How we promote employee wellbeing and avoid burnout with automated time-off reminders in Rippling

Leif Oldert is VP of Human Resources at Clicklease. Leif is a Rippling Wavemaker, a leader who challenges the status quo and finds creative ways to solve problems and drive business impact.

We all know how important it is to take time off from work to recharge, and yet so many of us don’t take enough of it (myself included sometimes). It’s easy to see why. Projects and commitments pile up, and you feel guilty stepping away if you have a personal stake in getting things done, or a team counting on you. 

And yet, we all know that a rested workforce with a healthy work-life balance is more productive and engaged. 

So how can you get people to take their vacation time? At Clicklease, we use Rippling workflows to make sure employees know we want them to take their days. We’re finding that it’s great for employee wellness and our culture overall.

The problem: PTO goes unused 

Not taking vacation is bad for employees, but it’s not just an individual problem—organizations as a whole suffer if people make a habit of passing up their PTO. 

Think about it: A rested staff member with a decent work-life balance is better positioned to solve customer problems—not to mention take initiative on internal work. On the other hand, employees who haven’t taken time off in a year could be operating on the edge of burnout, which zaps you of the will to go the extra mile. 

So there’s real business value to paid time off—but you’ll only realize that value if taking PTO is baked into your culture. And the tricky part is, you can’t rely on managers to make sure their team members are taking vacation. Managers are busy, and it would be unrealistic to assume they know when everyone last took time off. 

A better solution is to automate those nudges, to know they go out when they’re needed.

The solution: Automated vacation reminders 

At Clicklease, if six months pass and someone hasn’t taken vacation, we use Rippling to send an automated email reminding them to take a break. 

Step 1: Build a custom workflow

First, you need to create a workflow in Rippling that triggers an alert when an employee hasn’t logged any PTO in a certain amount of time. We do it for six months, but you can do three months, nine months, or whatever is the right fit for your organization.

Step 2: Personalize the reminder message

This part is key. If you want the message to land, make sure it’s not a generic, robotic email reminder. Something friendly and simple will do, like, “We noticed you haven’t taken a break for a while! Now would be a good time for a little rest and relaxation.” You can include instructions for how to request vacation. I also recommend copying the employee’s manager on the message so they’re alerted that their direct report has been perhaps a little too hard at work.

Step 3: Schedule it

Decide how often Rippling checks for employees meeting the criteria for the workflow. Maybe monthly or quarterly—whatever aligns best with your culture and policies.

Step 4: Track and tweak

Use Rippling’s reporting to see how well the reminders are working and whether take rates for paid time off are where you want them to be. Are the reminders resulting in more PTO, especially for those who seldom take it? You can use that data to see if you need to increase the frequency of reminders. I’d also suggest asking managers and employees for informal feedback to see if they feel like people are noticing the emails and taking them seriously–so you can fine-tune the comms if not. 

The impact

Better work-life balance

Employees who have a good work-life balance have more time to take care of their personal lives and pursue hobbies and passions that may fuel their productivity at work. Plus, research shows that organizations with healthy work/life balance cultures tend to have more diversity at the manager level. 

A win for culture 

A lot of organizations say they want employees to take time off but look the other way when they don’t. Sending emails shows that we walk the talk and actually are committed to employee wellness. 

Lower risk of burnout 

Automated time-off reminders are one of those small, strategic moves that can turn a culture goal into real habits and attitudes among your workforce. If the message sticks, you can count on a more productive staff with healthier work-life balance and less propensity to burn out. The last thing we want is a staff operating on the cusp of burnout. Or burning out for real. A solid vacation can help lower that risk and at the same time increase productivity. 

Try building your own time-off reminder 

Arguably, automating these reminders is the only realistic way to ensure that every employee is getting the take-time-off message when they need to hear it most. Rippling makes it easy to set them up with a library of plug-and-play workflow templates called Recipes to pick from. If you get stuck along the way for some reason, there’s a chatbot that can help you out too.

This blog is based on information available to Rippling as of December 2, 2024.

Disclaimer: Rippling and its affiliates do not provide tax, accounting, or legal advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide or be relied on for tax, accounting, or legal advice. You should consult your own tax, accounting, and legal advisors before engaging in any related activities or transactions.