Could More Vacation Time Make Us Happier and More Productive?

As summer approaches and schools close, people around the world are heading off to vacation; well, people everywhere around the world but, it seems, those living in the United States. In comparison to employees in many other countries, U.S. employees on average receive less vacation time and take less time off.

HR consulting firm Mercer ranked countries around the world when it came to vacation time and found that the average vacation days allotted to U.S. employees working in large companies was fifteen; members of the European Union were given twenty days off each year for paid vacation. Beyond that, companies in Europe promoted vacations that lasted at least two weeks, which, in the United States, would almost eat up an employee’s entire year’s worth of vacation days.

Many countries promote more than fifteen days of paid down time. Finland offers a minimum of thirty each year, as does France; those living in Hungary clock in at twenty-three. Move to Poland and you’ll find yourself with twenty-six paid days to frolic by the beach, but steer clear of Thailand, where employees receive on average only six paid vacation days per year.

Absence of nurturing

Why would an additional five to ten paid vacation days off each year help employees in the United States? According to author and life coach Terri Amos-Britt, "We are a society that is driven by the belief that we must 'make' things happen and that life is a competition, so we don't take the time to nurture and love ourselves."

It is, she says, the absence of nurturing that causes our lack in the first place, making us more competitive and angrier. This sets a negative tone in the workplace and at home. However, she goes on to say, "When we take the time to vacation, really recharging, we become more joyful and abundant from the inside out."

Personally, I can say that after one week on vacation doing minimal work and spending a large amount of my time talking with my mother, catching up with friends I haven’t seen in a while, and playing and spending time with my daughters, I feel recharged. The worries I had at the beginning of the vacation (Where would my next project come from? How would I balance my time once I returned? How would a client and I proceed on a large project I’m guiding?) have dissipated. I don’t feel the need to wake at the crack of dawn each morning and get something done. I can wake when I am rested and move forward from there. This is, of course, what vacation time is for, which is why it is so desperately needed.

More articles from AllBusiness.com:

• Here’s What Happened After I Forced My Employees to Take Their Vacation Days
• How to Take Time Off When You Run a Small Business
• 7 Tips for Preparing Your Business If You’re Planning a Summer Getaway
• 3 Negative Messages You Send Your Boss When You Don’t Disconnect While on Vacation
• How Much Vacation Do Your Employees Need to Be More Productive?

Mark Faust, author of Growth or Bust!, a book committed to teaching readers how to accelerate a company’s growth and productivity, says, “One of my most frequent pieces of advice to the leaders of companies is to take more vacation time.” Additionally, Faust has executives set “free day” goals based on how many more free days they’d like to have.

It takes eight days to recharge

Dr. Debra Condren, author of Ambition Is Not a Dirty Word, found when interviewing people for her book that it took about eight days into a vacation before they began to unwind and destress. "The obvious problem is that for the majority of Americans who do take vacations, eight days of vacation is highly unusual." Far too often, she notes, U.S. workers are headed back to work after just a few days off.

Would it harm a company to offer more paid vacation time? Probably not. Most employees return to work more productive and less stressed after having the time off to unwind. PR professional Susan Sweenie says her company began rewarding more vacation time to employees in an effort to improve employee morale, along with a bonus week of vacation time each year around the holidays so employees could have more family time. In addition to improved morale, says Sweenie, her company's policy "lets our employees know just how much we value their hard work."

RELATED: How to Take a Vacation From Your Business Without Worry