Attitude Equals Profits: Take Your Vacation Days to Improve Your Attitude and Improve Company Income
May 4, 2018 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Attitude equals profits: satisfied workers drive company results according to the Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement who found a direct link between employee satisfaction and a company’s fiscal performance. I say, “Duh! – what have we been saying from anecdotal evidence and other research all these years!” It’s time to take your vacation days to improve your attitude. If you won’t take time off for yourself, then do it for your colleagues or for the bottom line of your organization.
At any rate, key findings of the study included:
1. High employee satisfaction is often the result of strong internal communications efforts throughout the organization.
2. Another satisfaction driver: internal competition among work teams to implement organizational goals.
3. Satisfaction leads to a status called “employee engagement.” Organizations with engaged employees have customers who use their products more.
4. Employee attitudes affect those of customers.
5. It is less expensive to foster employee satisfaction than it is to acquire new customers.
6. Organizational culture is the single greatest driver of employee satisfaction levels.
Here are some additional reasons to take your hard-earned and well-deserved vacation days:
- According to a recent survey of 1400 US workers, by www.Careerbuilder.com, more than one-third of workers will be taking work with them on vacation by either carting along their laptop, checking emails, or being in voice mail contact. 16% said their supervisors expected them to check in during their holiday and 19% said they would check in voluntarily. Of these workers, 61% said they would check their voice mail and email daily.
- In the same survey, 40% said a vacation of 3-5 days is enough to feel refreshed, 17% said they would take a shorter vacation or no time off this year, while 44% plan to take more than 5 days.
- Not surprisingly, half of the workers said they feel stressed at the office and 22% of these workers indicate some stress while taking time off because they have to check in. They also indicated that vacations were the #1 event they have postponed in order to progress in th
eir careers.
Italian Spas: Weird to Wonderful
March 4, 2018 | Posted in Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
I learned the town name in Italian means Volcano Crater. No wonder there are so many thermal pools, spas, and steam baths scattered around this geo-thermal hotbed of activity. Poised between Florence and Pisa, there are thermal services, pools, caves, and most anything of the spa variety you can imagine. My BFF and I went there to chill out for the holidays to experience the lovely holiday markets, the Gluehwein (hot spiced wine) and of course the pasta and all the spa’ing a person can take. We discovered things we never thought of and other things we wish we hadn’t. It’s all about discovery and being open to try new things. That’s when two brains are better than one when we try to figure out the procedures and how to manage ourselves in new environs in another language….though I learned all you really need in Italian is Grazi and Prego and that pretty much can take you anywhere.
Our first spa experience was what we later termed the sanitarium or insane asylum. Seriously, it was so sterile and clean and minimal and the people all wore white smocks, it was a little weird. We stayed for five hours to take in all the pools and water therapy we could handle. We were led upstairs to a completely empty floor….a bit like the movie The Shining. Seriously, nobody was on the floor except one housekeeper and the attendant who kept running between our two rooms to give us our treatments. No mood lighting, no candles, no soft music, just bright lights like an operating room, cold tables, and opened doors as she kept running back and forth between us.
We both got the special mud pack treatment and the magical mud/cream facial along with a massage. No warming of the massage oil at this crazy place….she slathered cold cream on you with startling precision and then gave the most lack-luster massage I’ve ever had…it did nothing for either of us. It was hard not to laugh because it was so weirdly sterile and antiseptic and not at all relaxing. We were slathered in mud that had incubated in the special waters for up to two years, then swaddled in wrapping. We felt like mud burritos when we were left to cook in the mud. All you could hear across the hallway was us laughing at the absurdity of it all.
Our next thermal experience was like nothing we’d ever experienced as seasoned spa-goers. This thermal vapor cave was discovered in 1849 and recognized as the 8th wonder of the world at one time. There is a resort and thermal spa built around this cave with stalagmites and stalactites that is the length of a football field. They give you little slippers and white canvas robes with hoods that look monk-like. Then you descend into the cave with one end called Paradise which is the “cooler” end and the other end is Inferno/Hell which is much deeper into the mountain and is considerably hotter in this natural sauna steam bath buried into the mountain.
In Hell you find teak deck chairs and a smattering of people just resting in silence and sweat in the dimly lit cave. You sweat for 45 minutes and then emerge from the depths to a shower and a fuzzy robe, then you’re ushered to a nap room that is surrounded by an inside jungle with vines Tarzan could swing on.
From there we were led to our sea-salt scrub and shae butter candle massage. They light the candle and drip the hot shae butter upon you for an amazing massage in an appropriately lush and lavish dimly-lit setting with spa music, heated beds and blankets and aromatherapy. After you feel like putty, then you’re guided to the outdoor thermal pool with individual bubble seats, waterfalls, robe and towel warmers and spectacular scenery surrounding the grounds.
We spent 6 hours at this place and luxuriated in every minute. It was a far cry from the sanitarium spa. Buyer beware – do your homework before you plunk down cash for services that are downright startling. Oh well, nothing that some red wine, great pasta and a little tiramisu won’t fix to help erase our memory of the insane asylum. It’s all about taking care of yourself and inviting new experiences. We had a good laugh at our own expense and know better next time when we research spas and treatments. What are you doing to try new adventures, unique experiences and to take care of yourself? What are you doing to add a little uniqueness, wonder, and excitement to your life? What are you doing to live Hartfully and renew yourself? Next stop was leather shopping in Florence. More on that adventure is customized leather later.
Bellinis on the Balcony
January 4, 2018 | Posted in Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
We had planned a relaxing beach-side getaway in Florida to soak in some sun and fun. What we got was soaking wet for a few days as we hunkered down to ride out Hurricane Matthew which had the audacity to ravage Florida’s coast in the middle of our vacation. It was eerily calm, warm, and sunny as we watched the shop keepers install the hurricane shutters and at poolside, we sipped umbrella drinks and ordered nachos. It was weird that each time a guest would get up from their lounge chair, an attendant would swoop in and scoop it up, along with all the potted plants.
One by one, all the patio furniture was carted away and doorways boarded up as us die-hards watched the Weather channel non-stop while floating in the pool. I’ve never watched so many hours of weather in all my life, but we were in the “cone of uncertainty” and several of the tracks showed us getting slammed by the evening. The hotel staff told us the windows were rated up to 200 miles per hour and this storm was estimated to “only reach 140 miles per hour.” I wondered who did the math on that calculation.
Later that evening, we walked the strand admiring the kite surfers and as we meandered, the wind started picking up. We had heard a hurricane may hit landfall, but it was supposed to be further north, so we kept walking as dusk settled in and the wind picked up. It only intensified the tricks the kite surfers could do in the gusts…looked like a blast to me. Note to self – try kite surfing – but not in a hurricane.
Live jazz was playing across the street from a sidewalk café and we felt the first droplets of rain, so we dashed back to our villa stopping by the CVS to round out our provisions we had hoarded to ride out several days without electricity or water. The storm grew stronger as the sky grew black and the rings of the hurricane most certainly were upon us. Bless the CVS store owner for remaining open until the last possible minute while every other shop around them was boarded up so we could get just one more jug of water for good measure.
Then it hit with a ferocity I hadn’t experienced. Our doors started blowing open before we could get them locked. We sat atop the intercoastal waterway and watched boats being tossed about and whipped from their moorings. We didn’t get the brunt, but you could see the rain bands and feel the building swaying. After holing up for a day and a half, we were able to venture out again and it was as if nothing had ever happened. We went to the spa and when we reached the pool deck, all the furniture was in place and the steel drum band was playing and umbrella drinks were flowing. Later that night we toasted a narrow miss with bellinis on the balcony and watched the boat traffic flow effortlessly in the intercoastal waterway like nothing ever happened.
Sometimes you need to ride out the storm and wait for the sunshine and sunset after the worst part. We didn’t want to throw in the towel because we still had vacation days left and wanted to use up every single minute for our holiday. We prepared, assessed the probability of a direct hit, and decided it was going to be another adventure and a good story. We were very fortunate, indeed. The next day we went air boating in search of gators, a perfect Florida trip complete with the requisite hurricane and gator sightings, that’s what I call livin 
g Hartfully, feminine and fierce.
