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Don’t Leave Vacation Days Behind: Mad Gringo Supports Take Back Your Time Day
Take Back Your Time, a major Canadian/U.S. initiative to challenge time famine, is leading the fight to protect vacations and encourages people to use them.
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October 17, 2007 (FPRC) -- Omaha, NE -- With summer drawing to a close and year end soon upon us, now is the time for corporate citizens to evaluate their remaining vacation days and put plans in place to keep those days from being lost to the vagaries of HR policy. October 24th, 2007 is National Take Back Your Time Day, the perfect day to make time off plans.
With corporations allowing only 1 week of vacation to carry over from year to year, and statistics showing most Americans consider a 4 day weekend equivalent to summer vacation, if you haven't used your paid time off by now, you probably won't. Take Back Your Time, a major Canadian/U.S. initiative to challenge time famine, is leading the fight to protect vacations and encourages people to use them.
“Half of the people I worked with at the ‘big corporation’ just never got around to using their vacation,” says Greg Chambers, founder of Mad Gringo, a tropical clothing manufacturer and supporter of Take Back Your Time. “It seems to me that if the company offers paid time, they must see the benefit in having you take vacation, right? I mean, they wouldn’t just be paying lip service to rest and relaxation making better employees, would they?”
To get around having rollover hours, Chambers suggests taking a page from David Allen’s book, “Getting Things Done” and begin with figuring out how much time off you have before the year ends. “Call the nice people in HR and get a current accounting of your PTO hours,” says Chambers. Add any hours that will accrue in the coming months.
Next, sit back and daydream a bit. Is it realistic to take a week off before the holidays? Would it be better to work ½ days on Fridays and Mondays for a couple of months? How about not working Wednesdays to plan for visitors or how to be a visitor?
“Planning is the key,” says Chambers. “Life’s short, so you need a bit of structure to get what’s coming to you.” Take October 24th to pause and reflect on how bad it feels to end the year with extra time off. “The corporation isn’t going to baby-sit you. You need to take control of your time.
“Make some time to think about your job, your family, your life,” says Chambers. "And contribute to Take Back Your Time or at least subscribe to their newsletter."
For more information about Take Back Your Time, please contact Greg Chambers at Mad Gringo (email: greg@madgringo.com, phone 866-417-3860) or visit the Mad Gringo website (www.madgringo.com), or contact Lisa Steubing at Take Back Your Time by phoning 206-524-6788, emailing lisa@timeday.org, or visiting www.timeday.org.
Send an email to Greg Chambers of Mad Gringo
866-417-3860
Keywords:
vacation, business, hr
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