Portland State Magazine Spring 2019

11 IT’S SPRING BREAK, and the CEO of Vacasa—a Portland-based vacation rental management company with more than 3,000 employees worldwide—is in Mexico. “I haven’t heard from him since Friday, and I probably won’t hear from him until next Monday,” says Stephanie Bastin-Wells, Vacasa’s head of employee experience. He isn’t missing, though—he’s just on vacation. Americans work longer hours and take fewer vacations days when compared to employees in other Western nations, according to the Business Insider article “11 American Work Habits Other Countries Avoid at All Costs.” Ameri- cans are also notorious for working long after they’ve left the office, responding to work emails late in the evening or even on the weekend. Although some might praise this work ethic as being indicative of hyper-dedicated employees, the refusal to disengage from work—even for the evening—can lead to burnout, lower life satisfaction and other negative outcomes. Just ask Charlotte Fritz, industrial and organizational psy- chology faculty at PSU. Starting when she was a doctoral stu- dent in Germany, Fritz has been studying how work breaks influence employee well-being and productivity, looking at everything from vacations to the typical two-day weekend. According to Fritz, the CEO of Vacasa is doing the smart thing by putting work aside while he’s on vacation—not only for himself, but for the whole company. Changing how Amer- ican employees approach their vacation days starts with leadership. “It’s important to be a role model in terms of setting boundaries and going on vacation yourself,” Fritz says. “Encourage employees to take time off. Don’t reach out to them while they’re gone, and don’t expect them to respond to calls or emails.” Time off is key to reducing burnout Burnout is the emotional and physical exhaustion that employees experience as a result of prolonged stress and frustration at work. In an ideal world, vacations give burned- out employees an opportunity to recharge and return to work feeling refreshed. Research conducted by Fritz and collaborators suggests that when employees are able to recover well from work demands during nonwork time, they experience improved well-being, which allows them to return to work focused, energized, and motivated. Despite the clear benefits of spending time away from work and mentally disengaging from work stressors, employ- ees sometimes worry that if they take too much time off, their managers may conclude that their job is unimportant, Fritz says. So how can companies encourage their employees to make the most of their vacation days? “Make it clear that vacation days have nothing to do with job security and promotions,” Fritz says. Also important is what form vacation days take. Some companies allow employees to cash out their unused vaca- tion time, converting paid time off to a larger paycheck. “If you allow people to translate vacation days into mon- etary rewards, there’s a good chance they will, especially in lower-paying jobs,” Fritz says. Companies that want their employees to take advantage of their vacation days should not allow days to be cashed out. Vacation days should also expire rather than stacking or rolling over from year to year, encouraging employees to use them or lose them. “Vacation days are supposed to be vacation days,” Fritz says. For a company like Vacasa, vacations are built into the corporate culture, says Bastin-Wells. Every Vacasa employee receives a $250 credit on their birthday and another on their work anniversary, which can be used at any of the thousands of vacation rental properties that Vacasa manages. Employees also receive a discount on property rentals, and salaried full- time employees get unlimited paid time off. “We encourage people to take time off when they need it and when they want it,” Bastin-Wells says. “We challenge our leadership with making sure we’re staying close to our direct reports,” and employees who are close to the point of burnout are encouraged to take time for themselves to step away and recharge. Katie Wojciechowski, a copywriter at Vacasa, recently took two vacations with her husband: a two-week trip to Morocco and a shorter, three-day trip to Hawaii. Wojciechowski says that Vacasa’s vacation policies make it easy for her to take time off—her supervisor frequently urges the team to take personal time, and unlimited paid time off means less hassle when it comes to planning vacations.