As the schools start to break up, thoughts turn to the summer holidays and, for many, their only true break from the world of work. Whether travelling away, staying with friends or family, or simply taking time out at home, a holiday is an important and valuable part of the employment deal and an individual’s wellbeing.

I’ve written before about the weird passive aggressive behaviour that tends to go on before the Christmas break, the key connection being our ability to demonstrate respect for one another. When someone is on holiday, they’re on holiday. Go back 30 years and we would have had absolutely zero opportunity to contact someone who had chosen to go away. Did businesses still run? Of course they did.

Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should. But the responsibility sits on both sides of the fence, the boss that wants to know everything and prevents decisions being made in their absence is as bad as the one that contacts their employees when they’re trying to take a break.

Of course there are emergencies and exceptions, I’m not being overly purist about this, but for the large part the success of  a leader is their ability to build teams who can survive prosper and be successful in their absence. The desire to always be involved or the need to have to be involved are both signs of imperfection within the system.

And at the heart of it, annual leave is an employee benefit. It is hard to think of any other benefit that one would give and then demand a bit back. “Your pension contribution is normally 10%, but this month we’ve reduced it to 8% to help us pay for an answer to a question we couldn’t work out on our own.” It just doesn’t make sense.

Whether you’re going on holiday or have team that are going away,  ask yourself what you need to do to get the most from it, to allow everyone time to relax and recharge. You can’t change the behaviours of others, but you can always be a role model whatever your position within a team. Taking time out is as important as contributing fully when you’re in – we should be mindful to treat it that way.