Five Ways Summer Vacation is good for Your Business  

Forty-two percent of American workers didn’t use a single vacation day during 2014 according to travel information insider, Skift. Women generally take fewer vacations than men do, and even though most workers acrue an average of 10 vacation days per year, only a small percentage can afford to use their vacation time. Benefits are only beneficial if you use them.

My family only took two vacations when I was growing up. Once, we visited relatives in Ohio, and the other we took a lengthy trip to Greece to see my grandfather’s homeland. The rest of the time, we understood, my restaurateur father couldn’t leave his 24/7 business to do something as enjoyable as rest, relax, and just breathe.

I longed for my best friend Katie’s life instead. Her family took vacation every summer. Her father was a teacher and he didn’t worry that if he left for a week, the world might cave in around him. Many entrepreneurs and executives live life the way my dad did; they bottle up their stress and fear that if they take a vacation, they will not have a business to come back to. While other families build memories and enjoy relaxing walks on the beach, the only memories some executives’ families will have is the memory of an empty airplane seat where mom or dad should be and a too-stressed life with a heaping helping of stress hormones.

Vacation is good for business. Rather than stress about lost wages or the pile of work that will build up on your desk while you’re gone, think about the ways a vacation might help your business grow and prosper.

Competency Shines
When you take a vacation, you demonstrate competency as a leader, and encourage your team to demonstrate theirs as well. The best leaders won’t fret that the company will go under if they take a week off for vacation. The best leaders understand that they have assembled and trained a great team that will succeed no matter who is, or isn’t, in charge. Trust your team to continue to do an excellent job in your absence.

Success Blooms
Your energy level increases and your appetite for work improve with fresh air and sunshine. Your business will blossom because your employees will have space to grow and to reach for the sky. They can test their decision-making skills and practice what you have been preaching. At the same time, you lead by example. You cannot expect your employees to value a balanced life if they cannot look to their leader to model the behavior.

Productivity and Morale Increase
Can you recall how good you were as a child in the weeks leading up to Christmas? The promise of good things coming, a break from school, family trips and presents under the tree were enough to make even the worst child behave.

The same happens when adults anticipate a vacation on the horizon. Long hours tied to the computer become more bearable. Sales people have a spring in their step as they travel from client to client. Just the anticipation of something joyful, such as a vacation, actually alters brain chemistry to give you a boost. Imagine what could happen if everyone at the company took vacation every year.

Creativity Expands
Can you gaze at a waterfall and not wonder at its beauty? Or marvel at the Eiffel Tower or Stonehedge? Beautiful places, buildings and experiences feed the soul. It’s no wonder, then, that inspiration and ideas seem to come out of nowhere when you aren’t sitting at your desk. Ivanka Trump once commented, “In both business and personal life, I’ve always found that travel inspires me more than anything else I do. Evidence of the languages, cultures, scenery, food, and design sensibilities that I discover all over the world can be found in every piece of my jewelry.”

Energy Recharges
Few people would dispute the benefits for mind and body that vacation provides. Respite without the interference of cellphone or email seems about as likely as winning a Powerball jackpot, but it is possible. Sadly, professionals will forgo vacation entirely, perhaps because they do not see the point of taking days off, only to have to respond to emails or handle “problems.”

The full body recharge vacation provides isn’t as easily measured as sales quotas, but it is measureable. Sleeping an extra hour per night during vacation makes up a little for those late nights at the office. Healthy meals eaten at a leisurely pace, not wolfed down from a bag between one appointment and the next, aids digestion and disposition. Learning to stand up paddleboard proves you can teach an old dog new tricks. Bonding with your family, while watching a gorgeous sunset, energizes the most important relationships in your life.

What would happen if everyone at your company were running on a fully fueled engine? Imagine the productivity.

If you haven’t taken annual vacations before now, don’t worry. According to the U.S. Travel Association, the average age of leisure travelers is 47.5 years old. “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page,” St. Augustine wrote. It’s never too late to begin a new chapter.