Stress is killing workers and is costing employers and governments billions of dollars. Employees need more time away from the office, meaningful time off from work with no cell phones, laptops, e-mail or any other umbilical cord to work.
Through recessions and downsizing, businesses have evolved to become lean, mean, productivity-driven machines. As a result, employees are required to work harder, longer and perform at a higher rate of productivity.
In a report, the Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health identified longer work hours as a top contributor to workplace stress. This is pushing a lot of employees over the edge and costing the Canadian economy billions of dollars in lost productivity.
VACATION TIME
Even when Canadians do take vacation, the quality of it is in doubt. According to Nora Spinks, president, Work-Life Harmony Enterprises, a Toronto-based research and consulting firm. “One of those things that we are seeing more and more of is interrupted vacation time, unfocused vacation time where people either check their voice mail or check their e-mail while on vacation, or they get interrupted by the workplace while they are on vacation. Either way it can be quite negative.”
Canadians need to take a real vacation. So, how much vacation time is enough? Calculating vacation time is not an exact science. There is no hard and fast evidence to show that “x” number of weeks will result in “y” levels of productivity. Vacation time varies greatly from country to country, and is largely reflective of socially constructed, pre-established norms.
Across the European Union, every worker has a right to four weeks paid vacation under the working time directive. However, Germany and France have higher standards of paid vacation entitlement — six weeks and five weeks respectively.
Even within Canada, the provincial norms for vacation time vary from province to province. Saskatchewan leads with three weeks of paid vacation by law, increasing to four weeks after 10 years of service. Ontario and the Maritime provinces lag behind all others with a mere two weeks’ paid vacation.
“I don’t know what the ideal is because these things change over time. Two weeks vacation was quite radical in the 1930s, but now it seems quite paltry,” said Anders Hayden, author of Sharing the Work, Sparing the Planet. “If the Europeans have four weeks as a minimum, why not us?”
In some situations, laws governing paid vacation time act primarily as a minimum starting point. Some employers have better standards within their own workplace.
COPING WITH TIME OFF
Employers often struggle with dealing with the voids created by vacationing employees. The prospect of managing these absences can seem daunting, but by looking at other countries that have longer vacation leaves, employers can draw upon their work models for solutions.
“For example, in France where people take five weeks’ vacation, you become used to managing these absences,” said Hayden. “You have people who can fill in, you have more sharing of information, more workers who have a variety of skill sets who can fill in for absences. And you have workers who know what to do with their free time.”
WHO CAN SPARE THE TIME?
In Canada, being entitled to vacation time and having the time to take vacations are two entirely separate things.
In a July 1998 Globe and Mail study, 58 per cent of people surveyed said they planned to take a summer holiday — down from 76 per cent in 1992. The number of people taking their vacations is on the decline largely in part because there is no one to fill in while on holidays.
“It’s really not a vacation when you have to work overtime for the next 10 days when you come back to catch up. For some people, it’s just not worth it to go on vacation they’d rather work right through. It’s less stressful,” stated Spinks.
“American surveys show that vacation time is very stressful,” said Hayden. “When employees get back, there’s just going to be two more weeks of e-mail. It’s like you’re having to work extra to get that time.”
Hayden goes on to point out that an employee who gets only two weeks of vacation time, and works 50 hours a week is practically at a point where there is not much life outside of work anyway.
“The sudden prospect of free time doesn’t seem all that valuable because it’s like ‘what am I going to do with this?’,” continued Hayden. “You haven’t been involved in your community, you haven’t been on a sports team, you haven’t spent time developing other aspect of your life. You have to invest energy and time in your world outside of work for it to have value and for it to be there for you.
“For the individual, it is a question of quality of life primarily,” said Hayden. “It goes beyond issues of vacations, but to work time more generally. Getting away from the long-hours model that we seem to have embraced in recent years has a lot of potential to improve the quality of life of people.”
TAKING ITS TOLL
Stress is notorious for causing high blood-pressure and cardiovascular disease. The Japanese have coined the term “karoshi” — death from overwork.
In April 2000, the country witnessed its highest profile case of karoshi, that of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi who slipped into a coma following a stroke. At the time, he was in the midst of struggling with a coalition government and the volcanic eruption of Mount Usu. The 62-year-old prime minister had a gruelling schedule that allowed for only five hours of sleep per night and never more than one day off at a time.
Granted this is an extreme case, but it is important to understand that in Canada the impact of work stress is evident.
In a Statistics Canada survey, Overview of the time use of Canadians, released in November 1999, one-third of Canadians aged 25 to 44 — three million people — indicated that they consider themselves to be workaholics. More than half of this age group felt that they did not have enough time for family or friends, and just fewer than half felt that their feelings of stress would not change in the future.
A separate Statistics Canada survey released at the same time found that people who did experience longer hours of work were suffering from poorer health. Longer hours of work were associated with increased weight gain, smoking and alcohol consumption.
Damage from overwork can manifest itself also in terms of lower productivity, lower moral and a lower quality of work.
“We are seeing a huge rise in short-term disability, stress leave, illness and injury rates, and turnover — people are just leaving because they have just had enough,” offered Spinks. “People taking a break then getting a job somewhere else. Employers are paying for it in sick leave, prescription drugs, turnover, productivity, short-term disability. They are already paying for it, it’s just out of control.”
CHOOSING WHAT IS IMPORTANT
According to Hayden, it is a question of how employers choose to take advantage of labour productivity advances. The bottom line is that employers have time versus money choices.
“We can produce more in every hour of labour every year. Generally, we get a two-per-cent productivity advance every year,” said Hayden. “If two-per-cent more production and consumption (increase) is possible every year, two-per-cent reduction of work time with the same pay is also possible.”
The rewards of choosing increased production are obvious and immediate: increased production results in increased output that results in higher sales. However, the rewards of choosing increased time are equally valid although they are more long term.
“If you take a serious look at working time, work hours, time off, career breaks, and we manage it effectively, it will eventually cost us less than what we are currently paying,” said Spinks. “The return on that investment and the return on those savings will be significantly higher than if we let things continue as they are.”
TIME OUT FOR TIME OFF
Historically, the movement for shorter work hours in all its forms has been largely pushed for by labour. Along the way, however, there have been “enlightened” employers who identified the benefits of productivity and higher morale while avoiding the problems associated with the long-hour models. Specifically, people working 14 hours a day in a factory eventually become rebellious, have more accidents and produce lower quality work.
When Henry Ford brought in his $5 per day employment model, he also implemented the eight-hour work day in a 40-hour work week that he felt was part of having a productive workforce. Likewise, during the Great Depression, Kellogg’s of Battlecreek, Mich. implemented a six-hour work day in a 30-hour-work-week.
ALTERNATIVE TO VACATION TIME
Time off does not always have to take the form of vacation days. Over the course of their last three collective bargaining rounds, the Canadian Autoworkers Union has pushed, not for extra vacation time, but for two weeks worth of scheduled personal absence (SPA) days. The SPA days are randomly scheduled by a computer as one week blocks of paid time off. This effectively manages the workforce allowing for an equal number of employees away throughout the year.
Another alternative is income averaging or self-funded sabbaticals where the employee plans for time off to possibly travel, go back to school or have a child.
“The number companies using this is increasing every year. We are beginning to understand that it is better to plan and prepare for a career break than it is to work until you drop and have an unscheduled or unplanned break in the name of a short term disability, stress leave, or a leave without pay,” said Spinks. “We can use that as an opportunity to cross train, to mentor and to give people opportunities. We have less opportunity for advancement, so we need different kinds of opportunities.”
Time is good not only for employees, but for employers as well. Employees who take time off, return with a fresh perspective and rejuvenated energy. For employers, this can only result in increased productivity and increased quality of work.
In a report, the Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health identified longer work hours as a top contributor to workplace stress. This is pushing a lot of employees over the edge and costing the Canadian economy billions of dollars in lost productivity.
VACATION TIME
Even when Canadians do take vacation, the quality of it is in doubt. According to Nora Spinks, president, Work-Life Harmony Enterprises, a Toronto-based research and consulting firm. “One of those things that we are seeing more and more of is interrupted vacation time, unfocused vacation time where people either check their voice mail or check their e-mail while on vacation, or they get interrupted by the workplace while they are on vacation. Either way it can be quite negative.”
Canadians need to take a real vacation. So, how much vacation time is enough? Calculating vacation time is not an exact science. There is no hard and fast evidence to show that “x” number of weeks will result in “y” levels of productivity. Vacation time varies greatly from country to country, and is largely reflective of socially constructed, pre-established norms.
Across the European Union, every worker has a right to four weeks paid vacation under the working time directive. However, Germany and France have higher standards of paid vacation entitlement — six weeks and five weeks respectively.
Even within Canada, the provincial norms for vacation time vary from province to province. Saskatchewan leads with three weeks of paid vacation by law, increasing to four weeks after 10 years of service. Ontario and the Maritime provinces lag behind all others with a mere two weeks’ paid vacation.
“I don’t know what the ideal is because these things change over time. Two weeks vacation was quite radical in the 1930s, but now it seems quite paltry,” said Anders Hayden, author of Sharing the Work, Sparing the Planet. “If the Europeans have four weeks as a minimum, why not us?”
In some situations, laws governing paid vacation time act primarily as a minimum starting point. Some employers have better standards within their own workplace.
COPING WITH TIME OFF
Employers often struggle with dealing with the voids created by vacationing employees. The prospect of managing these absences can seem daunting, but by looking at other countries that have longer vacation leaves, employers can draw upon their work models for solutions.
“For example, in France where people take five weeks’ vacation, you become used to managing these absences,” said Hayden. “You have people who can fill in, you have more sharing of information, more workers who have a variety of skill sets who can fill in for absences. And you have workers who know what to do with their free time.”
WHO CAN SPARE THE TIME?
In Canada, being entitled to vacation time and having the time to take vacations are two entirely separate things.
In a July 1998 Globe and Mail study, 58 per cent of people surveyed said they planned to take a summer holiday — down from 76 per cent in 1992. The number of people taking their vacations is on the decline largely in part because there is no one to fill in while on holidays.
“It’s really not a vacation when you have to work overtime for the next 10 days when you come back to catch up. For some people, it’s just not worth it to go on vacation they’d rather work right through. It’s less stressful,” stated Spinks.
“American surveys show that vacation time is very stressful,” said Hayden. “When employees get back, there’s just going to be two more weeks of e-mail. It’s like you’re having to work extra to get that time.”
Hayden goes on to point out that an employee who gets only two weeks of vacation time, and works 50 hours a week is practically at a point where there is not much life outside of work anyway.
“The sudden prospect of free time doesn’t seem all that valuable because it’s like ‘what am I going to do with this?’,” continued Hayden. “You haven’t been involved in your community, you haven’t been on a sports team, you haven’t spent time developing other aspect of your life. You have to invest energy and time in your world outside of work for it to have value and for it to be there for you.
“For the individual, it is a question of quality of life primarily,” said Hayden. “It goes beyond issues of vacations, but to work time more generally. Getting away from the long-hours model that we seem to have embraced in recent years has a lot of potential to improve the quality of life of people.”
TAKING ITS TOLL
Stress is notorious for causing high blood-pressure and cardiovascular disease. The Japanese have coined the term “karoshi” — death from overwork.
In April 2000, the country witnessed its highest profile case of karoshi, that of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi who slipped into a coma following a stroke. At the time, he was in the midst of struggling with a coalition government and the volcanic eruption of Mount Usu. The 62-year-old prime minister had a gruelling schedule that allowed for only five hours of sleep per night and never more than one day off at a time.
Granted this is an extreme case, but it is important to understand that in Canada the impact of work stress is evident.
In a Statistics Canada survey, Overview of the time use of Canadians, released in November 1999, one-third of Canadians aged 25 to 44 — three million people — indicated that they consider themselves to be workaholics. More than half of this age group felt that they did not have enough time for family or friends, and just fewer than half felt that their feelings of stress would not change in the future.
A separate Statistics Canada survey released at the same time found that people who did experience longer hours of work were suffering from poorer health. Longer hours of work were associated with increased weight gain, smoking and alcohol consumption.
Damage from overwork can manifest itself also in terms of lower productivity, lower moral and a lower quality of work.
“We are seeing a huge rise in short-term disability, stress leave, illness and injury rates, and turnover — people are just leaving because they have just had enough,” offered Spinks. “People taking a break then getting a job somewhere else. Employers are paying for it in sick leave, prescription drugs, turnover, productivity, short-term disability. They are already paying for it, it’s just out of control.”
CHOOSING WHAT IS IMPORTANT
According to Hayden, it is a question of how employers choose to take advantage of labour productivity advances. The bottom line is that employers have time versus money choices.
“We can produce more in every hour of labour every year. Generally, we get a two-per-cent productivity advance every year,” said Hayden. “If two-per-cent more production and consumption (increase) is possible every year, two-per-cent reduction of work time with the same pay is also possible.”
The rewards of choosing increased production are obvious and immediate: increased production results in increased output that results in higher sales. However, the rewards of choosing increased time are equally valid although they are more long term.
“If you take a serious look at working time, work hours, time off, career breaks, and we manage it effectively, it will eventually cost us less than what we are currently paying,” said Spinks. “The return on that investment and the return on those savings will be significantly higher than if we let things continue as they are.”
TIME OUT FOR TIME OFF
Historically, the movement for shorter work hours in all its forms has been largely pushed for by labour. Along the way, however, there have been “enlightened” employers who identified the benefits of productivity and higher morale while avoiding the problems associated with the long-hour models. Specifically, people working 14 hours a day in a factory eventually become rebellious, have more accidents and produce lower quality work.
When Henry Ford brought in his $5 per day employment model, he also implemented the eight-hour work day in a 40-hour work week that he felt was part of having a productive workforce. Likewise, during the Great Depression, Kellogg’s of Battlecreek, Mich. implemented a six-hour work day in a 30-hour-work-week.
ALTERNATIVE TO VACATION TIME
Time off does not always have to take the form of vacation days. Over the course of their last three collective bargaining rounds, the Canadian Autoworkers Union has pushed, not for extra vacation time, but for two weeks worth of scheduled personal absence (SPA) days. The SPA days are randomly scheduled by a computer as one week blocks of paid time off. This effectively manages the workforce allowing for an equal number of employees away throughout the year.
Another alternative is income averaging or self-funded sabbaticals where the employee plans for time off to possibly travel, go back to school or have a child.
“The number companies using this is increasing every year. We are beginning to understand that it is better to plan and prepare for a career break than it is to work until you drop and have an unscheduled or unplanned break in the name of a short term disability, stress leave, or a leave without pay,” said Spinks. “We can use that as an opportunity to cross train, to mentor and to give people opportunities. We have less opportunity for advancement, so we need different kinds of opportunities.”
Time is good not only for employees, but for employers as well. Employees who take time off, return with a fresh perspective and rejuvenated energy. For employers, this can only result in increased productivity and increased quality of work.
