Why you need to take regular breaks at work (a Sabbath principle)

Why you need to take regular breaks at work (a Sabbath principle)

Many Jews know the following by heart as we say this every Friday evening at the start of our Shabbat meal. 

On the seventh day, G-d finished the work that had been undertaken: [G-d] ceased on the seventh day from doing any of the work.  And G-d blessed the seventh day and declared it holy—having ceased on it from all the work of creation that G-d had done. Genesis 2:1

G-d spent 6 days doing the most creative work in history. Creating the world and creating history. After all that hard work G-d took a break. Unlike us who feel we're running on empty come Friday, G-d obviously doesn't experience the same. Personally, every Friday afternoon I feel like I'm falling across the finish line of the week to Shabbat. So what do we learn from this first pivotal statement? We work during the week and then we must take a break. 

This principle isn't just limited to the weekend each week. In this post, I'll focus on two areas. The first, taking vacations and time off throughout the year. Second, how important it is to take breaks every day during the work day.

Take time off. You do get unlimited vacation

For years, one of the main benefits startups offered employees was unlimited vacation. Startups knew they didn't have the funding to pay the same salaries or offer the same benefits packages. So they had to get creative with what they could offer. Anything that didn't have a financial cost (in theory) topped the list. Potentially the thought process was because folks working for startups tend to work more hours with more stress than in larger firms they'll have a greater need and more appreciation for regular time off. I remember the early days of building InVision I worked many days 12+ hours. Simply, you're trying to get something off the ground and it takes a lot of effort. 

By now I think we've all read elsewhere that the unlimited time off policy doesn't work because people aren't taking the unlimited time off. Though employees have access to the time off, they aren't taking it. So it's their fault, right? Maybe in part but the real fault falls on leadership. Let's break down how leadership is at fault and what they can do to solve this.

Lead from the front

Your team will look at you as their leader to truly understand the company norms and what's really acceptable behavior. If you're not taking time off, your team won't either. They see you working hard and grinding. So they won't be comfortable taking the time off since their leader (who really needs the time off) isn't taking it. They don't need to take it. I can't tell you how many times I've seen this across companies I've consulted with. 

So what should you do as a leader? Let's talk about it. First, you the leader need to take off vacation regularly (see the next section about what regularly actually means.) Next, be sure you communicate across the entire organization (in the startup world) that you're taking the time off. Share with everyone where you're going, when you're going, and what you are planning on doing. This helps create a culture of transparency but also a culture of sharing. And an opportunity to connect with colleagues on a deeper level. Perhaps someone has traveled to that place you're going to and can share some helpful tips. Or would love to have a conversation with you about your experiences and trade stories. All are a win culturally.

Truly go offline

Be sure you're totally disconnecting. Delete work apps from your phone or at least disable notifications. This way you aren't regularly enticed to just check what's going on. Unless a true emergency, do not connect with anyone while you're out or reply to any emails/messages when you're away. Be sure to clearly define you're going offline to the team and the expectations you can't be reached. A good way to do this is to set an OOO message in Slack of your status on dates offline. Doing this will also help your team understand it's ok to take time off and more so it's good to be focused on yourself and be unavailable to work. I can't reinforce how important this idea of totally disconnecting is and reinforcing this idea with your team. A 2021 study of 600+ workers reported that 42% of them check in at least once a day while on vacation. 

Document your role

A great practice every leader and IC can do is create an about me/how to do my job document. I'll write a separate post about this in what to include. Here I'll focus on backups. You should clearly define if someone needs X they can reach out to person A, or if needing Y reach out to person B. Better yet, create a document, procedure, or similar that actually helps provide exactly what the person needs from you. This way they can get whatever they need themselves. Preventing any pings while you're away.

Share your experience

Once you've returned share your experiences. Share your thoughts about the trip. How you were focused on yourself and didn't feel obligated or interested in checking in. What you may have learned as a personal experience. All this comes to reinforce that your team should take off time.

Required time off

Personally, I believe the idea of unlimited vacation is great solely to tell employees that "If you need time off, take it." Period. Stop! What I then personally do with my teams is require (as much as I can) that each employee takes 1 continuous week off each quarter. They're free to take additional time but they must at least be out for a week. I don't do long weekends or days spotted through the quarter. In order to actually check out (if following the above) your team needs a good chunk of time away where they can truly disconnect. I can't tell you how many times my team has told me they don't need the time. Yet, when they returned couldn't thank me enough for pushing them to take the time. They all felt like they needed the time but didn't realize it. Unfortunately so used to the 'grind' of how most jobs are approached. I've definitely started seeing more good leaders and forward-thinking companies moving away from the unlimited vacation approach towards the required time off approach. 

Again, the Torah gives us insight into the bad approach of only taking a few days off. We learn in the famous story about the Exodus from Egypt and the 10 plagues that mid-way through the plagues Pharaoh agreed that the Hebrews go on a holiday for 3 days. He kept changing his position on who could go and where. But before bringing the final plague,  G-d said to Moses that 3 days wasn't going to do the trick. A holiday and celebration simply can't be done in 3 days. 

In the next post, we'll discuss how to take the principles of Shabbat (rest & doing other activities) on a daily basis. And how spending less time working will make your team more productive.