More time to call your own is an idea that may be getting its due in the workaday world
The holidays have come and gone, and some – maybe many – of us will be glad to settle back into our routines of work and weekends. More and more we hear people say things like, “I need a vacation from my vacation.” In other words, relaxing can be hard work.
Which could account a recent survey that showed more than half (57 percent) of Americans polled think they’re not getting the sleep they need. In fact, sleep was a popular New Year’s resolution this year, with 61 percent saying they would rather get a great night's sleep every night for a month than, say, lose five pounds.
Now while that outcome sounds surprising, it may be the dawn of a collective intuitive wisdom about our society’s pervasive lack of sleep; the same study, conducted by Wakefield Research for Princess Cruises, points to medical research which shows a direct correlation between sleep quality and weight loss (53 percent of respondents agree that lack of sleep contributes to weight gain). They also think if they had more sleep they’d be more productive, happier, more successful and more creative.
Perhaps these responses reflect changing attitudes toward our time off in general. Coming in early and working late, putting in weekends, foregoing vacations, have long been consider the badge of honor for the truly dedicated employee. However new generations of workers are displaying a different perspective on their relationship with their jobs.
The most recent GBTA Traveler Sentiment Index reports that more than two-thirds (67 percent) of business travelers find the option of extending their business trips for leisure travel is important to them, and 36 percent of these so-called bleisure travelers have actually done so in just the past three months alone.
Members of the Millennial generation are more likely to extend their business travels to include leisure than their counterparts among Gen Xers and Baby Boomers (43 percent, compared to 34 percent and 35 percent, respectively). Furthermore women were more likely than men to piggyback leisure travel onto their business trips, as were employees of small- to medium-sized companies compared to those in large corporations.
And yet another recent survey, this one from Enterprise Rent-a-Car, found 2016’s preferred vacation format may well be the weekend getaway. More than 80 percent of the respondents said they planned at least one weekend getaway this year. And while a weekend may not really be enough time to recharge the old batteries, nearly a third of respondents said that the time away helps them because they have “no schedule to follow.”
The philosophy is certainly spilling over into business travel choices. This month’s cover story, Reinventing Relocation (page 20) reports that today’s corporate nomads are looking for personal satisfaction in choosing their long-term stays. Corporate dining is getting a makeover with new ways to access eating better, as we discover in Dig in to Dining Spend (page 12). And in LCCs Fly High (page 26), we learn that low cost carriers are expanding their footprint – maybe to someplace that just fits into that weekend getaway plan.
In our always-on, ever-connected, high-velocity world of business travel, it’s a relief to hear that the value of getting unplugged for a day or two – or maybe for just a good night’s sleep – is coming back in vogue. Perhaps we can use the time to take a little better care of ourselves, live healthier, be happier and engage the world around us.
And maybe catch up on few Z’s.