A Little Time Off Can Lead to a Lot of Benefit

SOCIAL STUDIES - March 24th 2008

For at least the last 10,000 years people have celebrated this weekend; the first full moon following the Vernal Equinox --- or as we like to call it, Spring. When Christians chose to make this an important religious festival about Jesus; they actually just tacked that on to an existing and ancient celebration. No matter who you are, what you do, and how you do it; if you live in a Nordic country covered with ice for as long as we have had it --- you celebrate Spring!

Some people have today as a holiday, and everyone was supposed to have Friday; so I thought it might be interesting to examine labour laws and productivity.

Canada has 10 nationally recognized statutory holidays. Each province has one or two more, except Newfoundland which adds another seven. Most workplaces also provide vacation time to their employees; but it does not amount to that much on the global scale.

Mercer Consulting, an International Labour Organization, compared the amount of paid leave that is mandated by country; we are 11th on the list, with Hong Kong, Australia, most European countries, Greece, Sweden and Finland ahead of us. Finland has the best ratio with a minimum of 30 days paid vacation and 14 paid holidays. Out of curiosity, the lowest spot on the list goes to the United States; which also has no nationally enforced paid maternity leave.

CNN points out in their own study that Americans are unlikely to use all of their time off whereas in the European Union employees do not have a choice, and are encouraged to take their vacation in two week chunks.

The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development charts economic, population, and even happiness trends worldwide. It finds that the countries with the highest labour output as measured by percentage of Gross Domestic Product per hour worked are also the countries with the most time off. With the exception of the U.S., who still manage great productivity --- perhaps because companies do provide vacation even though they are not so mandated? In plainer language: more time off means happier workers means more quality work done.

Not surprisingly these same countries rank in the top 10 most liveable countries according to the United Nations. The Economist Magazine concurs with their own survey of countries based on a huge number of factors and again, those of us who have more vacation have better lives.

On an individual level there are many companies that are jumping on the bandwagon of creating a less stressful environment for their employees and therefore increasing productivity and quality. Intel, for example, has declared Fridays to be e-mail free. According to Fortune magazine, of the top 100 companies to work for in the States, 82 of them allow for flex time, compressed work weeks, and other more creative ways to get your work done. The federation for European Employers has researched the history of time off; in 1831 In England the government passed the Factories Act which limited the daily hours of work to 12. In 1843 it became 10. In 1868 U.S. Congress created the eight-hour working day.

It was not until 1911 that the Swiss actually started regulating holidays. Over the next 30 years most countries adopted legislation limiting the standard work week to 40 hours. It wasn't until 1970, however, that the International Labour Organization first regulated paid holidays.

In the US it is estimated that there are 550 million working days lost due to stress and illness; and seven million worldwide. Statistics Canada puts our total at somewhere in the 700,000 range. Our Department of Health takes this further by documenting stress in our lives alongside chronic illness.

The average amount of major stressors that a Canadian has to deal with is five. These include things like not having enough money, workplace stress, and marital tension. Some people have as many as 10 stressors at any given time.

They go on to document in Health Reports that this level of stress directly causes a number of diseases: arthritis and rheumatism, back problems, chronic bronchitis or emphysema, and stomach or intestinal ulcers. For men, they also included heart disease, and for women, asthma and migraine. Women, by the way, suffer from far more stress due to heightened expectations around family, workplace, and self care.

As you can imagine, some of this is simply beyond our control. One of those major stressors is money, which we all need, in abundance, to survive in our economy. That means that we need a source of income, and we should not pretend that anywhere near a majority of us find employment in our dream job.

But this could all be changing. With so many companies looking at new ways of doing things, of attracting workers, and of ensuring productivity --- there is a chance that we will take this data seriously. Whether you work in labour, management, or as a professional; the chances are that if you were more rested and fulfilled you would accomplish your work faster and more proficiently.

There are also steps each of us can take to reduce stress, workplace or otherwise. Set realistic goals and priorities, use good time-management techniques, take short breaks after a particularly stressful event, rehearse and prepare, don't procrastinate, know your limits, change your attitudes, learn to say "no", treat your body right, use positive self-talk, take responsibility, and most importantly, maintain a sense of humour.