Why Are Your People Working on Their Holiday?

The folks at Human Resources magazine reported last week on a study showing that 75% of Hong Kong workers expect to do work during the holidays. These are not people who have to go to work during the holidays, like police officers or hotel staff or people who are in the office rather than taking leave, but instead, people who are actually on holiday. This follows a study last year by the same folks who found that 40% of Singaporeans take work on holiday with them. What’s going on?

If your employees feel like they have to work when they are on holiday, that suggests some possible problems. First, it could be that they are very inefficient, and are not getting work done during regular hours. Second, it might be that you do not have enough staff, so the ones you have are doing the work of multiple people. And of course, it may be that your corporate culture (which may reflect a broader social culture) suggests that people can never take a break if they want to get ahead.

Whatever the reason, you need to fix it. If it is inefficiency, consider how you might develop those employees better, create more efficient processes, or start recruiting more capable staff. If it is an issue of workload, look at how you can either increase your staff capability (perhaps with contractors or temporary workers if you cannot afford more full-time staff) or reduce your obligations to something more manageable. Let’s face it, there is no point in taking on new work if you cannot get that work done well, and overworked people are often not going to turn in their greatest performance. Finally, if it is a cultural issue, see how you can change the culture, because c’mon, everyone needs to take a break every now and then if they are going to be amazing once they are back in the office. Is there a way you can set a good example of a healthy work-life balance so your employees will follow you?

Your employees need to have a personal life; there is no reason in the world for a job to be the only interest of anyone. This is a good time of year to check and see if people are maintaining a good balance between work and everything else, and if not, then figure out why that is and do something about it.