In this week's episode of Billable-Hour Burnout, we're diving into the topic of using your PTO effectively to achieve work-life balance.
The Importance of Using PTO
Statistics reveal that employees don’t use an average of 6.5 days of their PTO. Over half (52%) report working while on PTO, and a staggering 765 million vacation days go unused by Americans each year. Even with unlimited PTO, employees only take about 10 days off on average, compared to 17 days for those with fixed PTO.
How to Enjoy Your PTO
To make the most of your PTO, consider these three phases: before, during, and after your time off.
Before Going Out of Office (OOO)
Book your PTO in advance. Aim to book at least one full week off every 4-6 months. Schedule PTO at least 30 days in advance to ensure coverage and support.
Communicate your schedule clearly and with a buffer. Add your PTO to others’ calendars as an all-day FYI invite. Create a buffer by telling colleagues you're leaving a day before your actual departure and returning a day later.
Prepare in advance. Two weeks out, create a list of tasks to complete before leaving. One week out, circle up with your team to ensure coverage.
Set up a no email protocol. Inform your team you won’t check email but can be texted in emergencies. Set up an out-of-office message including your return date, email checking frequency (e.g., limited availability), contacts for urgent matters, and a fun note about your vacation encouraging others to take PTO.
During Your PTO
Hold your boundary. Stick to your no-email policy to avoid setting a precedent of working on vacation.
Keep a journal. Use it for inspiration and reflection without forcing work.
Maintain or create healthy routines. Use your time off to incorporate new healthy habits or maintain existing ones.
After Your PTO
Use your buffer day. Recalibrate by doing laundry, catching up on emails, hitting the gym, etc.
Thank your team. Show appreciation for their support with small gestures like local treats from your trip.
It's important to remember that effective PTO management is essential in maintaining your mental health and overall well-being. By setting clear boundaries, preparing in advance, and taking the necessary steps to fully disconnect, you ensure that your time off truly serves its purpose. Not only does this help you recharge, but it also sets a positive example for your colleagues about the importance of taking breaks.
Let's Beat Burnout
Taking your PTO seriously is a vital part of managing stress and preventing burnout. By planning ahead, communicating effectively, and setting firm boundaries, you can make your time off more restful and rejuvenating. Remember, recharging your batteries isn't just about taking a break—it's about coming back stronger and more focused. So, prioritize your well-being and make the most of your vacation time.
Are you on my newsletter? Subscribe HERE to be on the weekly distribution that only the most intentional women in accounting, law, and consulting are getting. Burnout is a thing that's getting in the way of your summer, this email was made for you. My newsletter community is VIP; by joining, you're always the first to know of upcoming events, workshops and opportunities to break the stress cycle, once and for all!
What You'll Learn from this Episode:
What is Procrastination?
Effective Procrastination Plan
Application of Procrastination Strategies at Home
The Importance of Structure
Interesting Procrastination Quotes
Detailed Steps to Follow Procrastination Plan
How to Evaluate and Adjust Your Plan
Watch the Full Episode:
Full Episode Transcript:
Hello, everybody. Welcome, welcome. Hi, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Billable Hour Burnout. I am always so grateful, so excited to be here. But there's some good stuff happening today. So we're getting right into it as always. Now when I hear that 765 million vacation days go unused by Americans, I cringe. That's an annual amount of days that go to waste. But I also get it. In the world of accounting, consulting, and law, it's actually hard to take time off, maybe even painful. That's why I'm here to share today's episode. Welcome to Billable Hour Burnout. If you need helpful tactical advice that's going to help you get towards having the career of your dreams without the stress or the overwhelm, you are in the right place. If you're finding yourself here today, it means you're ready for more, more balance, more ease, more confidence, more work-life balance, and you're ready to have it all without having to quit your job or burn down your life. I'm Lauren Baptiste, your big four auditor turned regulatory tax consultant turned life coach. This is Billable Hour Burnout. On these many episodes on the show, I'm sharing simple tactical advice, mindset strategies, tools catered specifically to the modern woman in accounting, consulting, and law. You ready? Let's talk vacation edition. Let me give you an update about me. I'm doing today's episode because I'm going on vacation. And I know a lot of you are too. I've been hearing I'm going away in two weeks, I'm going away in a few weeks, I'm going to be gone for the fourth. So I wanted to get this episode out early. Summer is here. And this Saturday, I'm leaving for Europe, I'm going to be going to do a yoga retreat in Tuscany, followed by the grant, the F1 Grand Prix in Barcelona, a couple weeks after. I love that I'm going to get some me time. There was a joke that was shared. And I see them here on the live right now. It's like, okay, well, the joke of having good PTO and to enjoy it is to not bring your kids. So I get that I will be enjoying the first half of my leave. Well, I'm alone. And then the second half, I'm going to be with one of my best friends. And I'm also going to be there with my husband in my favorite country. And if you didn't know a little bit about me, I studied abroad in Spain when I was back in college. So it's just Spain is has a special place in my heart. So I anytime someone says you want to go to Spain, I say absolutely. Now that being said, I want to give you an update. This is where I give you kind of the real raw of what's going on, what's happening in my life, also what's going on in biz. And I want you to know this is going to be the last episode until July. Are we calling this a season finale? Maybe? I don't know. I don't know what to call it. But we're going to resume in July. So don't worry, I have some good posts. I have some good content, good recycled stuff. I have some even recaps. I have a lot for you. So make sure that you are here so that you can enjoy this moment. Now, speaking of closing shop, speaking of closing shop, my notes just closed. So we'll take a moment to pull that back up. Good times. That's what happens when you're here live for the show. You get all the insider scoop. Okay, but we're back. We're coming back. Google's coming back. But that being said, we are taking a break. My computer's ready for a break. I'm ready for a break. And it's all good. We're going to take some time off and we're going to come back in July swinging. But like I said, there's going to be a ton of content for you in the meantime. The stock is big, so it's taking a minute to fall, but it will be here for you. Okay, so what else is going on? I'm going to jump into the testimonial in a minute. But that being said, while we're waiting for my computer to do its computer thing, this is your, well, it's not your last call, but it's definitely time. If you're thinking of booking a consultation, I am closing my doors while I'm out of vacation, while I'm out of office, in order to enroll in freedom, you have to be one of my clients. You have to come through a consultation. And the only way you're going to be able to do it this time is through meeting with me. And once I close my doors on Friday, I am not opening up until July. That being said, if you want to take advantage, now is the time to take advantage of booking a consult. I have consults on my calendar until this Friday. If you want to go to wherever on my profile and my link tree and my bio and my Instagram, you can find it on LinkedIn and my profile. All the stuff is there. So you can definitely make sure that you get on my calendar. I think I only have three spots left, maybe four. I haven't checked since this morning, but I know that those spots are being grabbed. And I don't want you to waste it. If you're like, you know what, I really need it. All right. So that being said, we're caught up. My notes are here. The show goes on. So book your consult. If you are feeling like you don't want to lose a third of the summer waiting for me to come back, now is the time. Let me share a story about my client, Christina. She's a VP. She graduated from my program freedom. And she said, what I learned from Lauren over the last several years in our relationship is to really live in the moment, trust the process and go with the flow. And I practice those daily. It takes a lot of energy and it takes a lot of trust, but sometimes all it takes for me to get back is looking up at the moon and regrounding myself with the universe and trusting that what is meant to be will come my way. Now, what I love about this testimonial from Christina is that she is a very pragmatic, strategic VP. And sometimes all she needed to learn was this moment to breathe, to pause, to look up at the moon, to remember that it's all going to be okay to trust the process. And that's what I love when I share this testimonial is that sometimes we think that it's in order to be successful in the work profession, we have to do it in that, um, very, um, almost like masculine type of way. Not that like, oh, no, in the sense that nothing changes, that it has to be the way everyone else does it, that it's very forced. And what I love in her testimonial is that it's all about trusting, being present, going with the flow. So I love that. I want to share that with you. I thought it was a beautiful testimonial. So just, I always am on with my clients. Let me dive in though, because time's ticking before I leave, before you go on your vacation. And I wanted to start with some statistics because I find it so jarring to hear what's going on first out of the PTO that we do get. They say employees don't use 6.5 days of their paid time off 6.5 breaks my heart. Okay. Over half of employees, 52% work while they're on PTO. So we barely use our time off. And then when we take it, we're still working. And I know that to be true for those in accounting, consulting, and law. I know it because I see it. I experienced it. I was doing it. I was guilty of it. I would always bring my laptop and I get it. There's something about it that like, it's one thing to have it, but when you open it and you're using it and you're doing the emails, it breaks my heart. Logging into the VPN from your Airbnb, not okay. Not okay. All right. But let's talk about some statistics around unlimited PTO because some people think, oh, it's so wonderful because it's unlimited, but unlimited PTO is not what you think. Let's start with this one. On average, employees with unlimited PTO only take 10 days off where the average American takes 17 PTO days off. Now, what we're seeing is when there's this unlimited PTO, not only do you lose the benefit of accrued time when you leave your job, but we also see how heartbreaking it can be because we're not actually taking off. We feel guilty when we ask for a day versus being like, this is your allotment, use your days. It's more of, okay, I'm only going to take a day off if I really need it, if I'm sick, if I can't go in. And that's what the challenge is with the PTO. It sounds all good when it's unlimited, but the reality is we're not using it the way it really could be. Okay. What else? We got employees with unlimited PTO report, improved work-life balance, which I find is interesting because I believe it's in the perception that when you can take it unlimitedly, it makes you feel better. But I just feel compared to that other statistic, I'm like, wow, where's the truth here? Which one is real? And then the last thing is that 42% with unlimited PTO always work on vacation. So we can see that, I guess, accrued vacation seems like more people are working than unlimited PTO. I just find the stats so interesting. Do they really affect? All it says is we work too much. All it says is that we need to take more vacation and I'm all about it. But like I always say, it doesn't heal your burnout. So if you're feeling the stress or overwhelm, it's not going to heal it. Your vacation just will not heal your burnout, but it can be a tool. And I want to make sure that we are using our vacation because if we don't use it, it will absolutely get us towards burnout. So it's not the panacea of like our one cure for burnout because it's absolutely not. But if we don't do it, we can expect that it will move us that direction of stress and overwhelm. All right. So here's what I'm doing today. I'm breaking down how to enjoy your PTO. This is what I share when I work with my clients who are dealing with billable hours, who are dealing with high client requirements or utilization requirements. I want you to think about this as three tiers before your OOO, during your OOO and after your OOO. So OOO is out of office. I'm sure a lot of you know that, but it's helpful to say it. If you're like, what is she saying? So before you're out of office, let me break it down because this is the most important and then the others follow based on what you do before you go out of office. Number one, book your PTO in advance, your paid time off, book it in advance. What I like to think is a rule of thumb is to focus on booking at least firstly, one week every four to six months. If you could do one week quarterly, that'd be amazing. But the reality is some of us only take one vacation a year. So my encouragement is to take at least two full weeks, right? Maybe one in the first half of the year, one in the second, or maybe one in the first third of the year, one in the summer, one in the winter, something like that. But at least make sure you're booking your time, using your time. But we could save that for another day of how to do, or like when to do it, let's say, but let's try to schedule it 30 days in advance. When you book it at least a month in advance, it gives you time to get coverage, to get less flack from your colleagues, to delegate properly. And it also gives you something to look forward to. In a lot of happiness studies, they talk about this idea of actually like planning the vacation brings happiness, sometimes even more happiness than being on the vacation, which I find really interesting. So we want to make sure that we give ourselves notice to book the time off. I don't care if you're going to Europe, Asia, America, you're staying home. It doesn't matter to me. It just matters that you book it. So make sure you create that. So number one, book your PTO in advance. Number two, communicate your schedule clearly and with a buffer. So this one's going to be a little thicker. So communicate your schedule. There's a lot of ways we can do this. In some companies, we have to actually get it approved. In other companies, it's just more of a hey, let's not all be out at the same time. So there's a respect factor and make sure there's a coverage factor. But one thing I thought was really cool when I was working in corporate was that we would add our PTO to others' calendars as an all-day invite. This means you're not actually blocking their calendar, but it's like, you know, the running one at the top that's just like an ongoing, you can send that and it doesn't block your team's calendar. But what it does is let them know you're going to be out. What that does is it helps them plan, what do I need to get from you before you leave? And how long are you going to be gone for, right? It just helps when we're all communicating, when we're all on the same page. So I love that idea. So let's not actually book their calendar. It's more of an FYI. You can do that in Outlook, you can do it in Google Cal, you could do it probably in all the places. Now that we've communicated, now that everybody knows, here's a trick that I, this is my secret. This is what I share with all my partners and my leaders on the rise, is to buffer your time off. Let's say that you're leaving on the 10th to go somewhere. What I advise is that you actually tell people your last day is the 8th, two days before. Here's what happens. We normally would say I'm going on vacation on the 10th, but then we tell people I'm working until the 9th. Now I think those days fall on a weekend, so don't actually look at the calendar, but you know what I mean, the day before. So if it's the 9th and all of a sudden a fire drill gets put on you, you still haven't packed yet because you've been bulking up the rest of the week to get everything done prior. It gives you space to transition. I also like the idea of having a breather before you go on your vacation, just a moment to decompress a little bit before you even get on the plane or get in the car. How many times do you go on vacation, you're sitting on the plane and you're like, oh my gosh, I barely made it. I can't believe I made it. And then it takes us like a week when we're that stressed out to really relax. So the buffer of the day before really creates this, it sets the tone for your vacation truly. So it makes sure you get everything done on time. You finish all the last minute fire drills and you make it to the airport easy. I love it. I'm getting good feedback here. This is great. I get 21 days. Thank you. I love the comments. All right. So we have the buffer day before. Now, when we think about creating a buffer in space, I want you to do it on the same, doing it the same on the other side, take a buffer, a one day buffer when you get home. So a lot of us will get home on a Sunday and say, I'm going to go back to work on Monday. Have you ever missed your flight? Have you ever had a flight delay? Have you ever had an issue with travel? Hands, hands, hands, hands. Yes, we have. And that's only that's like assuming that's the only thing that gets in our way. But when you get home on Sunday and then start work right on Monday, you have no time to do anything but load your inbox, right? All the emails take like a good few minutes to come through because there are documents attached and there's just a lot you have to go through. But when you create the buffer and you tell people, Hey, I'm not back in the office until Tuesday. What this does is give you Monday to come back, to get up to speed so that when you go to that first meeting at 9am on Tuesday, you're polished, you're ready, you're up to speed. People are like, wow, she looks so fresh. She's doing so well. She must have had just this great vacation. It looks so good when you're up to speed when you come back. And that has been a game changer for me. I usually like when I was in corporate, I would need some hours to really go through the emails to get up to speed. And to then either I'm not going to be waking up at 4am to try to do that on that day of when I just got home a few hours before. Give yourself the buffer day. Give yourself a moment to recalibrate. Give yourself a buffer in case the travel doesn't work. Give yourself a buffer to do your laundry, right? It's the little things like that, that move us out of unnecessary stress and into a more confident, empowered place. Okay. So that's number two. It's a big one, but it's a very valuable one. The trick, right? That buffer trick, have the day before, have the day after work up to it. If you already booked your trip and you already asked for your PTO or whatever told people, you're going to be out next time, but see if you can sneak it in, try it on one side, try it on the other, do a half day instead of a full day, get there. It is luxurious. And I want life to feel luxurious for you because we work hard enough. Okay. So as we're getting closer now, two weeks out, I want you to create a list of everything you need to complete. Don't just push it for that final few days, that Monday to Friday, assuming you're leaving on a trip is going to be bananas. You know that. So instead go two weeks out, be proactive on the Monday, two weeks before your trip, create a list of everything you need, put it in order. Who do you need help from? Who do you need to delegate to be so clear about what you need and what has to get done and by when, and then you can work backwards to get it done. Reverse engineering guys. We got this. Okay. One week out. I want you to circle up with those who are stepping in for you. You should have already communicate that at least two weeks out, maybe even a month out when you said, I'm going to be away. Let's talk about how we can cover for one another who can support this client. When I'm out, do I need to be on these meetings? Let's push client critical meetings until after if it's possible, right? We can have a plan. So circle up with your team and make sure you're prepared. Now, one thing I love, I call it my no email protocol. When I'm on vacation, I don't want to open my email once. I don't, I didn't when I was in corporate and I truly stuck to it. And I found a process that works and I want to share it with you. What I like to do is I spoke to my team and I said, feel free to email me on stuff. I'm not going to look, but if something comes up that is urgent, here's what I'm going to have you do. Text me. Now I know some of you might be like, I don't want anyone texting me from work. So you might need to figure out the version of this that works for you. But here's the thing. When I say text me then while I'm on vacation, only when it's an emergency, they're going to think twice before texting me. They're not going to think twice before emailing. And likely there's already a million other emails. And I don't want to look at my email every day to determine which one is worth my time and which one is not. It defeats the purpose of vacation. So I say, all right, if you need me and I'll pick like two people, maybe if it's a different account, you on this account, you on this account, text me if something's urgent. I have the relationship where I trust my people to understand what urgent is. And then I even triage. If they text me, I'll say what's going on. And then I'll say, okay, that can wait till this afternoon or this evening. I'll get back to you. Or if it's really that urgent and I need to stop what I'm doing, then at least I know I trust the person who really needs me and I can show up for them. But it doesn't have that feeling of on call all the time. We know that feeling. We have that on call feeling when we're working with teams in Asia pack and we're like, oh, that's two in the morning. Did they send that thing through so I can get work done the next day? We know that feeling. So the no email protocol is chef's kiss. It's so valuable. I found it the way that I can disconnect from my outlook and my computer and keep it closed. Even if I bring it with me on vacation, it keeps it closed. There's been very few times when I implemented this protocol that someone actually reached out. I was able to text and we were able to solve it. And sometimes it was just a yes or no. Hey, this is coming up. What do you think we should do about the client? And then I'd respond. It's done versus hold on. Let me open my computer. Let me connect to VPN. Let me check my email. Let me download all the things in a country where maybe I don't have the best wifi service. That sounds so daunting and stressful. So I love my no email protocol. I should write a post about this because it's gold, gold. Okay. Number five. And this is the last one. I promise it starts to get easier or smaller, but when you set yourself up, it is everything. So number five, make sure you actually set and schedule your out of office. I am notorious for doing this when it's too late. Sometimes I'm landed and I'm like, shoot my out of office. And I am reminding you, be proactive about it. I find it easier to actually do on Outlook than I do on Google, but so it is I'm on Google now. And this is how I run my biz and it works, but you can set up your out of office ahead of time on Outlook and you can have it and make sure it includes these four things. Number one, tell them the dates that you're coming back. There's no need to tell them when you left, whether it's a two week vacation, a two day vacation, it doesn't matter. I don't feel like you need to tell them how, like I'm gone from the 16th to the 20, whatever. No, just say, I will be back on this date. Tell them how often you'll be checking your email. So you can say, I will be checking with limited availability. I will be checked. I will have no availability. Right. And how we communicate that is so valuable because it lets the person understand, Oh, okay. Well, she's not back until July 1st and she has no availability. Then maybe I should, which goes into the third point, reach out to someone else who can be contacted in your absence. When I was in corporate, it was so valuable. Say I, I will be checking my email with limited availability, but in the event of your, or if you're looking for a more pressing response, please email this person. Here's their email gold. And also let that person know that you're putting them down as they're out of office. Likely it's an exchange I've noticed, but that's really valuable. So tell them when you're coming back, how often you're checking your email names of who should be contacted in your absence. And number four, add something fun. This is where you get to be personal. I love seeing fun out of offices, share a fun note, tell them where you're going. You don't have to tell them the hotel you're staying at. Just say, I'm going to Italy. And then I'm going to Barcelona, right? Encourage them to take PTO say, you know, like I'm doing what I got to do to refill my cup. I hope you take some PTO, or this is a reminder to you to schedule your PTO, right? We all win when we're refreshed, we coordinate better. We have better perspective. We're more effective. It's a win, win, win. So number five, that's your out of office message. Make sure it includes those four components and make sure it's scheduled to happen. I love. So if anyone wants to email me, I like my out of office. I think it's a really fun one that gives you resources and support. And it's just, yeah. So if you know my email, feel free to send me a hello, but you're going to get my autoresponder. Okay. During your out of office, number one, hold the boundary. If you told people, for example, you're like, I am not checking email, then don't write. Otherwise you're setting yourself as the prep for a precedent of she's the person who works on vacation. I'm telling you, it's a very slippery slope. I used to do that when I was early days in my corporate, because I thought I had to, uh, always be available. Even when I wasn't in the office. No, it doesn't work like that. It doesn't have to work like that. So if you even say I will not have availability, I will not be checking my email. Then it's very clear that you're not checking your email. So now for me, I check on a limited availability because I have a very small team, but when I was in corporate, you can absolutely say no availability or work with your team of what limited means. Maybe that means twice a week. Maybe that means once while you're away, right? Figure out what that means for you and your team during the out of office. Also, I love to keep a journal with me. This is really nice. I don't like to work work, but I love to be ready for inspiration. I noticed when I'm looking at a sunset, I have this idea or when I'm sitting poolside, something like the way someone says something just inspires me. I don't force it, but I like to be in the creative side of me and my work and my business. Now you might not want that, but I like the idea of just having a journal to reflect a little bit. It's nice. And so I'm inviting you to throw one in your luggage if you haven't already. All right. Number three, while you are on your vacation, keep some healthy routines and use your PTO to create new ones. Even some of us don't get a chance to work out when we're working, right? We haven't fit that into our calendar, but we can, if we decide it's important to us and maybe you're on vacation and that's the time you get to do a 30 minute bike ride, or you can do the yoga at the beach on the, you know, watching the water come in like such a beautiful thing. So keep the healthy routines that you have. Don't go completely off the, off the, I don't know, off the rails, but also use your PTO to find some new ones. Go for some nice walks. Just watch the sunrise. There's so many beautiful things you can do while you're out of office. And so bring a little healthiness into that routine. Okay. After you're out of office, two things, see, we're wrapping up. So you notice how it's getting smaller and smaller after you're out of office, use that buffer day to your benefit. Now I said it a little bit earlier, do your laundry, catch up on emails, hit the gym, go shopping, or place that Instacart water, do whatever you need to recalibrate. If you are jet lagged, I should have said this earlier, give yourself more buffer time. If you were traveling to Hawaii, like I did a couple months ago, I made sure to give myself more than one day of buffer because it's a five hour difference. And I'm going to make sure that I give myself buffer on the way back. Okay. Number two, when you're back in the groove, thank your team for holding down the fort while you were out of office, small gestures like bringing local candy or a snack from where you traveled can go a long way. It's a way to also keep the adventure going. It's a way to create a real bond with your people showing that you're human. It encourages them to take time off. It's a win-win-win. So when you get back, always just say, thank you so much for covering while I was out to be able to have a is so precious in today's world. All right. So that is it. It's my before OOO, during OOO, after OOO protocols, there are nuggets of gold in here, whether we're talking about the no email protocol or the buffer day, those two truly are a game changer in how to vacation. Now I've mentioned to you that me giving you your best summer ever is of utmost importance. I truly believe this is the time of year we work so hard for, and to let it spoil to stay in the office all night long, to be the person who's even at the office when the lights automatically go out, not cool. So I want to make sure that if that's the case, it's as minimal as possible. If that's case, it's because you've already optimized how efficient you can be. This is why I did the webinar last week, how to accomplish more without doing more. There is replay access to that until Friday. If you haven't gotten a chance to watch it, you're going to want to watch that replay. I will link it in the notes. You want to watch it. It is gold. If you're on my newsletter, you also have been getting the replay access so we can keep that going. Now I, in being a product of my product, I'm closing my doors. And while I will be checking email on a very limited basis, I am not having any meetings. I'm not meeting with my clients. I'm not doing weekly coaching calls. I'm not doing these lives, even though I'm going to miss you guys. But it's for me to refill my cup so that I can bring even more to you when I come back. But here's what I am doing. This week, I've opened my calendar for you. There are priority booking slots for consultations, mornings, evenings. There was the weekend last weekend and we had somebody book. So we have, I have created slots to make this feel easy that you can join. And I want you to take advantage of this moment now. |
