By Sarah Ash

There’s more than one reason many of us look forward to holidays. We get to spend time with family and friends that come from out of town or search for the perfect gift for someone we love. And living in Colorado makes us lucky enough to see snow, sunshine, or sometimes both on Christmas Day.

If you also get a day or two off from work- even better! And a study from The Bureau of Labor  last March found “seventy-seven percent of private industry workers had access to paid holidays,” and “nearly all workers in the manufacturing and information industries (97 percent) had access to paid holidays.

In fact, workers in the manufacturing industry have most access to paid holidays out of all the 10 major industries as defined by The Bureau of Labor! Taking a break from work is good for your mental health- but it can even benefit your career long term. Here’s how:

It gives you a chance to reflect on everything you’ve accomplished

Do you ever have the kind of week where you get to Friday and it feels like you were just clocking in on Monday? We spend so much time hustling towards the weekend that sometimes we don’t get the chance to look back on everything we did during the week- and if it’s a week with a lot of challenges then it can be easy to forget all the good stuff that happened in-between the stress. Take some time over your break to make a list of 5 things you feel most proud of from your work year. This is also a great idea since many companies do their annual reviews in January. Return to work with a list of your accomplishments already in hand and you’ll feel much more confident asking for the next step in your career.

You might stumble on a new approach to a problem you’ve been trying to solve.

Inspiration can come from unlikely places! We all have that one problem at work that isn’t as urgent as the stuff we work on day to day, but it can also be a problem that still impacts those functions. A break from your normal routine can sometimes help your brain think more out of the box and you might see a new angle because of it. Take some time over the break to ask your friends and family for their advice on the issue too-especially the ones that you don’t get to talk to as often as you wish! They might have some insight that surprises you.

Stress can negatively affect your performance overtime

An article from Forbes cites that a recent study from The Global Benefits Attitudes survey found that over half of the 22,347 employees surveyed across 12 countries felt disengaged at work because of high stress levels. When you feel disengaged you won’t feel inspired or even motivated to face the daily challenges of your job and you don’t want to become so unmotivated that your boss notices and questions your work ethic. Truth is, even the hardest working, most efficient person at your job needs a break- and you do to! You might even be that person, so it’s good to take some time during your break to evaluate your work life balance and if there’s anything within your control that could improve it.

If you do some thinking over your break and decide that you might need a new job- we can help! We are expecting more jobs to become available with the start of the New Year and our recruiters are trained to help match you to jobs that can turn into long time placements. And most importantly, fit your experience, skills, and interests. We will be taking our own break on December 24th (Christmas eve) and Dec 25th (Christmas Day) but you can contact us here to make an appointment after the holidays!