Break Up or Break Down

It's getting to that time of year again when many of us are thinking about summer holidays. Two weeks away in the sun, with the kids, paying over the odds, crowded beaches, human lobsters and too much sangria!

All sound familiar?

Or does it sound like a mystery to you?

What's a holiday? Aren't holidays for wimps?

All too often these days you see entrepreneurs and business owners positing on social media on how important it is to be working 8 days a week, 36 hours a day, getting up before you go to bed and guaranteeing you will earn £100k every day!!!

Do you read these posts and feel like you aren’t doing enough, without someone then coming along and mentioning the "H" word. Remember, holidays are for wimps. Real business people don't take holidays.

Well, what if I tell you that’s simply NOT true?

What!!!!!???? Come off it, Fred. Surely The Lead Generation Group doesn't endorse giving their staff holidays? How can you be a real business if you aren’t working 9 days a week? Who are you employing in your company? A bunch of wusses? And call yourself a real boss? I bet you don’t take holidays?

Welcome to Holidays Not So Anonymous!

My name is Fred and I am a holiday taker!

I own a business that works hard on behalf of its customers: those customers work hard on behalf of their customers. We all work hard, but we also work SMART.

How can we, at the Lead Generation Group, not lead by example? We endorse hard work and reward it.

WE ALSO ENDORSE TAKING A BREAK.

Imagine what would happen if our logistics companies didn't have tachographs fitted in their lorries. Our roads and motorways are so busy these days that if drivers weren't allowed to have breaks the carnage would be unimaginable.

As a boss, how often do you ensure that your workers take the regular breaks they are entitled to? It’s all too familiar these days; so many offices especially are ridden with workers eating their lunch on the go — sitting at their desks, sandwich in one hand and phone in the other, still looking at their computer screens and dealing with a work query.

Or when someone is about to go on annual leave how often do you hear this conversation: — "I'll have my phone switched on, just call me if there is anything..."

"Oh, you don't need to keep your phone switched on, Fred, but it would be great if..."

"No worries. I would hate for that so-and-so account to fail at the last minutes. No, it's fine, just call me anytime..."

But it's NOT fine.

When a company sets up it deems that work should be done within a set number of hours. It allows workers to take regular breaks — most of the time these are UNPAID. This means that everyone is ENTITLED to leave their work for 30 minutes, or an hour EVERY DAY to have a BREAK.

It's so important for people to know that a break is a break. It's for their own welfare, It's for the good of the business. A bunch of stressed out, over-worked employees are not productive. An over-wrought boss is not a good boss.

We put terms and conditions into contracts of employment for a reason — to protect the employees and the business. Neither can function if they are not fully rested, are always tired and stressed or feel their every move is being monitored.

Annual leave is annual leave for a reason; we all need to take time away from work.

Recently things have been difficult for the LG Group family. We are human after all and a much-needed break was on the cards. Hooray! A whole week away, booked and planned, only to be thwarted at the last minute, due to circumstances beyond our control. We were not going to be able to fly away to warmer climes. It was a severe blow, but, we had still planned a break and a break we were having. No work phones, no constantly checking emails, no sneaky calls to the office.

A business runs on trust, planning and organisation and making sure you have the right staff in place so that when anyone has scheduled in their annual leave, or just a day or two away from the office, they leave it in capable hands so they don’t have to worry about it.

At the Lead Generation Group we all know we can take our breaks and leave the business in good shape and in turn we make sure we are still giving seamless support to our customers.

Preparation and planning, communication and clarity are key to going off and enjoying your holidays.

It doesn't matter if you are staying at home and pottering in the garden, visiting friends or family, going to a sun-kissed beach in the Maldives or hiking across the Yorkshire Moors — you deserve your vacation, staycation, holiday, annual leave, day off or even your lunch time stroll through the park.

A rested employee or boss is a good employee and good boss. Recognising the importance of ensuring everyone takes the breaks they are entitled to is key to a successful and happy business.

You don't need to work twenty-four hours a day to be successful. You can work hard but work SMART, and smart people take a well-deserved break.

Be rested.

Be stress-less.

Be happy.

Stay healthy.

Appreciate YOUR worth.

Appreciate the worth and work of OTHERS.

Appreciate how successful your business is because of BREAKS, not breakdowns.