A
lot has been made of recent European rulings that declare employees must have
time off again if they are sick during their holiday. Naturally as employers we
immediately imagine our employees with a box of tissues in hand, lying on a sun
bed and pulling a sickie. The ruling came about because the law says people
need a break from work for their health and wellbeing but in these days of
austerity how many are actually getting a proper break? Many parents take
alternate weeks off during the school holidays and end up trying to catch up on
all the jobs at home; hardly the way to energise yourself for work.
Alternatively they spend an absolute fortune on a “day out” to one of the
attractions, it pours with rain, the lions hide and the souvenirs bought with
Granny’s money cause world war three in the back seat on the way home. It’s no
wonder that the Smartphone soon comes out of the drawer where it was placed
with such good intentions at the start of the break. Fear is a contributory
factor to staff staying connected during evenings, weekends and holidays but
this is not good for them.
So a bit of advice from The HR Dept: tell your staff
to switch off and above all have some fun and laughter away from the office so
they can come back refreshed and ready to hit the ground running. That is if
the gardening did not do their back in!
