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ADVENTURE

Thinkerbell and Lion Remind Aussies that ‘Life’s Good When You Give a XXXX’

by Tracy J. Chu

Leading brewer Lion has unveiled the latest instalment of the ‘Give a XXXX’ brand campaign with a memorable new work across TVC, OOH, Radio and Social content for the iconic Queensland beer, XXXX, via Thinkerbell. 

Set to Montell Jordan’s iconic hip hop track, This Is How We Do It, the idea aims to capture XXXX’s take on the unique perspective that Queenslanders have towards living the good life.

The campaign launched on Sunday and encapsulates the innovative ways in which Queenslanders make the most of the much-loved part of the country. Whether that be cleverly rigging a hammock to their 4WD or finding original ways to keep cool while fielding in beach cricket – all laddering up to the fresh modern representation of XXXX. 

Lion’s head of marketing, Core Beer, Chris Allan, said “This bright and bold new work reminds us that the aspirational QLD lifestyle at its core is social and fun. The good life, and the things that really matter to Queenslanders, are often achieved with a little resourcefulness and creativity. XXXX is quintessentially QLD and for 145 years we’ve demonstrated that with some conscious effort, everyone can reap the rewards of the good life and celebrate all of the things that matter to them the most. Life’s good when you give a XXXX.”

Thinkerbell’s national chief creative, Jim Ingram, added “We hope we’ve captured a bit of Queensland ingenuity in this work, without overcomplicating things. Not everyone has the time or a desire to have a two week glamping adventure into the Daintree. It’s amazing what you can do with an old jetty, or a car winch these days.”

The latest work is supported by XXXX’s media investment in Queensland from the coast to the outback across TV, OOH, Radio and Social.

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VACATION

How Not to Dread Returning to Work After Vacation

by Tracy J. Chu

How did you spend your recent vacation? Did you soak up the sun at the beach or go hiking in the mountains? Maybe you backpacked through Europe, took a family road trip, or simply had a relaxing staycation.



Calendar – Calendar

Everything seems to be going well until you realize what awaits you on the last day of vacation. And it starts with a capital W.

No. Your mind isn’t playing tricks on you. We all hate going back to work after vacation. In fact, it’s a phenomenon that’s been studied numerous times. For example, a Zapier / Harris Poll found that 87% of knowledge workers dread returning to work after vacation.

But why?

The following tasks are among the most dreaded:

  • Reestablishing a routine – 37 percent
  • Getting caught up with administrative tasks – 31 percent
  • Feeling overwhelmed by busy work – 27 percent
  • Post-vacation blues – 27 percent
  • Dealing with piles of unread emails/messages – 26 percent
  • Being overwhelmed by a busy schedule – 25 percent
  • Not being in the loop about tasks – 23 percent
  • Catching up on missed work while feeling unproductive – 20 percent
  • Missing an important decision made while they were away – 18 percent
  • A delay in a project caused by their absence – 18 percent
  • Having trouble managing their projects – 17 percent

Psychologist Jeroen Nawijn, who has studied how vacations affect the quality of life, tells Popular Science that people generally feel rejuvenated after a vacation. However, these benefits tend to disappear after they return home. “They most likely feel best during vacation because they have more freedom to do what they want,” he explains.

Suzanne Degges-White, a therapist at Northern Illinois University and chair of the department of counseling and higher education agrees. “Once we get back into

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VACATION

Take a Mental Vacation This Weekend

by Tracy J. Chu

We all know that we work too much in the United States.

The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world without a minimum annual leave for workers—a minimum number of paid vacation days in a year granted to employees.1.

The average American worker toiled for 1,791 hours in 2021.2 This was 428 hours more than the average worker in Denmark and 442 hours more than a worker in Germany. In 2021, we worked, on average, 184 more hours than a worker in Japan and 195 more hours than a worker in… Slovenia. I don’t know about you, but these numbers surprised me. I am not sure how many hours I was expecting someone in Slovenia to work, but I sure am jealous of their work-life balance over there. All I know is that a small part of each of us likely dies inside when we take stock of these comparisons.

There is a laundry list of problems with our work culture: lack of a national paid parental leave benefit, stigma around using vacation and sick days, the systematic undervaluing and under-compensating of professions like teaching, etc. It could be easy to become bitter and cynical and… stop there, but that is not what a reader of Psychology Today is about, right? What can we do?

Treat Your Weekend Like a Vacation

A group of researchers wanted to see if prompting employees on a Friday to “treat this weekend like a vacation” would allow them to enjoy their time off more and be more emotionally and mentally refreshed upon going back to work the following Monday compared to being prompted to “treat this weekend like a regular weekend.”3 They surveyed 441 full-time employees before and after the following weekend and found that workers who

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VACATION

The Post-Vacation Quitting Trend And How Employers Can Reverse It

by Tracy J. Chu

Labor Day is just around the corner. Many of the workers who take vacations will not want to return to their jobs, and some won’t. Research shows that taking a well-deserved break can significantly increase worker healthiness, happiness and productivity. It shows that 86% of full-time employees agreed that taking more vacation time would improve their mental health, and 80% agreed that they always feel refreshed at work after they take vacation time. But sometimes workers can get so refreshed that they don’t want to go back to their jobs, according to a new study, especially those who take working vacations.

A Visier survey polled 1,000 full-time U.S. employees about their company’s time off policy, what they use vacation time for and whether time off affects overall satisfaction or retention. The results showed that 44% of respondents thought about quitting while on vacation, and those who thought about it most worked during their time away. Of those who thought about quitting while on vacation, 44% followed through, meaning 20% of all surveyed respondents have quit after returning from a vacation.

Other key findings from the survey include:

  • Most employees (89%) feel refreshed after taking paid time off (PTO) but that the renewed energy doesn’t necessarily translate to a readiness to return to work with 43% saying they dread returning to work after their time off.
  • Employees aren’t waiting long after returning from vacation to begin their search for a new job. It takes less than three months for 63% of respondents to leave their job after thinking about it on vacation, signaling that workers are starting to look for new roles shortly after returning from their time off.
  • Employees who work over vacation
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TRAVELLING

Running Low on PTO? How to Travel Without Using Vacation Days

by Tracy J. Chu

You’ve planned a trip to the beach, only to realize you don’t have enough paid time off to go. Fortunately, there’s good news: You don’t need PTO to go on vacation because there are several things you can do to make it happen without taking much time off from work (maybe none at all). We’ll have you relaxing poolside and sipping your favorite drink in no time.

Need another reason to go on that much-needed vacation? Studies suggest you’ll be even happier after coming back from a short trip than you would after a long one. Plus vacations can help give you increased mental motivation when you return to work.

Instead of giving up on vacationing altogether, check out these ways to travel this summer when you have limited time or money to spare.

Get more tools to work through your vacation

Taking your work with you while your family enjoys vacationing may sound soul-crushing, not to mention counter-productive. But if you absolutely have to work, you can at least make the most of it by working from home from somewhere else. An ocean view beats the back of your co-worker’s head any day.

Pay for a plan to hotspot your phone. It’s worth the expense to be in surroundings that lighten your mood, and you can stop the subscription after you get back. Bring an external battery pack to keep your devices going if lounge chair outlets are limited. A screen glare reducer can help you actually see what you’re doing in bright sunshine.

Make sure you know how to work your corporate VPN so you’ll be able to access your files. If you have important meetings you can’t miss, that’s what video chat apps like Zoom or Slack are for. When the sun goes down, you’ll really

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VACATION

Encourage Your Team To Take A Vacation And Watch Business Productivity Soar

by Tracy J. Chu

In Europe, the summer break is sacred. There’s an unwritten rule that August is vacation season, and most things can wait until September. But while their European counterparts enjoy rest and relaxation, many U.S. workers are still at their desks. According to Expedia, Americans took the least amount of vacation days globally in 2021, leaving an average of more than four days or 29% of their paid time off (PTO) unused. However, with more than two thirds of American workers feeling at least moderately burned out, it’s more important than ever for people to unplug from work. And it’s in employers’ best interest to make sure they do.

WFH = Never Switching Off

With the rise of remote and hybrid work, the lines between home and work life have become increasingly blurred, making it difficult for people to switch off completely. Despite hybrid being employees’ preferred way of working and associated with improved wellbeing and work-life balance, data suggests it can be more emotionally draining than fully remote or full-time office working. “A predictable, consistent routine can help people cope with feelings of stress and uncertainty – especially during a pandemic,” says Elora Voyles, an industrial organizational psychologist and people scientist at TINYpulse. “Hybrid, however, requires frequent changes to those daily habits: workers have to constantly switch things up, so it’s hard to find a routine when your schedule is always in and out of the office.”

Even when people take time out, half admit to bringing their work laptops on vacation, and 41% frequently

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TRAVELLING

No PTO? You Can Travel Without Using Vacation Days. Here’s How

by Tracy J. Chu

You used up all your paid time off in the first half of the year and now you’re ready to go on another trip. Fortunately, you don’t need PTO to go on vacation. Instead, there are some practical things you can do to make that vacation happen without taking much time off from work — if any at all. You’ll be relaxing poolside and sipping your favorite drink in no time.

Need another reason to go on that much-needed vacation? Studies suggest you’ll be even happier after coming back from a short trip than you would after a long one. Plus vacations can help give you increased mental motivation when you return to work.

Instead of giving up on vacationing altogether, check out these ways to travel this summer when you have limited time or money to spare.

Get more tools to work through your vacation

Taking your work with you while your family enjoys vacationing may sound soul-crushing, not to mention counter-productive. But if you absolutely have to work, you can at least make the most of it by working from home from somewhere else. An ocean view beats the back of your co-worker’s head any day.

Pay for a plan to hotspot your phone. It’s worth the expense to be in surroundings that lighten your mood, and you can stop the subscription after you get back. Bring an external battery pack to keep your devices going if lounge chair outlets are limited. A screen glare reducer can help you actually see what you’re doing in bright sunshine.

Make sure you know how to work your corporate VPN so you’ll be able to access your files. If you have important meetings you can’t miss, that’s what video chat apps like Zoom or Slack are for. When the sun goes

… Read the rest
Read more