Where will you be vacationing this summer? Perhaps the better question is will you be taking any vacation at all? If you are like many Americans, you may be thinking about shortening (or skipping altogether) your vacation this year. A survey by Expedia.com found that over one-third (already vacation-starved) Americans will not take all of the annual vacation days to which they are entitled.

Many of us cite career-related reasons to forego our vacations: I’m too busy and will have too much work when I return. I’m too critical to be away from the office. I am worried about being “out of site” – especially now when jobs are being cut. Do any of these sound familiar?

While it is true that there are better and worse times to take vacations for your career, you may be harming your career more by not taking time off to recharge your batteries. We are not machines built to run non-stop. In fact, a little downtime can boost productivity as vacations (lasting a week or more) have been shown to increase work performance. A recent study, conducted by Air New Zealand in conjunction with former NASA scientists, found that individuals’ post-vacation performance improved nearly 25% compared to performance before vacation. The results were even more pronounced for those who likely occupy more senior positions, people 45 years of age and older -- demonstrating a 50% increase in their post-vacation performance.

To maintain peak performance, increase creativity, improve mental health and physical well-being, vacations are critical. In today’s generally over-charged, overly available, ever-changing and under-staffed organizations, employees run the risk of prolonged exposure to stressful work environments – otherwise known as the recipe for burnout. Given that performance is a more important career metric than attendance (especially when both can be achieved by simply using the vacation days offered) – and given the ill-effects of burnout can be permanent -- even the most career-minded should consider reaching for the sunblock and trading in some frequent flyer miles.

Many companies, realizing the downside of prolonged periods of non-stop work, are encouraging employees to use their vacations by creating disincentives to skip vacation – such as limiting the amount of payment for unused vacation days, limiting the number of days that can be carried over to the next year, rewarding supervisors for encouraging vacations, and the like. Great organizations and great leaders know the positive benefits of employees’ vacations.

Let’s revisit the possible oppositions standing in the way of your much-deserved vacations.

I’m too busy and I’ll have too much work when I return. Many jobs go through annual demand cycles: accountants during tax time, wedding planners in June, teachers in September, etc. Try to synchronize your vacations to your organization’s business cycle, and plan a vacation during an anticipated lighter-workload period. Try to find a co-worker to take over the most critical tasks for you so you do not return to an organizational crisis. Give your contact information to your designee, so he or she can contact you if there is a real work-related emergency. Discuss ahead of time what a real emergency is and what can wait, especially if your designee is someone more junior. This is also where I am obligated to advise you to leave your Blackberrys at home and vacation in WiFi dead zones. Realistically, if you are in a very critical role in your organization, being minimally connected while on vacation can help reduce your anxiety and your feelings of acting irresponsibly. Your minimally-tethered absence is a great way to develop those you supervise, increasing the capability of those around you.

I’m too critical to be away from the office. If you are sincerely more concerned about your organizational health over your own perhaps you should rethink the functional role of vacations in organizational productivity. From a purely competitive perspective, the most critical people in organizations are the very people who tend to be most susceptible to burnout because they seek high-responsibility positions, tend to personalize work, and tend to weave their careers deeply into their self-identity. If this describes you, then a vacation, when well-timed and well-planned, will help improve your work performance.

I am worried about being “out of site” – especially now when jobs are being cut. This is a reasonable concern but not realistic for most. Yes, it is true that many organizations are downsizing. However, it is also true that it makes good business sense for organizations to retain those who consistently perform critical roles exceptionally well. Vacations and performance excellence are not mutually exclusive and the more enlightened organizations know that their best performers will burn-out if they become work-life balance martyrs.

If your organization is going through an exceptionally difficult period when taking vacation time is truly impossible, think about taking a mini-vacation or work-free long weekend. While the positive effects of vacations are generally associated with longer vacations (at least 1 week), mini-vacations will help you decompress.

Vacations do not need to require a passport or Platinum Card – just quality time away from thinking about work. For me, a Blackberry-free week of backyard barbeques, with a few good books, at our lake house is just what the doctor -- and career coach -- ordered.

Paula