Here at the Rescu. office, we’re already planning our Christmas holidays. But will that vacation time make us more productive? Two experts from IMD Business School, Professor Preston Bottger and Professor Anand Narasimhan, debated this topic, and we find both of their viewpoints thought-provoking…
YES, says Professor Preston Bottger, “Of course, you need a vacation!”
“The truth of the matter is that intense physical, intellectual and emotional demands imposed by high-level work simply do not permit an easy cycle between professional tasks and personal relaxation. In juggling work relationships and relationships outside of work each can suffer from obligations imposed by the other. A little vacation time – however you can get it – might be just what you need to rejuvenate, and re-set priorities and commitments.
Observing those who have great responsibility for others’ lives and others’ money, we see many instances of burnout. Burnout, a buzz word for work-induced fatigue and depression, usually includes reduced attention span, irritability and the increasingly strange choices of priorities. If a vacation could avoid all of this, wouldn’t it be worth taking?
Yet, you may say, we see other professionals in highly responsible positions who show few signs of tiredness, they never get upset (at least not in public), do not lose focus and do not burnout.
So, what’s the difference between those who burnout and those who don’t?
For starters, people who tend not to burnout have made effective deals professionally. They negotiate terms with their employer so that the work they do, the compensation they receive and the personally thrilling opportunities they get, all add up to a very acceptable, actually nurturing, deal.
They also make a good deal with their “self,” especially, for example, the self that will awaken on their 70th birthday. They take the necessary timeout, as the days and decades roll by, to keep themselves up-to-date with whom they have become. And they experiment with personally distinctive solutions to the question of how best to protect and enhance their own well-being.
A simple vacation to ensure that you have time off from responsibilities, are up to date, and clear in your thoughts is indispensable. Employers beware, a mind that is not deliberately given a rest, will take it when least expected…”
NO says Professor Anand Narasimhan, who reveals the myths about vacation and productivity
“The first myth – Beware of the employer that tells you: “Vacations are good for recharging the batteries.” That’s a nice metaphor. But when was the last time you saw a 9-volt lounging at the pool? Sure, if you engage in physical labor – assembling widgets, shooting hoops, or touch-typing court proceedings – a vacation will help heal joints and stave off repetitive stress injury. But if you are reading this column, you are likely a knowledge worker. If you are paid to do things like opine why yuan revaluation will impact Arcelor-Mittal’s demand forecast or speculate how a new telenovela will affect media buying in Belo Horizonte, then two weeks on the beach will not necessarily make you any smarter than a weekend away from the office. Or at least I haven’t seen any research showing the optimal downtime for intellectual labor. I am not convinced that a long vacation recharges brain cells.
The second myth – often sold by the alluring posters of Club Med– is that a vacation is an oasis of peace and quiet. To bust this myth, you only have to turn to Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert’s conclusion about a trip to Disneyland with the kids: while there, we are completely aware that the hotels are overpriced, that the second-long rides have hour-long waits and that the food is truly awful. Yet, in the end, our brain fools us into reflecting on the wonderful time and forgetting about how truly stressful family bonding can be.
It’s not just parents with kids that encounter stress on vacation. In these days of too much information, kid-free couples have other things to worry about. Perhaps the beach resort they booked at was not rated No. 1 on TripAdvisor, or that the plane tickets could have cost less on Priceline, or that they might not look supremely shapely in their new swimsuits. They are anxious about not getting the maximum juice out of the vacation. And for singletons, it’s even worse. You are on permanent heightened alert, hoping that this will be the vacation that finally changes your Facebook status. The inconvenient truth is that the most relaxing part of the vacation is the day we return to work… “
Preston Bottger is Professor of Leadership and General Management.
Anand Narasimhan is Professor of Organisational Behaviour.
About IMD
Based in Switzerland, IMD is one of the top-ranked among business schools worldwide. For more info, go to www.imd.ch/index.cfm