Why longer summer breaks may be the key to battling burnout
Burnout has been a buzzword for a large part of the last few years, further fuelled by the pandemic and a mass shift towards hybrid and remote working.
With August here, it’s not unusual to see your colleagues take time off work for a week or two, or see parents take sporadic days off to juggle childcare duties with their partners, grandparents and childminders during the school summer holidays.
For some European countries, it’s not uncommon to see employees take 2 -4 consecutive weeks off work. ‘The Swedish Summer‘ sees people take 4 weeks off work in one go, and it’s part of the culture. It’s a tradition dating back decades and for many organisations and their employees, it’s normal to dramatically decrease their output and activity during the summer, or close entirely. What’s more, this 4 weeks of consecutive leave is guaranteed by the Swedish Annual Leave Act.
The benefits of longer summer breaks
There’s no question that annual leave is an important part of work, with employers legally required to provide the minimum holiday entitlement as stipulated by their country’s law. But to stay competitive and attractive in the field of recruitment, many employers offer more than the minimum amount of holiday entitlement.
It’s not just about making your business a more attractive place to work, though, as bodies of research point to the fact that employees need time off work for several important reasons – not least of which is to stay productive.
A recent study showed that annual leave can improve productivity by as much as 40%, and reduce the risk of sick leave by up to 28%.
And it’s easy to understand why. Time away from work helps employees to get the rest they need – both physically and mentally. Just taking a short break away from a project can help you to come back with new ideas and a fresh perspective, so imagine what a 4 week break could do.
Battling burnout with longer breaks
The term might have been around for a while, but employee burnout doesn’t show much sign of slowing. A study conducted in 2023 by Glassdoor found that reports of burnout in the UK had almost doubled in 12 months – reaching its highest figure since the company began monitoring the data back in 2016.
The rapid rise of burnout following the pandemic hit a new high in 2021 – coinciding with ‘the Great Resignation’ which saw a shifting labour market deal with high numbers of employees quitting their roles, giving workers more power when it came to seeking a new job that better suited their lifestyles and new ways of working post-pandemic.
But with burnout showing little sign of abating, and the research which backs up the importance of using annual leave to boost wellbeing and productivity, then perhaps longer summer breaks are something which more employees, organisations, and even countries could consider adopting.
Managing annual leave during the summer period
A notably busy time for holiday planning, childcare and getting outside into the sun, organisations can face challenges when it comes to managing leave during the summer.
In one centralised platform, edays empowers employees to request annual leave, keep track of their holiday entitlement and view team calendars. Managers are able to approve or deny annual leave requests, log sickness leave, and report on key metrics that matter when it comes to absence, holiday usage, overtime, TOIL and more.
