Permission To Pause: Why Rest At Work Is A Radical Act Of Leadership

Forbes

11-07-2025

As burnout rates continue to climb, it's clear that this always-on mentality is no longer sustainable.
Organizations today are grappling with a growing burnout crisis. One that's quietly driving disengagement, higher turnover, and stalled innovation. And yet, millions of hours of unused PTO continue to pile up year after year. It's more than a missed opportunity; it's a signal that employees don't feel comfortable or supported stepping away, even when they desperately need to.
At the heart of this issue is a culture that glorifies hustling and constant output. As burnout rates continue to climb, it's clear that this always-on mentality is no longer sustainable. Rest is often misunderstood as indulgent, but in reality, it's one of the boldest and smartest leadership strategies available. Taking time to recharge allows us to make better decisions, support others more effectively, and sustain long-term creativity and impact.
Rest isn't stepping back; it's stepping up with intention. Leaders who take time to pause, whether for a vacation, spending time with family and loved ones, or to do things that fuel them (one of my personal favorites is gardening), model a healthier standard for success by giving their teams permission to do the same.
Reframing Rest as a Business Strategy
When leaders openly prioritize rest, they challenge outdated assumptions about productivity and redefine what strength looks like. Rest becomes not just a personal choice, but an organizational value.
This starts with reshaping the cadence of work. Practices like no-meeting or light-meeting Fridays can create uninterrupted time for focused thinking, problem-solving, learning, or simply networking. And when organizations offer sabbaticals or flexible work arrangements, they signal that sustainable practices of rest aren't a perk, but a priority.
But policies alone aren't enough. Leaders must ensure time-off policies are clearly communicated, easy to access, and equitably applied across roles and teams. From onboarding to performance conversations, rest should be part of how organizations define success and sustainability. This means evaluating whether its systems and culture support people's ability to pause and thrive.
Personally, I'm excited to step away for a two-week Social Sabbatical with SAP this month. This program was started by SAP over 10 years ago to support non-profit organizations, NGOs and social enterprises who have limited resources to increase their capacity and effectiveness with one of SAP's most valuable resources: our people.
I'm excited to not only participate in this program, but to also demonstrate to my team that it's important to step away and invest in personal experiences that take us outside of work. These diverse experiences give us different perspectives and unique takeaways that ultimately make us stronger teams.
How Technology Can Normalize Rest at Scale
Technology plays a crucial role in making rest routine. The right tools can reinforce healthy habits and make stepping away not only possible, but easy.
Global absence management software can help shift time-off planning from a reactive task to a proactive strategy. For example, team calendar views help managers plan and balance workloads while ensuring coverage. Proactive, automated reminders to use vacation time can help push back against a culture of constant work and can even empower managers to actively encourage their teams to take advantage of their remaining leave balances.
With real-time visibility into leave balances, accruals, and entitlements, tailored to local regulations and public holidays, employees and managers make confident and informed decisions on the best time to enjoy downtime.
To ensure accessibility across global teams, employees can view and manage their time off in their preferred local language. Mobile access and AI-driven self-service experiences also make requesting time off simpler, faster, and more intuitive, anytime, anywhere. When people know their request won't derail the team or trigger unnecessary stress, they're far more likely to take the time they need.
Making Rest Work: Practical Ways to Build a Culture of Pause
Encouraging time off is one thing. Removing the friction that keeps people from taking it is another. Here's how to do both:
1. Make Rest Visible from the Top Down
Model the behavior you want to see. When leaders block time off on their calendars and speak openly about the power of rest, it sends the message that taking a pause is encouraged.
2. Use Your Data to Spot Red Flags Early
Regularly audit your PTO and time-off data to uncover trends like unused vacation, repeated carryovers, or teams not taking a break due to heavy workloads. These are often early indicators of burnout or disengagement. Don't just track the data; use it to start proactive conversations before burnout turns into turnover.
3. Streamline the Time-Off Experience
Use technology that supports workload planning, visibility, and ease of use. If requesting PTO is confusing or a headache, it won't happen.
The boldest move a leader can make in a burnout-prone culture is modeling rest firsthand. When leaders pause, they build trust, set healthy boundaries, and enable sustainable, high-impact performance for themselves and their teams.
Learn how SAP SuccessFactors helps organizations create a culture of intentional rest.