Almost three-quarters of Belgian workers will take at least two consecutive weeks off this summer, but at the same time, almost 1 in 10 are not taking any long summer holidays. That’s according to research conducted by human resources services provider Tempo-Team and professor Anja Van den Broeck of Leuven University. There’s also one striking conclusion: employees who take several shorter vacations do appear to be more relaxed than those who take one long one during the summer months.
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“Flemings are getting stressed at the prospect of a holiday”
Colin Clapson
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Given the poor weather of the past few months, people are perhaps looking forward to their vacation even more than usual. A lot of Belgians are taking some time off this summer.
A survey of 2,000 employees by HR services provider Tempo-Team shows that almost three-quarters (71.6 percent) are taking at least a two-week holiday. A quarter of those surveyed (26.3 percent) take 3 weeks of vacation, 1 in 10 (13.6 percent) even 4 weeks or more.
Still, not everyone is enamoured of a lengthy summer break. The survey also found that 1 in 10 workers (9.3 percent) spread their days off over different periods of the year.
Vacation stress
"Not everyone goes in for the long summer vac and there appear to be a number of benefits associated with that," says Prof. Anja Van den Broeck, who helped to conduct the survey as a work motivation expert.
"Our research shows that employees who take several short breaks go into their leave more relaxed than colleagues who take one long holiday period in the summer. They manage to keep up with their work better. They still have nice vacation prospects and return to find less work has piled up for them each time after their vacation," Prof. Van den Broeck says.
Holidays don’t only mean rest and relaxation the survey shows. A quarter of the employees (27.2 percent) indicate that the approaching holiday causes more stress.
More than 1 in 3 employees (34.9 percent) say that they still have to rush to get all the work that needs to be done completed in time. Also, 1 in 5 (20.9 percent) struggle to go away on holiday with peace of mind due to the realisation that work is simply piling up.