future hope of a 2 week leave break later in the year.

For many this is the mirage of death, as more many, leave no longer exists. I would argue that the only people that can really enjoy leave are those whose professions are based on physical presence.

Examples include receptionists, school teachers, toll booth operators, doctors, dentists (most medical professions) and a number of others.

The reason for this is that when they are not present at work, then either no work gets done or the work is transferred to others. Other staff have to pick up the slack for that period and actually do the work. If a toll booth operator raises the boom on average 50 times per day, they do not have a backlog of 500 procedures if they take 10 days off. Someone else will raise the boom on those days.

The same for a doctor. If they have 20 consults a day, they do not have 200 consults backed up after 10 days leave. They may have a few that chose to wait for them, but the urgent matters would have consulted another doctor.

This is where the typical office worker gets the short end of the stick. As an example, an accountant or auditor has to process and close off a set of books on a monthly basis. They can choose to spread out the work evenly over that period or work harder on some days.

The downside is that in most cases nobody else will pick up the slack when they take 10 days off. They will have to decide between working longer hours in the weeks leading up to their leave or coming back to find a huge pile of work waiting for them, that is all urgent.

I would argue in this case that no real leave has taken place. It is merely a flexi-time scenario, albeit over a few weeks instead of a few days. I would be curious to explore the legal definition of what actually constitutes leave.

The stress of having to either work in two weeks’ worth of work in advance or catch up two weeks’ worth of work within a few days after a break nullifies the benefits of actually taking the time off.

In many cases people are unable to switch off as they know what is waiting for them when they return.

Others do not truly leave, but take their laptops with them and still work part time while they are on leave in an attempt to lessen the burden upon their return.

Some bosses will continually contact staff while on leave to ask about pending work and other urgent matters. This too nullifies the leave and prevents the employee from disengaging.

This is why we see a number of people experiencing burnout and eventual apathy as to the quality of their work, in the face of a relentless schedule or never ending urgent matters.

So, what can be done?

First prize for those still young enough to consider career alternatives is to pick wisely the career you go into to minimize this kind of future stress. As stated above, anything medical is a winner. Teaching is also good.

Secondly you will need to develop a solid backup for your position at work. Your boss needs to see the benefit of building redundancy into the workforce so that if someone should fall under a bus there are others who can keep the ship steady. This will also allow you to go on leave and have the bulk of your work performed by others while you are away.

While it is an ego boost to feel indispensable, the result is that you will never be free of your office. Rather spread the expertise and duties around.

The result of proper planning will ensure that you take proper leave and actually recharge. The benefits will be apparent to your company over time.

Happy and de-stressed employees are less likely to take sick leave, or extended burnout leave. The pooling of skills will also enhance the overall competency of the workforce.

 While leave might be regarded as a luxury, it is actually a necessity for the wellbeing of any worker.