You’re feeling burnt out and need a break. How can you negotiate for more vacation time?

Feeling burnt out is a clear signal that it's time to take a step back and recharge. It's essential for not just your well-being but also for maintaining your performance at work. If you get a chance to check out the Rolling Through Negotiations podcast you can learn a heap of valuable principles and about certain skills for when it comes to negotiating for more vacation time, the approach needs to be thoughtful and strategic. One thing to remember is the key to timing it. Choose a moment when your boss is in a good mood or when the company isn’t in the middle of a high-pressure period. It’s also wise to align your request with performance review periods or after the successful completion of a significant project.

Knowing your value to the company is not a prerequisite to requesting a break. I'd frame the conversation with, "I pride myself on doing my best work, and right now, I'm feeling the effects of burnout that may be affecting my performance. What's the chance I can take a week away to refresh?"

If you're feeling burnt out, be transparent with your boss. Before you approach your boss though, do some brainstorming. You want to start the discussion by enforcing how much you love working for the company and it is important to stay on top of your game. Let your boss know that you're feeling burnt out and think a long weekend will allow you to refocus. Before the discussion, think about taking a photo. If you have the lens on wide angle, you'll miss the details of the petals on a flower. Vice versa, if you're zoomed in on the petals of a flower, you'll miss plants, people, and things around it. A brief step back will allow you space to zoom in on projects and zoom out on projects so you can better relate one to the other. Shake it off.

This article asks how to negotiate for more vacation time. Look to third party resources to find out how much vacation of comparable companies and positions. If you find a gap, ask your employer to close the gap and bring your vacation to market. You may also reference that many companies provide unlimited PTO (to avoid a vacation accrual). If burnout is the issue, you may want to explore its root cause and decide if a change of scenery or time away would be of greater benefit.

Give your boss the reputation of being a respectful and understanding leader (even if they're not). This is a psychological hack. Try this, "Boss, I appreciate that you are considerate of your team and understand our performance clearly. I suspect that you can see that I am feeling burnt out lately. What's the chance that I can take a few days away to recoup?" By giving someone a positive reputation and telling them that you think they are considerate, they are scientifically proven to be more likely to act in that positive manner.

An employee should decide about the best vacation period, considering the workload. For some employees (e.g. finance) end of financial periods might be exhausting. It will be much easier to get more vacation days considering that, and not also being interrupted during the vacation. This is also important for a quality break.

Plan your vacation when it will keep project schedules, picking times that are best for everyone. Show how taking a break can make you and the team work better and be happier. Set up a plan to make sure work goes smoothly while you're away, showing you're responsible. Talk about how breaks can lead to new ideas and help the team grow.