Small-business owners neglect vacations at their peril

Are you a small-business owner who rarely takes a vacation? If so, you are not alone. According to a survey commissioned by Sam’s Club, a division of Wal-Mart, nearly 50 percent of small-business owners take only major holidays off—or nothing at all. That’s less than half the average number of vacation days used by the rest of the world, including Canada, Britain and Japan, as reported by the World Tourism Organization. Among small-business owners who said they do plan to take a vacation this year, the majority—66 percent—will take only one week off all summer long. These owners take on all or most of the responsibility of running their businesses, according to Joe Robinson, a work/life coach, and worry that their businesses will suffer if they’re away from their work for an extended period of time. Even if they do go away, they constantly check in with their employees and customers, Robinson adds.

Yet overworking can lead to serious health hazards, including higher stress, burnout and sleeplessness. It can impede relationships at home, causing even greater feelings of guilt and stress, and can inhibit productivity at work and create high turnover, according to Robinson. “Vacations are as important as watching your cholesterol or your business’s bottom line, yet most people put it off for years or indefinitely,” he notes. But as in many other aspects of our busy daily lives, knowing what’s good for you (eating right and exercising, for example) and doing them are two very different things.