Are you investing time in your work by taking a holiday?

The sun is shining, Andy Murray’s won Wimbledon and we’re all in end-of-term mood. At last it seems as though there’s something to look forward to after the long slog of winter and the ongoing pressures of the economy. But, a third of us don’t take our full holiday entitlement each year and, for many lawyers, the summer holiday period creates pressures all of its own.

Firstly, there are client matters to manage, making sure key people on the team are available and sometimes having to disappoint juniors about when they can take time off. Then there’s the worry about being out of town and missing opportunities, or of competitors taking advantage of any discontinuity in service. This results in some lawyers being unable to switch off when they go on holiday. The laptop and the BlackBerry become essential items of luggage and many spouses complain about their other half spending most of their precious time together on the phone, on the computer, or both.

In 2012, Nuffield Health undertook a study, the first of its kind, to establish whether or not the much-discussed ‘feel-good factor’ generated by holidays really existed. The clinical results were published this year in its Holiday Health Report 2013.

The research showed that the average blood pressure of holidaymakers dropped by a beneficial six per cent and that their sleep quality improved by 17 per cent. The ability to recover from stress also saw an average improvement of 29 per cent among holidaymakers, proving that holidays can make us more resilient.

Holidays lay the foundations for improved productivity and higher energy levels when we return to work. These findings no doubt resonate with our own experience, but we now know that there is a clear link between holidays and our wellbeing based on clear physical and psychological facts.

Holidays are not just good for us, they’re also essential in giving us time to think, to put things in perspective and to return inspired and motivated for the challenges ahead. If they start to become inconvenient interruptions to our working routine, their value diminishes.

Holidays help to develop our planning skills: delegating responsibilities to the team, making it clear how decisions will be taken and setting up the right information flows are all vital elements of successful project management. Associates need to feel supported rather than dumped on, but they also value being trusted and being given a chance to take the lead and to supervise others when their principal is away.

So, next time you’re worried about taking time out to go on holiday, or feeling guilty about leaving your team to cope while you’re by the pool, remember: provided it’s well planned, your holiday is good for you, good for your colleagues and, ultimately, good for your clients.