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<ul class="summary-list"><li>In a crisis like the coronavirus pandemic, many companies are struggling to stay afloat, which can make some employees feel scared or nervous to take their <keyword id="1452361" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="vacation-days">vacation days</keyword>. </li><li><keyword id="9829279" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="renato-profico">Renato Profico</keyword>, CEO of <keyword id="70593" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Doodle">Doodle</keyword>, says during these stressful times, it's more important than ever for employees to take some <keyword id="1117466" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="time-off">time off</keyword>, and it's up to their boss to ensure they do so.</li><li>Profico recommends leaders set a deadline for when employees have to submit their vacation requests, encourage impromptu days off for personal needs, and lead by example by taking vacation themselves.</li></ul>Vacations have many positive effects, from helping people sleep better and improving their mood to increasing productivity and reducing exhaustion. So, you'd think everyone would be jumping at the chance to take time off, right? Wrong. According to a <a href="https://www.ustravel.org/research/state-american-vacation-2018">study from the US Travel Association's Project Time Off</a>, 52% of Americans didn't even use all of their vacation days in 2017. As the CEO of Doodle, I wish I could say I'm surprised by this. But I'm not. The United States has a reputation for an overworking culture. But amid the pandemic and the <a href="https://landing.doodle.com/state-of-meetings-q2-2020?utm_source=BusinessInsider&amp;utm_medium=PR&amp;utm_campaign=stateofmeetingsq22020gsq22020">massive spike in virtual meetings</a> in the last few months, I'd argue that taking time off from work must be a top priority. Company leaders need to take full responsibility for how they encourage their workforces to actively use their paid time off (PTO). So, I've outlined seven ways leaders can encourage their employees to take PTO during the pandemic.<h2>1. Set a deadline</h2>Don't just ask all employees to enter their PTO requests through the end of 2020 into the company's absence management tool (i.e. BambooHR, Absence.io, etc.). Make it mandatory and set a deadline for when it must be done. While this might seem rigid or harsh, it's actually for the benefit of your workforce. It ensures that they take time off, regardless of whether or not they can travel anywhere. The purpose of time off is to unwind, decompress, refresh, and reflect. <h2>2. Limit rollover</h2>Oftentimes, employees will hoard their PTO days because they know it can roll over to the next year. While saving is generally a good thing, it's not always the case when it comes to PTO. Oftentimes, those extra days and even weeks of vacation time sit there and collect dust, while employees work nonstop and burn out. To avoid burnout, which can be especially damaging right now, I recommend that organizations institute a 'Use it or lose it' policy so that employees proactively schedule time off for themselves. This makes it harder for them to burn out. <h2>3. Discourage vacation shaming</h2>Don't let anyone in the organization make anyone else feel guilty about taking time off. This starts at the top with leadership. The executive team needs to actively communicate this to department managers and let them know it won't be tolerated from them. <h2>4. Encourage impromptu days off</h2>If an employee has had a heavy workload for a considerable period of time, pay attention and encourage that employee to take an impromptu day off (perhaps on a Friday or Monday for an extended weekend). If an employee needs to move to a new apartment or house, but can't seem to find time in the week to visit potential places, encourage them to take a few days off to do what they need to do.The key here is listening. Ask questions about their personal life. Get to know them. Then show them that you value, trust, and support them by giving them more autonomy and flexibility to manage their workloads. Allow them to manage their time in the way that best suits them so they can take care of themselves. <h2>5. Lead by example</h2>If you as a leader (department manager, middle manager, or a member of the executive team) want to encourage your employees to take time off regularly, then you need to take vacation yourself. . I regularly take time off from work. And I don't feel guilty about it for one second. The exact opposite, actually. I feel more energized, motivated, and productive when I return from my holidays. That's what I want for my entire staff. I also make a concerted effort to not answer emails during my time off. I hire smart people who are fully capable of keeping the business running smoothly while I'm out, and I trust them completely. <h2>6. Make well-being part of your company's cultural values</h2>Don't just mention PTO days in employment contracts. Actively discuss the importance of mental health and well-being during the onboarding stage and in your all-hands meetings. We have an Employee Culture Committee, whose sole purpose is to develop content, activities, and events that help our employees embody our values at work and in their personal lives. Before the pandemic hit, we were planning our regular annual retreat to an international destination, where our entire staff from five countries would fly out to meet, explore the locale, and bond with another. Because working from home and being in quarantine has been somewhat taxing on everyone, we decided to host a virtual retreat. Over the course of three work days, we had employees block off half-days to take part in group activities, like a virtual escape room and a pub quiz. We paired up people with colleagues they may not usually work with or haven't met because they're located in a different country. And everyone was sent calendar invites to block off these times in their calendars so they wouldn't work or book meetings. <h2>7. Get creative and don't be afraid to brag</h2>It's OK to be happy about taking time off. There's no reason or need to feel guilty about telling people how amazing, fun, and relaxing your time off was. Share photos and videos, and tell funny stories and memorable moments. This not only shows your staff that you value PTO, but also that you want to forge more meaningful connections and relationships with them. Make sure you encourage your staff to do the same. If you know a team member went on a camping trip, for example, ask them to see photos and ask specific questions about their experience. This will break down some of the glass walls and barriers that often exist between senior management and the rest of the workforce. Also, share stats about the connection between time off and mental health. This will help employees see how taking time off can make a direct impact on their mental health and well-being. At the end of the day, it comes down to trusting your employees. Trust your teams to get their work done in the times that work for them (i.e. tuning into their productivity 'flow'), while also allowing them the psychological safety and freedom to enjoy their non-work lives.Renato Profico is the CEO of the leading enterprise scheduling tool, Doodle. A qualified executive with 20 years of professional experience in digital companies, he most recently held the position of CEO for four years at a leading job platform network in Switzerland, JobCloud. In addition to his extensive leadership experience, Profico is an expert in B2B sales, marketing, business development, customer relationship management, and organizational structure and development.

7 ways to encourage your employees to take time off during the pandemic — and why you should — according to the CEO of Doodle

<ul class="summary-list"><li>When it comes to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/navy-seal-jocko-willink-gives-best-advice-for-running-meetings">setting up an important meeting</a> at work, timing matters. </li><li>Business Insider recently got ahold of an exclusive report from <a href="https://doodle.com/en/">Doodle</a>, an online scheduling platform, that analyzed nearly 200,000 meetings in 135 US territories to understand which times of day were the best to meet with coworkers.</li><li>The report identified the exact times American workers prefer to have meetings based on which city they live in.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary">Click here for more BI Prime stories. </a></li></ul>Unproductive meetings can waste your time - and money. A third of the 11 million meetings that take place <a href="https://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-scourge-of-meeting-late-comers.html">every day</a> are unproductive<a href="http://bps-occupational-digest.blogspot.com/2013/11/not-getting-much-out-of-meetings-you.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">,</a> according to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265508784_Lateness_to_meetings_Examination_of_an_unexplored_temporal_phenomenon_European_Journal_of_Work_and_Organizational_Psychology">a research in the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology</a>. If you add up the time employees spend on meetings each day, the cost would come down to about <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265508784_Lateness_to_meetings_Examination_of_an_unexplored_temporal_phenomenon_European_Journal_of_Work_and_Organizational_Psychology">$37 billion</a> lost each year due to ineffective meetings, the study found. Figuring out the best time to meet with your employees is hard. Your goal is to pick a time when people are the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-time-day-work-according-to-science-2018-5">most likely to attend and engage.</a> <a href="https://help.doodle.com/hc/en-us/articles/360012149713-Get-started-with-Doodle">Doodle</a>, an online scheduling platform that's used by more than 30 million users each month, shared a new report exclusively with Business Insider that analyzed almost 200,000 meetings across 135 US territories. Using its own internal meeting data, the company found that the preferred time for meetings depends on where your office is located. "I believe that picking the right time increases productivity, but sometimes, picking the right time with the right person is also important," said Renato Profico, CEO of Doodle. "You have people who work better in the evening than in the morning. It all depends on the employees and how they work."Profico further explained that there are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-have-less-meetings-4-hour-meeting-week-hugo-2019-11#5-converse-in-short-spurts-as-opposed-to-blocking-off-meeting-time-5">many components</a> to setting up a perfect meeting time. The context of the discussion, the amount of people attending, other meetings that are also occurring that day - these are all things that managers should take into consideration before sending their calendar invites. Here are the best times to have meetings based on the city you live in.

Here are the exact times of the day to hold a meeting if you hate talking to other people, based on the US city where you live

Morsa Images/Getty ImagesIneffective meetings can waste time and money.<ul class="summary-list"><li>Technology can be used to keep people focused and engaged during meetings. So can changing up the way you manage meetings.</li><li>According to a Doodle report shared exclusively with Business Insider, over 58% of employees have witnessed people sending texts and performing unrelated tasks during meetings. </li><li>Business Insider spoke with executives and workplace experts on how to leverage technology and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/strategies-for-making-meetings-more-productive-2019-12">keep employees engaged</a> during meetings.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>Meetings can be a waste of time - especially if people aren't paying attention. According to a <a href="https://meeting-report.com/">2019 study</a> by calendar-company Doodle of 19 million meetings and 6,500 interviews, unproductive and poorly organized meetings account for a <a href="https://www.inc.com/peter-economy/a-new-study-of-19000000-meetings-reveals-that-meetings-waste-more-time-than-ever-but-there-is-a-solution.html">$399 billion loss</a> each year.More than 44% of executives have seen colleagues watching a video, taking selfies, or even falling asleep during meetings, according to a Doodle report shared exclusively with Business Insider. About 58% of employees reported witnessing their peers send texts and perform unrelated tasks during company conferences.That same report also found that some of the issues can be attributed to poor timing, lengthy durations, and too many attendees.Business Insider spoke with three executives and a workplace expert on how leaders can keep employees engaged and even shorten meeting times. Here's what they said to keep in mind. <h2>When it comes to keeping people focused, timing matters</h2>Renato Profico, CEO of Doodle, told Business Insider that there are many <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-have-less-meetings-4-hour-meeting-week-hugo-2019-11#5-converse-in-short-spurts-as-opposed-to-blocking-off-meeting-time-5">moving parts</a> to setting up a perfect meeting time. The context of the discussion, the number of people attending, other meetings also occurring that day - they are all things managers should consider before sending calendar invites. "I believe that picking the right time increases productivity, but sometimes, picking the right time with the right person is also important," he said. "You have people who work better in the evening than in the morning. It all depends on the employees and how they work." Smaller groups tend to result in better discussions, he said. Spencer Waldron, director of communications at <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-software-startup-prezi-grew-with-no-job-titles-2019-12">Prezi</a> agreed with Profico, saying he sometimes disinvites even himself from meetings. Waldron said he's been working remotely from Amsterdam for six years, and the time difference means meetings get scheduled at inconvenient times. To make things more convenient, he records his core talking points beforehand, sends it to the team for review, and sometimes skips the meeting altogether. It's the best way to give valuable input without wasting time or his productivity, he said. Profico also advised managers to take a look at their employees' calendars every once in a while. If their schedules are already packed with meetings, then adding another 30-minute meet-up wouldn't be the best call. When you're scheduling one-on-ones, knowing your colleague's schedule and asking for their preferred times can save you both a lot of work in the long run.Understanding your company culture is also important. According to a Doodle report, the most productive time to set up meetings depend heavily on where your office is located. While Americans in major cities like New York and Chicago prefer dinner meetings, the report found that southern offices have their meetings over lunch. "The more organized and strategic you are about planning your meetings, the better they will be," Profico said. <h2>Rather than talking the whole time, you can add visuals to keep people engaged</h2>Meetings are meant to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/five-mistakes-youre-probably-making-in-meetings-dont-even-know-2019-9#5-you-arent-using-meetings-for-discussion-5">provoke thoughtful conversations</a>, and you can't do that by talking the whole time. Brie Weiler Reynolds, a workplace expert and career development manager at HR company FlexJobs, recommended that leaders can find creative ways to engage employees throughout the course of meetings.For example, you can take advantage of chat functions embedded in conferencing apps, or you can share your screen within them. You can ask open-ended questions that would fuel further discussion, and you can have pop quizzes halfway through the meeting to check if people are still paying attention, the expert said. Waldron said one way to keep employees engaged during a presentation is to enhance dull and wordy slides with visual components like videos, colorful photos, and dynamic transitions in between slides. Being a hand-talker himself, Waldron explained that subtle movements can keep people from getting distracted by their emails and phones. <h2>You can do more with the conversations you have from meetings</h2>Cory Treffiletti, global head of marketing at Cisco, told Business Insider that incorporating tech tools into meetings can enable you to do more with the conversations you have in the room. "Think about Tony Stark in 'Iron Man'," Treffiletti said. "He surrounds himself with this armor of technology that made him stronger, faster, smarter, and et cetera. The same thing can happen in a meeting environment. We can surround ourselves around technology - an exoskeleton almost - that would enable us to do more with the conversations we have while we're in the same room."While you're in a meeting environment, you can transcribe the full meeting using technology, he explained. Additionally, you can leverage AI tools that would take notes and extract the most important moments for your colleagues who can't attend. Document sharing and instant messaging platforms also allow for people to collaborate on, edit, and look at documents at the same time. "We went from everything being self-contained in a room to broadening it out to this remote identity where you can get multiple people connected together," Treffiletti said. "But then adding that extra layer of technology makes sure that when you're in that room, it's an efficient use of your time."

How to keep important meetings focused for people who hate meetings, according to executives who have done it

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7 ways to encourage your employees to take time off during the pandemic — and why you should — according to the CEO of Doodle

Renato Profico

Here are the exact times of the day to hold a meeting if you hate talking to other people, based on the US city where you live

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How to keep important meetings focused for people who hate meetings, according to executives who have done it

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