Think

In the October 2009 edition of Harvard Business Review,one of the lead articles was titled  “Making Time Off Predictable and Required”. The 4 year study looked at a Boston Consulting Group practice which required employees to take time off. The time off was regularly scheduled (i.e. one day a week or one night a week off) and had to be taken even during periods of peak work demands. The researchers found increased levels of communication among staff and a greater propensity for creative processes in completing their tasks.  In essence the consultants became more productive and efficient in their work despite the time off. In addition there was greater employee retention.   This is not only important to know, but to practice, especially during this economic period, where a tendency to work longer and harder may develop in order to demonstrate your allegiance and value to the company. 

The authors (Perlow and Porter) identified several “lessons” learned in conducting their experiment. In reading these I could not help but interpret a few of their “lessons” as mirroring existing Behavioral Medicine and Occupational Health Psychology principles.

Suffice it to say the consultants worked in what they perceived to be a continuously stressful work environment. The adverse physical, mental and cognitive effects of prolonged stress are well documented. The requirement of the consultants to take predictable time off during heightened workloads (times of prolonged stress) allowed the consultants to separate, relax and recharge. By removing oneself from the threatening environment, and exposing oneself to a relaxing and/or rewarding environment, higher order cognitions become accessible versus the focus on, or pre-occupation with the task (demand or perceived threat). Therefore, from a Behavioral Medicine Stress perspective, it was not surprising, when the authors found the consultants exhibiting greater creative processes despite the time away from work.

To ensure that the consultants took the time off, the leadership had to support it and encouraged experimentation with different approaches to problems.  These factors are reflect what is known in the Occupational Health Psychology field as Perceived Organizational Support (POS).  POS is defined as the extent employees perceive that the organization they work for values their input and cares about their well being.

The participants in the research knew that their superiors cared about their well being; since the article reported that the leaders “set the tone” about taking time off and “modelled” the new behavior.  
As a consequence of that level of POS, the perceived level of stress in the work environment would be lower since POS has been found to ‘buffer” work stress and strain.  The positive effects of POS has been   been found in a variety of positions (skilled, unskilled, blue and white collar) throughout the globe.

In summary, the HRB article identifies increased levels of communication, an elevation in the creative process and a greater level of employee retention by taking consistent and administration supported time off.    It is my opinion that the improvements noted within this research belie the influence of appropriately managing stress while management created a supportive and caring work environment.

Dan