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(CFOZone) By Anne Field
If you've noticed that your employees are more tired than usual, it may be because they need a vacation--but are too afraid to take one.
Those are the conclusions of a study from Right Management, a talent and career management consultancy. According to the survey, 66 percent of employees did not use all their vacation time this year. This, despite the fact that, thanks to cutbacks, employees in many companies are working longer hours under greater stress and, sometimes, for less money than before.
How come? Douglas Matthews, Right's president, offers a simple reason: fear. That is, employees suspect, if they go away, their bosses will decide they aren't needed, after all. At the same time, many workers are so overloaded, they feel no one will be able to fill in for them while they're gone--and that could sour their employers on their performance, too.
"Cutbacks, restructurings, mergers and more have all contributed to heavy workloads," says Matthews. "Employees likely have not taken their full vacation for fear of job security, as well as inadequate support to fill in for them when they are out."
Then there's what one might call "blackberry-itis"--an increasingly pervasive culture that requires employees be available 24/7, only made worse by the downturn.
The problem for companies, of course, is that too many overly stressed-out, exhausted employees can put a real damper on productivity, exactly when employers need their people to be working at top speed. Sure, overall productivity numbers are up. But, that's just because companies have slashed costs to the bone. I'm talking about the ability to produce high-quality work that's better than the competition's output--something vital to long-term growth.
Really, it's unrealistic to expect harried employees to crank it out over an extended period of time while they're running on empty.
The company with foresight needs to encourage employees to take a few days off. Unless those at the top are, themselves, too busy to notice what's happening among their troops.
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