When I was younger, Memorial Day always marked the beginning of summer. Now that I live in sun-drenched Fort Lauderdale, it seems that summer never ends. But I know that for many of you who had to endure the long, cold winter, Memorial Day still marks the beginning of summer fun. Soon the kids will be out of school and people will start taking their planned vacations. For many of you, summer may also mean shorter business hours allowing you to get a jump start on your weekends.
As I was preparing for this weeks edition of Across My Desk, I came across some surprising statistics from Hudson, an employment firm, about how American’s utilize their vacation time.
- More than half of American workers fail to take all their vacation days.
- Thirty percent say they use less than half their allotted time.
- Twenty percent take only a few days instead of a week or two.
The survey pointed out that Americans take even less vacation than the Japanese, the people who gave rise to karoshi – the phenomenon of being worked to death! Taking vacation is important. Experts say that if you don’t take a break, your creative and problem-solving abilities will eventually burn out. Case managers depend on these very abilities to do their work, so I hope that you have made your plans to take some well-deserved time off this summer.
If you have not decided what you and your family will do this summer, take some time this week to start planning. Where would you like to go? The mountains? The beach? Maybe you’ll finally take that long-desired trip to Europe. Perhaps you won’t go anywhere, but instead stay home to tackle those projects that keep getting put off due to lack of time. Recently a friend of mine who travels a great deal for work told me that when she schedules her vacation time, she stays home with her family so they can complete one project each year together.
Make a promise right now that you will not put off your vacation plans any longer. Take the time to decide when and where you want to go, and then submit your time-off request to your supervisor so that you can recharge your batteries!
I am taking my own advice this week, so there will be no News You Can Use because I am on vacation!
Take care and see you next week!
Anne Llewellyn, RN-BC, MS, BHSA, CCM, CRRN
Editor-in-Chief of Across My Desk, Case in Point magazine, and the Case Management Resource Guide
allewellyn@dorlandhealth.com
