America has a PTO problem: It's the only rich country with zero national laws that guarantee paid vacation time. Even when people do get days off, they often stay plugged in.
It's especially true during the holidays: A majority, 65%, of U.S. employees admit to working while taking holiday PTO, according to a Monster survey of 612 of them in November.
Even when the office is closed, roughly one-third of employees say they check their work email every day, and a quarter send work emails. Over 1 in 10 admit to joining and participating in work calls while on holiday break.
That's a foreign concept to social media manager Lene Vindenes, 28, who lives in Oslo, Norway. While she often feels stressed during the holidays — the busiest season in her line of work — a combination of generous leave policies and healthy expectations for people to take breaks, she says, keep her calm.
'Most of us have the same values when it comes to vacation'
Vindenes's company guarantees 25 days, or five weeks, of paid vacation per year. She's required to take three weeks between June and September. Most people take extended time off in December, too.
"Christmas is a very big holiday in Norway," Vindenes says, so it's "common" for people to take off the week between Christmas and New Year's.
Vindenes's office doesn't entirely shut down the week between Christmas and New Year's since many marketing campaigns run throughout that period. But it only keeps a few people on standby in case of emergency during the break.
Last-minute crises are rare. Vindenes's workplace asks clients to meet their deadlines by December 15. After all, most clients want to wrap up holiday projects early, too.
"That is one of the good things about the Norwegian culture," Vindenes says. "Most of us have the same values when it comes to vacation and people taking time off."
Holiday stress-prevention starts in October
The business takes the mental health of its employees seriously, especially leading up to its busy holiday period.
Every October, Vindenes says her company hosts a "mental health week" chock-full of "seminars with speakers that talk about the importance of managing micro-stress, importance of sleep and educating us how to manage a work-life balance."
Still, many marketing clients spend the bulk of their budgets around Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions. In order to get everything done, Vindenes works overtime "a lot during these months to meet tight deadlines and strategy deliveries for the following year." She estimates she worked about 20 hours of overtime in November, or roughly 5 hours each week on top of her 37½-hour weekly schedule.
Even so, "I have a feeling this is nothing compared to the overtime in the States," she says.
'Your wellbeing is more important than work'
Vindenes's comfort in taking PTO comes down to a company culture where leaders are truly supportive of it. Employers are "responsible for ensuring that your employees take all their statutory holiday during the holiday year," according to her company's policy.
"It really helps to have people and leaders around you to encourage you to take time off and remind you that your wellbeing is more important than work," Vindenes says. "Of course client satisfaction is our main priority, but we need to work well as a team and to personally know how to get organized, learn to set boundaries to not let it affect our wellbeing."
One of Vindenes's favorite tips: Go outside or somewhere new after work instead of rushing straight home. "It's so easy to go to the office or your home office and straight to the couch at the end of the day," she says.
Then, fill your free hours with activities that'll take your mind off work. For Vindenes, that's cooking with her partner.
"I think the most important thing you can do for yourself," she says, "is to find that hobby or passion [that] slows you down and brings your mind back into being yourself as a person, not yourself as an employee or a colleague."
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