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No sooner had Citigroup announced its new sabbatical policy 12 weeks at 25% pay for employees who’d been at the bank at least five years than the debate erupted: In the highly competitive world of finance, would it be a career-killer to take advantage of that kind of deal?
I’m not surprised some people asked. In 2018, the average American full-time employee earned 23 paid days off a year, but only used 17 of them, according to a study funded by the nonprofit U.S. Travel Association using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of Economic Analysis.
That’s six days of PTO left on the table the equivalent of handing a week’s salary back to your employer. When you consider that the U.S. has the rich world’s stingiest vacation policies, this becomes even more depressing.
Dec 18, 2020 | liturgy |
At the checkout of the supermarket, I am asked by the person scanning the groceries: “Have you got a busy day today?” (or, “Have you had a busy day today?”) When friends or acquaintances meet, “keeping busy” is a regular response to the bidding, “How are you?” (Or the person may open the conversation with, “Are you keeping busy?”).
Busy is IN.
During the Covid lockdown, most worked from home. Post-lockdown, there has been an increase in continuing to work from home – at least part of the time. I heard of a study recently of Kiwi office workers – on average, how much actual work does such a person productively do in an approximately 8-hour day? Three hours!
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The traditional 9-to-5 will transform into the 3-2-2 as more employees begin to enjoy and expect work flexibility, predicts Harvard Business School professor Ashley Whillans.
The 3-2-2 schedule balance traditional and remote work, where employees work for three days in office, two days remote, and two days off.
This structure allows employees to create schedules that work around their everyday lives, which has shown to improve job satisfaction, productivity, and attendance.
Thanks to the fantastic news that distribution of vaccines has begun, the end of the pandemic is in sight. Changes wrought by COVID-19 are nowhere near playing themselves out, however.
Do you ever wake up on a work day and say, I don t want to do it. Do you find yourself unable to find a foothold to get started on your work? Is there a task you simply cannot find the wherewithal to do? Are you tempted to transition from working at home to just taking a nap from home?
We all hit walls. We all procrastinate. We all get distracted. It happens. During the COVID-19 pandemic, hitting the wall may feel different than before because so many other aspects of our lives have changed. Certainly, we all need to think about putting self-care before productivity. We also need to take adequate breaks to prevent burnout. There are times, though, when what we really need is to find a way to push through a bad moment, get a little motivational boost, and get the work done.