What to do?

Due to a growing trend of employees not utilizing all of their given vacation time and it is called Shrinking Vacation-Syndrome. Employees feel tied down and cash strapped so the 2 week vacation is now more a thing of the past then it is something to look forward to. The truth is 25% of Americans do not receive paid vacation according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. And most Americans will now only take 1 weeks’ worth of vacation at a time. To get ahead of the issue, the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) has begun shutting down the company for short periods of time 2 times a year for vacation breaks.  This allows the employees to relax with a clear conscience and leave behind the digital leash of emails and conference calls that so many Americans have to endure. By any corporate standard this is a VERY bold move. But if you put aside the numbers, bottom lines, and spread sheets this seem like a very reasonable. But is this idea very thoughtful or deviously calculated? 

      

Have we as Americas become so work-centric that we are physically unable to separate ass from seat and ear from phone without a stamped, notarized, and mass-distributed directive? I personally have never fallen into this category and I hope to never feel that sense of obligation to the company I work for.....or until my name is in the title. I am happy with either option!   

But I digress; this was a very calculated move by PWC. As i gave this greater thought I started to realize that this may not have been just an act of kindness from PWC but a stabilization device for the company. Of course you should see employee satisfaction rise and moral increase because everyone gets Christmas and 4th of July off. But just for a second think about the rest of the year? PWC did not release any information on company vacation policies beyond this time of "shut-down". Although employees may still receive more vacation, it would I’m sure be limited. 

So now let me paint you a picture. Instead of PNC having employees take vacation’s spread randomly throughout the year, they have an absolute concentration of vacations for 2 short periods of time. That means the rest of the year the company is at 100% strength minus the obvious sick calls. So beyond the idea that happy people work better, you have MORE people on staff and crunching numbers on a more consistent basis with less distractions than any other company with standard vacation policies. So does this make the company overall more efficient while still turning the key and shutting down for 2 weeks out of the year? Then compound that with perception that employees are now happier because ALL of them are taking at least 2 vacations every year?

I find it hard to believe the only reason PWC made this move based on employee wellness and to stay ahead of the Shrinking Vacation-Syndrome. But I am a cynic so whatever. I would say that I am happy to see that a major corporation has taken an initiative to helped the mental health of it’s’ employees. Every day we hear of cutbacks and layoffs, working overtime to cover the simple costs of life. I like knowing that companies are will to say “go, leave, have fun and don’t worry about work at all” and mean it………and still want you back!

-Berggren