It’s that time of the year when everybody works especially hard to ensure that they can go away on their summer holiday guilt free – well, everybody except for business leaders.
That’s not to say they’re not working hard – the opposite, in fact – rather, many just have no plans for a summer holiday.
Bosses in more than half (52%) of all small businesses in the UK say they only took five days holiday or less during all of last year, with a fifth (21%) not taking any days off at all, according to new survey.
The report from SME lender Aldermore makes for concerning reading, with more than a third (35%) of leaders feeling the need to work when they do manage to tear themselves away from the office. A fifth (21%) end up cancelling days off to ensure work is completed.
A quarter of the thousand-plus senior business decision-makers questioned said that they find it impossible to switch off when on holiday, regularly responding to emails and calls.
Anybody who is a business leader or works with them will hardly be surprised by the findings. We meet owners all the time who feel like they can’t afford to take time off.
In some ways, it shows that they are passionate about what they do – but, in the same breath, it’s often unsustainable. As Carl D’Ammassa, group managing director of business finance at Aldermore, says: “Enjoying well-earned time off to recharge their batteries could bring a fresh perspective to their business thinking.”
Clarity often only comes when you are able to step back and assess the matter at hand, whatever that be.
However, the difficulty can often be in identifying how exactly you can give yourself some time off to reflect. It’s one thing to say “I need to take a holiday” and another to make it to your holiday destination.
In our previous blog post, we spoke about the power of a ‘whole person’ appraisal in benchmarking your success and happiness from both a personal and professional perspective. As well as showing you how successful you are in achieving the work-life balance you desire, it will provide you with a path to get to your destination.
