Earlier this summer, I had an interesting discussion with some of my friends about our approaches to vacation time. Most of us work in a corporate environment, but we all had varied ideas about what a vacation really meant. For most of us, vacation simply meant time away from the office, but included checking back in and being tethered to our email. Only one in the group really and truly disconnected, leaving her laptop, iPhone and work brain at home.

It got me thinking more about the blurry lines that exist between work and play in our world of weisure. We’ve talked a lot about weisure in the past, and even the benefits this approach may have when it comes to flexibility and work/life balance. As part of the HR Raging Debates Forum, experts generally agreed that weisure was good for business.

Weisure is a funny thing, because it can come from a corporate culture that expects you will stay in touch with the office even when you are away on vacation. On the flip side, it can also come from an employee’s need to stay connected or inability to truly disengage.

While the benefits of weisure are pretty clear for both employers and employees, we all need to be watching out for when weisure goes too far. On a day-to-day basis, weisure definitely works, but we need to remember that we all need time to refresh and recharge. While that vacation week of “disconnection” may seem like an eternity, the benefits are priceless in the long run, as rested employees are apt to be happier, more engaged and less likely to burn out.

As HR pros, we need to make sure we focus on ensuring employees (and their managers) know that everyone is expected to take a true vacation every now and then. Making this a focus and a part of your corporate culture will ultimately support the company’s employee engagement efforts.

What about those employees who don’t ever take vacation? Here’s some compelling evidence from a 2007 Business Week article on why you need to encourage employees to take a “real” vacation:

The vanishing vacation has many perils. Refusing to take time off burns people out and wreaks havoc on productivity. Vacation deprivation is one reason workers are reporting more mistakes, anger, and resentment at co-workers, according to the Families & Work Institute. Former NASA scientists, working on behalf of Air New Zealand and using testing tools normally reserved for astronauts, recently found that vacationers experienced an 82% increase in job performance post-trip.

Remember my friend who completely disconnects, leaving work and all of her devices behind for a week or more of real-life fun? She’s proof positive of this exact point. She loves her job and has a great attitude about her work.

What do you do, from a HR point of view, to encourage employees to take true downtime?