Question

Section C: Case study analysis (40%)

Read the case provided below and answer the questions.

Managers encourage your team to take time off. “I’m going nowhere fast.” This was the concern one of my clients recently. Her complaint wasn’t about working in quarantine per se, but about her frantic pace and static productivity. With the initial adrenaline rush of the crisis passed, vast numbers of my clients are reporting that they and their teams feel exhausted to the point of being useless, work demands are on the rise, and the time saved commuting has been converted to meetings that creep earlier into the day and fill the space between dinner and (a too-late) bedtime. It’s not just our commute times that have been co-opted but also our vacations. With nowhere to go and much to adjust to, most people have cancelled not only their travel reservations but their time off as well.

However, while the number of hours worked is soaring, people’s capacity to focus and

produce quality work is diving. Several of my clients — executives and managers, along with

their human resource partners — are increasingly seeking guidance on how to unplug and

recharge and encourage their employees to do the same. Companies are offering a range of

wellness options but also vary in their policies about taking time off, from “we trust you, take

care of what you need to” to “take some of your allotted vacation time” to “we need all hands

on deck right now and we can figure out time off later.”

Research shows the benefits of vacations to employee productivity and the economy — both

of which are currently under threat. Unused vacations have cost U.S. businesses $224 billion

a year. Project: Time Off’s new study found that 95% of people surveyed claimed that using

their paid time off was very important. And yet for the first time in recorded history, more

than half of Americans (55%) left vacation days unused, which equates to 658 million unused

vacation days. Take a moment for that number to set in. Imagine the impact those vacations

could have on the U.S. economy — on airlines, hotels, restaurants, attractions, and towns —

not to mention the impact it would have on individuals’ stress levels.

Remember, this is paid time off that is not being used. Let us ask you two questions to make

this idea come alive: Would you do your job for free? And do you take all your vacation days? If you say no to the first, you had better say yes to the second.

In truth, if you are not taking all your time off, you’re not working more — you’re volunteering your time. This is our favorite conclusion from the study: “By giving up this time off, Americans are effectively volunteering hundreds of millions of days of free work for their employers, which results in $61.4 billion in forfeited benefits.”

Working from home doesn’t mean working all the time. Ease the numbness induced with

back-to-back video calls and a long to-do list by reinventing vacations and time off, and

encouraging your team to do the same. As Limeade’s CEO Henry Albrecht stated in my survey,“Share the rules, show care, model the behaviors, and trust people to do the right thing.”

Question :

Identify two key stakeholders in the above article. What impact could the issue have on

them?

Answer 1

The two most important stakeholders in the article are employees and society. The issue of overburdened work on employees reduces not only their productivity but also affects their physical and mental health. As the article mentions that many of the employees cancelled their vacations and did not use time off because they faced demanding work situations. They feel tired and de-motivated due to high stress to complete work goals, it suggests a unfreindly work culture that does not promote a work-life balance. Article mentions benefits of vacation to employees' mental and physical health as well as economy's growth, but it also assesses present issue of rising work hours and no vacation for employees. Thus, employees as stakeholder are most affected by high workload as they have no time off for vacation. Therefore, managers are required to provide time off for employees to refresh and motivate them that in turn improves organizational productivity.

The second stakeholder is society. Present issue reveals that no work-life balance is provided to the employees that negatively affects an employee’s health as well as his or her family. Employee does not take time off to spend some time with family and to a large extent, cannot carry out family responsibilities. Thus, society that needs healthy community is affected by poor work practices of organization. Self care and care to family are not acquired when employees face high and demanding work load. Thus the issue of high work load, stress and de-motivation of employees affects society wellbeing and therefore, society is considered as second most important stakeholder affected by present issues described in the article.