More than 500 people entered the competition on opening day, September 1, vying for a chance to win a two-day all-expenses-paid trip to the Sunshine Coast.<\/p>\n
For the lucky 10 who won, the region’s tourism boss even let their workplaces know they were “sick” and needed time off.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The campaign tells workers to “chuck a sickie” to visit the Sunshine Coast. (Supplied: Visit Sunshine Coast)<\/p>\n
‘Need to feel sunshine again’<\/p>\n
Winner Penny Addison, 30, from Sydney wrote in her entry: “My eyeballs have started to think computer screens are their natural habitat, and my boss’ voice now plays on loop in my dreams.”<\/p>\n
Winner Jess Behrens, 36, from Sydney, works as a registered nurse and midwife, and described “emotionally draining” work days and needing “a cry on the way home”.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Visit Sunshine Coast CEO called 10 winner’s bosses to “chuck a Sunshine Sickie” for them. (Supplied: Visit Sunshine Coast)<\/p>\n
A third winner, Elena Wight, 46, from Melbourne, said she had worked in mental health for 25 years and devoted her life to “other people’s sanity”.<\/p>\n
“My sense of humour has become so dark from burnout, I need to feel the sunshine again,” she said.<\/p>\n
Visit Sunshine Coast chief executive Matt Stoeckel said the campaign was quirky but sincere about the region helping those struggling with stress or worry.<\/p>\n
He said Australians had more than 160 million hours of unused annual leave, so many people likely needed a break.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Matt Stoeckel and Sunshine Coast Mayor Rosanna Natoli have been promoting the campaign. (ABC News: Madeline Grace)<\/p>\n
“It’s a catchy name, but there’s a serious message behind it,” Mr Stoeckel said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“The best antidote, if you’re feeling burnt out, is to go on holiday and the best place for that holiday is here to the Sunshine Coast.”<\/p>\n
Australians are burnt out and leave loading<\/p>\n
According to research referenced by the campaign, more than 60 per cent of Australians are burnt out and seven out of 10 have faked a sick day before.<\/p>\n
University of the Sunshine Coast psychologist and work engagement researcher Prudence Millear said burnout was a diagnosable condition.<\/p>\n
“You’re tired, you’re cynical, and you’re feeling hopeless at your job \u2026 you think, ‘I’m working really hard and I’m not getting ahead,'” she said.<\/p>\n
“All of those things build up to feel like you’re just not winning.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Prudence Millear says it is important to detach from work at times to prevent burnout. (Supplied: University of Sunshine Coast)<\/p>\n
Dr Millear said it was important to “psychologically detach” from work and take holidays, even if reluctant.<\/p>\n
She said many people worried about the cost, the impact on their career or that work might pile up while they were away.<\/p>\n
Controversy resonates with Australians<\/p>\n
Bond University marketing researcher Rajat Roy said he thought the controversy of “chucking a sickie” would make it a successful campaign.<\/p>\n
“If something is controversial, people are talking about it, social media lights up, it’s a good thing,” Dr Roy said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rajat Roy says controversy resonates with Australians. (Supplied: Bond University)<\/p>\n
“I think this ad is going to work. Especially for younger demographics.”<\/p>\n
He likened it to other quirky Australian tourism campaigns, including “where the bloody hell are you?”, “see you in the NT”, and “sneaky mid-weeky”.<\/p>\n
Queensland University of Technology marketing and communications lecturer Edwina Luck said the campaign was clever.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Edwina Luck says she thinks the campaign will make a splash. (Supplied: Queensland University of Technology)<\/p>\n
“I don’t think it will help [visitor numbers] immediately \u2026 but it’s a great way to collect names and emails for future campaigns,” she said.<\/p>\n
“It raises eyebrows, it gets your attention, and then it sparks your interest.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A tourism competition for workers to “chuck a sickie” and win a break from burnout on the Sunshine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,21762,5677,99,107343,107346,11942,107344,107342,107345,34949],"class_list":["post-162447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-beach-holiday","tag-burnout","tag-business","tag-chuck-a-sickie","tag-queensland-tourism-numbers","tag-sunshine-coast","tag-tourism-campaign","tag-tourism-competition","tag-tourism-marketing","tag-visit-sunshine-coast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}