Employees have extreme anxiety about taking vacation

The dog days of summer are here, yet employees are too anxious to take advantage of them.

Almost half of all employees say they feel anxiety when it comes to requesting time off of work, and Gen Z employees feel the most guilt, with 79% saying they feel very anxious over requesting PTO, according to a survey by Skynova, an online invoicing platform.

The most common reasons for this anxiety included coming back to more work than they can handle, guilt over taking time off, and concerns around looking like a bad worker, Skynova found. Twenty-one percent of employees also felt they would get fired if they requested too much vacation time.

“There’s a lot of pressure on people in the workforce right now because of the pandemic,” says Melody Kasulis, senior creative strategist at Skynova. “Employers have had to make some grim decisions, whether it’s layoffs or more restrictive PTO policies. But ultimately, employees are going to get burned out.”

Read more: Employers should revamp their PTO policies for the post-COVID workplace

In order to encourage employees to use their time off, managers should set an example by taking vacation themselves and communicating the importance of time away. Skynova found that 45% of employees thought their manager took more PTO than they did.

“When I go out on PTO, I leave loudly and say, 'I'm taking time off, and for the benefit of my mental health, won’t be checking emails,’” says Susan Wyatt, head of customer success at Lyra Health. “I want my employees to see and mimic my behavior.”

Employers can also provide clear guidelines around PTO to diffuse some of the guilt employees have around overloading their team members. Skynova surveyed HR leaders and managers and 60% said employees should avoid PTO during high workload times. Thirty-six hours was the minimum amount of notice managers thought was appropriate for requesting time off.

Read more: Your employees need a break. Here’s how to be more flexible with PTO

Having a defined PTO plan for before and after the time off can help ease anxiety and ensure the workplace runs smoothly while staff is away. Skynova found that 29% of employees had low anxiety when they got their work done before their time off, and 42% lessened their anxiety when they had a plan in place for their return-to-work tasks.

As employees struggle with burnout and high levels of mental health strain, time away from the office can be a necessary — and healthy — reset. Even if employees are unable to travel, taking time to reconnect with family and focus on hobbies can be beneficial, too.

“Employers really need to communicate that it’s ok for employees to just take time for themselves,” says Rhiannon Staples, CMO at Hibob. “It doesn’t matter if you’re staying home reading a book, or working on a hobby — if you’re taking time to do something you enjoy, it’s never a waste.”