Take a break, biz travelers told

LONDON, England -- Business travelers wishing their flight was headed to a vacation destination rather than a work assignment can point to the initial findings of a study which found that taking a break really does improve productivity.

Air New Zealand has enlisted the help of former NASA scientists at Alertness Solutions in California to conduct an extensive study of travelers' experience of work and stress -- and the psychological and physical effects of taking a vacation.

Americans notoriously take short vacations and are second only to workers in Singapore in the numbers of hours they work every week. In 2005 Americans handed back 421 million vacation days to their employers.

Air New Zealand's year-long study aims to discover what happens to travelers physically and psychologically when they think about vacations, during the time they're away and how they feel when they return to work.

"Americans in particular say they don't take enough holidays. They say they don't have enough time or that holidays are too expensive. Yet they also say they need holidays. We want to find out how exactly the vacation process affects travelers," said a spokeswoman.

So far researchers have questioned 1,200 people flying with Air New Zealand during May. More than half said they would be willing to reduce work place benefits, daily breaks and even pay in order to take more vacation time.

Nearly three quarters thought that doctors should be able to write prescriptions for vacations. And more than half said taking a full two weeks off work had a significant impact on their productivity rates when they returned.

Workers who took their allocated vacation time were happier and less stressed.

Gus Gilmore, vice president of Air New Zealand for the Americas said: "Air New Zealand will use the results of our study to identify and explore new ways to accelerate the vacation mindset and extend it for travelers once they return."

In addition, the airline has subjected a select group of traveler guinea pigs to a battery of intensive in-flight monitoring tests.

Using methodology normally reserved for studying pilots and astronauts the travelers flying on a U.S. to New Zealand flight have been hooked up to various pieces of scientific monitoring equipment measuring their brain, eye, muscle and heart rate activity.

The airlines say the tests will provide scientific data about what physically happens to the human body when travelers go on vacation.

"Our scientists are currently analyzing the results and when we have them we'll use them to make flying a positive part of the vacation experience," said a spokeswoman.

"So far the survey suggests the vacation mindset fades quickly after Americans return. More than half begin to feel like they have never been on vacation within the first three days back, returning to their normal stress levels and routines, sleep, work, diet and social activity."

Proof that once the business traveler is back at work it's time to book another vacation.

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