ajcjobs > BlogBreak > Archives > 2007 > July > 02 > Entry
Are vacations ever really vacations?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When I was growing up, a vacation meant that you piled in the car with your family and drove to the beach and life took on a completely different pace. Dad read the paper, relaxed and played with us like he was a kid again. Sometimes we went to see family but even then, the adults and kids loosened up. Adults talked, napped and ate at a different pace. No one considered calling the office or worrying about what was going on back at work.
Jobs being the way they are these days, often don’t permit the luxury of really being “away”. As I plan my vacation next week, I wonder why I feel the need to give permission for folks at work to call if needed. I have colleagues who fly away to distant shores, ditch their cells and blackberries and don’t check their emails. Others I know call the office daily. Why is that??
In some surveys, 75% of executives say they perform work at least “a few times a week” during their vacation. Among non-managerial employees, on the other hand, only 26% say they do any work during their vacation time and the majority (54%) they never work during their vacation.
Intellectually I believe it’s important to your sanity and health to mentally separate yourself from your day-to-day for however long you can afford to be away. I’m talking - you really need to go - for your sake, your family’s sake and for your colleague’s well being as well. You need a new perspective and a new attitude - to be able to see things clearly without the dust of the day-to-day grind. Too often, though, we have this idea of being indispensable. Are we afraid to face the fact that we need the job more than it needs us?
I’m going to give it a try, I won’t even think of work or what’s going on back at the office. They’ll just have to survive. It’ll wait till I get back or someone else will do it while I’m gone just like I covered for others while they’re gone. How about you? Will you really take a vacation this time or will you return with sand sticking to your crack-berry? Think about it. Here are some ideas on severing the ties temporarily!
Do you constantly check your blackberry or call in when you take time off? Or do you completely relax while you are on vacation?
Comments
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By Jones
July 2, 2007 9:46 AM | Link to this
Oh no, the minute I leave this office for vacation, I don’t look back. I turn my cell phone OFF the entire vacation. I get away from EVERYTHING and ONE!!!!
We will be going on an Alaskan cruise in about three weeks. Work has been instructed not to call. I told my boss if he does call while I’m on vacation, I’ll charge him another vacation day!!
But I do turn my cell off when on vacation, and usually leave it in my suitcase until I return home. I basically “check out” when on vacation and leave EVERYTHING at home and truly enjoy my time off…….this vacation will be very busy, so I don’t have time to chat on my cell……….no e-mails either. Nothing, but Alaska and my family……Bon Voyage baby!!!!!
By barbara
July 2, 2007 10:01 AM | Link to this
Just took my first non-working vacation in 6 years. Spent two weeks with my family traveling around Italy. I came back recharged, rejuvinated, refreshed and any other re word you can think of. I am a better and more productive executive, wife and mother. I highly recommend turning off the blackberry and not answering the cell.
By David S.
July 2, 2007 10:10 AM | Link to this
Fortunately I have a job, co-workers, and a boss that allow me to turn off the office when I leave. None of them want to be bothered while on vacation and they respect this for others. Having said that however nothing changes the fact that for every day I take of vacation, I get one day further behind at the office. Nobody assists with the work I have to do, nobody handles anything but the extreme crises that manage to bubble high enough up the ladder to bother someone. So when I get back from a week or heaven forbid 2, the workload is so much that I almost wish I hadn’t gone. In addition to the 6 weeks they get off for vacation, the wonderful thing that europeans did for themselves was shutting down their countries for the month of August. At least when everyone agrees nothing is going to get done, no one is expecting, no one is surprised, and no one has to feel like the work is piling up.
In the commercial, the worker is supposed to be afraid of the guy from “Accountemps”. Personally I would love it if someone would come in and do my job for me while I was gone. That would be a REAL vacation.
By Sad But True
July 2, 2007 11:00 AM | Link to this
My Mother had a heart attack and five bypass surgery. The climate in my department is such that I felt guilty about taking the time off and going to see her as she lives in another state.
By lovelyliz
July 2, 2007 11:03 AM | Link to this
I think that for the most part a working vacation is more about keeping up appearances that it is about actually accomplishing anything.
At the variously places I’ve worked, I noticed that some people feel that unless they are always connected, always involved, even when its not required, they will be deemed redundant.
The truth is that the business world rarely revolves around any individual and a good relaxing vacation quite often means a more productive person in the office.
Of course if your boss is one of those people who expects you to be available 24/7 there is very little you can do short of finding another job.
By Sad But True
July 2, 2007 11:08 AM | Link to this
From David S. — Having said that however nothing changes the fact that for every day I take of vacation, I get one day further behind at the office. Nobody assists with the work I have to do, nobody handles anything but the extreme crises that manage to bubble high enough up the ladder to bother someone. So when I get back from a week or heaven forbid 2, the workload is so much that I almost wish I hadn’t gone.
Yep, that is my life. And oh gosh. I just put in for 3 more days off to go see my Mother to make sure she is doing ok. I am sure that is not going to go over well. Oh and yes — I felt the need to check and respond to email and voice mail while my Mother was in HEART SURGERY. I used the hospital computer and my cell phone.
I don’t understand why these companies even give vacation if you are going to feel guilty taking it. Sure some folks abuse things but you can’t abuse what you don’t get. If I get four weeks of vacation how I am abusing it by taking four weeks off?
By Sad But True
July 2, 2007 11:24 AM | Link to this
Maybe it is my own feelings of guilt. Who knows!