Up to 86% of employees find it difficult to stop worrying about
work and switch to holiday mode in the first few days of their
annual break - a phenomenon that has been dubbed Summer Office
Withdrawal (Sow) Syndrome, writes Nathalie Towner.
A study of 1,500 office workers by recruitment consultancy Office
Angels, found that more than 50% of staff on a week's holiday take
at least half of the vacation to unwind and forget about the
demands of office life.
Sow Syndrome manifests itself through a variety of behaviours. The
study revealed that 62% of workers get stressed about ensuring each
day is packed with activities, 40% get worked up about securing the
best spot by the pool, 25% make daily checks for work messages on
their mobile phone, and 10% worry about sleeping in and missing the
inclusive breakfast. All of these were cited as classic Sow
symptoms.
Some 68% of people say they find it difficult to adjust to having
lots of unstructured spare time while on holiday. Additionally, 45%
admit to missing the "buzz and banter" of daily office life.
These findings support recent research which found that office
workers are taking less holiday, shorter lunch breaks and are
unable to "switch off".