Why Your Vacation Policy is Making it Harder for You to Attract and Retain Valuable Talent. And It’s Not Why You Think.

I think we can all agree that the pandemic put a damper on our mental and overall wellbeing in many ways. The past few years has challenged us mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, and professionally. Struggles with our mental health isn’t anything new brought on by the pandemic but the pandemic definitely exacerbated it, causing a huge reprioritization in the workplace.

The decade before the lockdown ever began, the corporate world was struggling with attracting and retaining their most valued talent. What was also happening during those years was an uptick in the amount of people who were leaving their corporate job and began traveling. This happened so frequently that it began almost a tagline in the media. You’d hear about people “quitting the 9–5 to travel the world” or “leaving the corporate job to travel”.

For so long, and even to this day, companies still are not paying attention to why this even is and let me tell you, you’re doing a huge disservice to your company structure, brand, culture, and values by ignoring it.

So, what exactly is it about travel that make people of all types, including high-paying executives who work hard to get their title, want to leave their source of income and just go?

I’m going to get into that in a little bit but first, let’s keep talking about the problems that were existing in the workplace before 2020 and today.

According to the Wisconsin Medical Journal, 1 in 6 US employees are so overworked that they are unable to use all of their vacation time.

“80% of employees said if they felt fully supported and encouraged by their boss, they would take more time off” reports MarketWatch.com in 2017. It goes on to say that “employees are afraid to use their vacation time, enjoy their business trips, or use their earned PTO because of possible repercussions”.

What they reports tell us is that there are fundamental issues within company culture, corporate communication, employee resources and support, and core values.

Today, we hear a lot about companies struggling to maintain engagement and boost team building among employees no longer under the same roof.

I mean, was there really that successful of a job being done before this surge in remote work came about? Were employees really satisfied with how their company treated them? Did they truly feel valued, appreciated, understood, connected, and acknowledged? Was there really an acceptance of diverse ideas, backgrounds, and people?

Studies clearly tell us no.

Otherwise people wouldn’t have been leaving and they would be racing to get back to their employers today.

Difficulties attracting and retaining valuable talent isn’t anything new either. For years, people were just tolerating their roles in the workplace, settling for a salary, waiting for that clock to turn to 5pm, wishing the weekend was already here, dreading Mondays, and wishing more out of their daily life.

Hence, why so many people were turning to, or desiring, a lifestyle where they felt more “freedom” and a sense of purpose.

And those aren’t just my anecdotal words.

I have spent over 12 years talking to thousands of employees who valued traveled over their jobs and people who completely skipped the corporate route (like myself) to live a more aligned and meaningful life no matter what the title or pay would have been.

This interest in remote work didn’t come solely out of the pandemic and those interested in working remotely isn’t just those silly free-spirited careless Millennials or Gen Zs, contrary to popular belief.

Like I mentioned earlier in this article, the pandemic brought a lot of change to our lives and our world.

People had almost 3 years to rethink, reconsider, and repurpose their life path. This time gifted people who always desired or envied the freedom-based lifestylers but never thought it would be possible for them. The past few years shined a light on important topics like self-care and wellbeing and catapulted them to the forefront of our priorities and values. People had time to reassess their values, what they wanted out of life, what they wanted out of a job, what they care about, and what they don’t. Plus, there are more opportunities than ever before to work any job from home or even start a business of their own. According to the U.S Business Formation Statistics, “in 2020, 4.35 million applications were submitted. That’s a whopping 74 percent more. It is also a 24.13 percent increase from 2019 and the biggest increase of the past decade by a mile”

This is reflecting in the workplace right now, hence companies struggling to attract and retain their talent.

People want to feel fulfilled, they want to incorporate what they’re passionate about, they want to feel happy and healthy, they want to spend valuable time with those who they care about, they want to feel like their lives aren’t being wasted away sitting in a cubicle, and they are valuing their time and mental wellbeing over the dollar.

That leads me back to what’s so attractive about travel in the first place.

Well, simply because travel brings pretty much all of that to our lives. It gives us a sense of purpose, fulfillment, joy, happiness, human connection, excitement, freedom, acceptance, value, gratitude, compassion, worth, education, meaning, and so much more.

And that is why companies are struggling to get employees (back).

Why would someone settle for a job, or go back to their previous job, that doesn’t make them feel valued, cared about, understood, interested, worthy, or fulfilled, especially when they could make the same amount of money or more online or on their own?

So, when are companies going to wake up?

When they slap the employee wellbeing label on their core values or put a Chief Wellness Officer in place? I’m pretty sure that has already happened. Or how about when they throw some more meditation and mindset apps in their corporate wellness program or renovate their workout areas? Ehh, don’t think so.

The proper questions are: when are companies going to embrace travel in their corporate wellness programs? When are they going to finally offer people what it is that they are looking for? When are they going to value what people also value, which are the benefits that travel can bring to our mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, social, professional, and financial wellbeing?

Recently, a good friend of mine who had led the app development and programming teams for one of the world’s biggest companies (if not thee biggest right now) for over 5 years told me that he was so close to quitting the job. Instead, he decided to take 3 months off without pay to travel. He spent half a decade dedicating almost every day and every hour to his great paying job but it wore him down. What he really wanted wasn’t to leave the job but to feel something different. He wanted to spend time with his family in Italy, he wanted a mental break from thinking about his work, he wanted the opportunity to laugh more, explore, eat delicious food, create new memories, and feel alive again.

You see, it shouldn’t have to come down to either staying in a job and being miserable or making the difficult decision to leave your main source of income to travel and feel happy again. There can be a balance.

That is exactly what I strive to help companies do. Create a balance in the workplace by helping companies embrace travel in a variety of ways that include revamping vacation policies, incorporating the elements of travel like culture, people, and nature, designing programs for volunteering abroad, sabbaticals, remote work, and much more.

According to the U.S Travel Association’s Project Time Off, “while 97 % of companies offer paid time off — few companies are tapping into its full potential.

If you are a company who is interested in finally doing what is desired visit me at SaharaRoseTravels.com and let’s talk.