According to recent data, those employees who worked 55 hours a week were at a 13% greater risk of experiencing a heart attack or 33 % greater risk of stroke than those who worked 35 -40 hours a week.
As a manager or team leader, you should allow and even encourage your employees to take paid time off. During my time as CEO of Callrevu, I have learned that employee motivation is intrinsically tied to the company’s productivity. If you provide a culture that actively demonstrates that you, as management, care about your employees, not just as company resources but as human beings, they will exhibit a higher level of motivation and commitment to work more efficiently and effectively.
Benefits of Giving Your Employees Paid Time Off
When you feel refreshed and have a clear mental head, everything seems to feel better; you’re more focused, happier, relaxed and energized. Paid time off (PTO) gives your employees the downtime they need to regain that clear mental head. Giving your staff the ability to take PTO will allow your employees the necessary downtime to focus on improving and maintaining their mental and physical well-being. In return, these personal lifestyle improvements will allow them to work with increased productivity that helps foster a more positive attitude toward their jobs.=
Employees should never feel enslaved by their businesses or forced to work until it’s detrimental to their overall well-being. Offering your employees PTO will allow them to genuinely enjoy their jobs rather than feel like something they have to do. Creating a work culture of employee work life balance encourages company loyalty and can reduce staff resignations, that can impact operational expenses related to ongoing recruiting, onboarding and training staff.
During my time in Europe, I was able to experience first-hand how different European work culture was from our own in North America. What struck me the most was how they value a healthy work-life balance. PTO is an essential pillar of that balance. As managers, we are responsible for encouraging our workers to take PTO and prioritize their life outside the workplace. As a society, Europeans recognize a healthy work-life balance keeps employees motivated and boosts productivity across the board.
With so much research available on the importance of work life balance, it’s surprising to me that some business leaders see PTO as an unnecessary expense. The opposite is true. Not offering your employees PTO may put your business at an even greater risk of losing more money. Employees who work overtime or work while sick are likely to get burned out sooner rather than later. Their productivity diminishes, directly affecting your business’s bottom line. According to recent data, those employees who worked 55 hours a week were at a 13% greater risk of experiencing a heart attack or 33 % greater risk of stroke than those who worked 35 -40 hours a week.
Paid Sick Leave Saves Money
Nobody wants to work while they’re sick, but people have bills to pay.’Grind Culture’ has taught us that we need to push ourselves and work hard, even when we aren’t feeling our best, but is this mentality healthy? According to research, nearly 69% of workers opt not to take sick leave, even when they need it or have paid sick leaves. These workers come into work with contagious illnesses, putting the rest of the workforce at risk, and crippling overall worker efficiency and productivity.
The same research also shows that contagious illnesses cost companies a total of $160 billion annually due to reduced output and diminished productivity. If employees have access to more paid time off, they won’t feel forced to come into work while infected, and, therefore, won’t spread their illnesses to the rest of their coworkers.
We Do Things Differently
At Callrevu, we established a General Paid Time Off system that allows employees to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Times are changing; the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the importance of balancing our personal and professional lives. The modern employee expects that their job will allow them to prioritize the things that truly matter in life, such as family and personal health. That is why we encourage other corporations to do right by their employees.
