Should you work and have vacation at the same time ?

[donwhitehere]

I am a busy consultant and one thing that always bothers me is what will happen to my work when I go on a vacation. Plus with cutting edge technologies you lag behind your competitors in case you are not working hard enough. Now I want to go on a vacation where in I can work too. But my family doesn't like the idea and I think they are probably right. But then its a Catch - 22 for me. Does any one have experience with this ?

 

[prprincess]

I was Director of Corporate Communications for a year at my last job, and because news was breaking every day in the organization, it was hard for me to take vacation. That year we rented a house with a pool in Orlando, which allowed me to work every other day or so, while my husband and children were still able to enjoy their down time. It honestly wasn't too bad because I wouldn't work full eight hour days. I would just log on as needed to check for breaking news and publish items, if need be. On my off days I would just tell my VP to text or call me if anything pressing came up. But of course, I wasn't able to unwind 100%. Do you have a staff or anyone that can triage/play back up for you?

 

[donwhitehere]

Yes, there are people who can help but then again no one else takes care of your work like you do. And I don't want my clients to suffer. But this is getting to point where there is no work-life balance. Kind of ridiculous.

 

[robinb]

I am a busy consultant and one thing that always bothers me is what will happen to my work when I go on a vacation. Plus with cutting edge technologies you lag behind your competitors in case you are not working hard enough. Now I want to go on a vacation where in I can work too. But my family doesn't like the idea and I think they are probably right. But then its a Catch - 22 for me. Does any one have experience with this ?

My husband (DH) is a workaholic, so I sympathize with your family. OTOH, I understand how important my DH's career is to him and how important *he* is to coworkers. They will often ignore or forget that he's on "vacation" and call him and/or set up phone conferences. It's a PITB. Sometimes he sets up in the room and works for a few hours and then meets up with us later. Staying onsite helps with this so my daughter and I can get to the parks on our own. For me, as long as I know when he'll be with us and that when he's with us he concentrates on our family and not work I'm OK. I understand needing to keep up with work, but you and your family also deserve some down time and some fun together.

FWIW, the "cutting edge technologies" will not pass you by if you take a week off. That's just an excuse.

 

[donwhitehere]

haha ..I know its just an excuse but then convincing myself to just leave it all and go on a vacation seems impossible .. I get headaches

 

[robinb]

haha ..I know its just an excuse but then convincing myself to just leave it all and go on a vacation seems impossible .. I get headaches

Well, saying that everything will pass you by if you take some time off isn't going to help convince you to go. Things will not go to hell in a handbasket if you take some time for yourself and your family.

Like @prprincess, take time to do some work and also set boundaries so you can take time to have some fun. Working from a hotel room is really no different than working from home.

 

[Beer Me]

I'm basically on call during vacation. I have a colleague I trust to triage issues and text me if it needs my immediate attention. Usually it can wait. Occasionally it can't and I might spend an hour or two putting out a fire.

Fortunately, most people are understanding of the fact that everyone needs a break now and then.

 

[jerseyjersey]

This is why technology is both a blessing and a curse, IMO. On one hand, I love that I can be anywhere and still be able to work/take care of issues as they arise. It generally makes me less stressed about taking vacations, because I know I can keep everyone (relatively) happy and I won't return to any icky surprises at work.

On the other hand, I really dislike that the expectation (in much of the corporate world at large) has seemingly become that anyone can be reached anywhere at any time. It makes me feel as though I'm never truly "off", though working for a couple of hours here and there on vacation is certainly preferable to never going on vacation at all!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Technology is definitely a blessing & a curse. On one hand, if they REALLY need you, they can find you. OTOH, most people are simply too lazy to solve their own problems the way they would have HAD to in "the old days".

 

[pryncess527]

I am a busy consultant and one thing that always bothers me is what will happen to my work when I go on a vacation. Plus with cutting edge technologies you lag behind your competitors in case you are not working hard enough. Now I want to go on a vacation where in I can work too. But my family doesn't like the idea and I think they are probably right. But then its a Catch - 22 for me. Does any one have experience with this ?

Honestly, taking a vacation and doing literally NO work while I'm gone stresses me out.

• If I do NO work, the piles of things I have when I return are overwhelming
• There are many small tasks & emails that I can easily handle while on vacation that keeps my students/clients happy
• I get personal satisfaction from accomplishing those tasks

I try not to go nuts, but I think it is perfectly reasonable to set aside a few "office hours" while on vacation and close the door and get stuff done. I'm a happier more relaxed person when I have that time.

OTOH, I went to the beach a few years ago with someone who does a type of job where he is kind of on call all the time. It was a bit annoying to have his phone ringing off the hook and him randomly having to take 10 minutes in the middle of whatever to do work. I knew that when we agreed to the vacation, so it did not bother me, but I think it wore on his wife. I think it is much easier on those around you when you can compartmentalize the work time and not have it bleed into everyone elses vacation.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

In my dh's case, people are so overworked that NO ONE WILL take on babysitting your accounts while you are gone.

The days of team playing are gone.

 

[DisneyOma]

Unless you are the only surgeon who can do a specific type of life-or-death surgery, who really cares? So what if you get a bit behind in technology - screw technology! Get a grip on the fact this this is your only life you are going to have and enjoy it with your family! What are the kids going to say at your funeral - gee, Dad was really great at work, but had no time for us, even on vacation... Wow, Mom got all those articles done, but we missed having more time with her on vacation...

Why are people so stuck on their jobs? Do you use it to define your life's success? Really, nothing is as important as family, IMO.

 

[Klayfish]

I will work from Disney to help lengthen our vacation. DW works at the same school district the kids go to, so when they are off, so is she. So I'll work from the condo for a day or two before a holiday, so that we can be in Disney. I'll work from 7am to 4pm. Then we do WDW at night. But I only do it for a day or two. Our upcoming trip is 17 days long. We leave after I get off work on a Thursday. I'll work Friday and Monday from the condo. But come 4pm Monday, I'm shutting it off and will refuse to pick it...or my work cell phone...back up until we come home. Yes, I will pay the price when I return. My job is very busy and work will pile up, but so what? I work really hard. Really hard. So I feel I've earned the time away, even if it costs me when I return.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I will look at my emails and answer little things here and there. They can call me if it's a surgery that only I book and they have a question. I don't mind that but it's as far as I go. It's actually easier for me to clean up my emails while away than to come back to 1000 emails. I will literally spend 10 minutes a day doing this.

I agree with DisneyOma. Work isn't life for me. Yeah I like money but I'm ok with having enough to live a nice life, save some and go on vacation. When we go our money doesn't come with us. We don't take it to the grave with us. When I go and my highlight reel if flashing before my eyes in my final moments (if you believe in that stuff) I want to see myself having fun, with my kids, with my family.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

If you are working on vacation it's not a vacation.

 

[Wishing on a star]

I am with your family....
It all comes down to a person's priorities.

I agree with flightless duck, above.
The word 'vacation' does have a definition.

 

[BLAZEY]

I went on holidays in March and am fortunate enough to have a co-worker who I trained to take care of the "can't wait until I get back stuff" so there is not a huge pile when I get back. In turn I also do the same for her so we don't come back to huge piles. I do my best to co-ordinate my holidays during slower times of the month, shorter holidays in summer, longer in late fall-early spring. Took 12 day to Disney/ Universal. She and I exchanged messages a couple of times and did Facetime twice. I live on the west coast so she was still at the office when we we back at the resort for dinner/ swim. Took a total of about 15mins, but so worth answering the questions she had, rather than potential errors made and the much longer time it would have taken to fix them upon my return.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Unless you are the only surgeon who can do a specific type of life-or-death surgery, who really cares? So what if you get a bit behind in technology - screw technology! Get a grip on the fact this this is your only life you are going to have and enjoy it with your family! What are the kids going to say at your funeral - gee, Dad was really great at work, but had no time for us, even on vacation... Wow, Mom got all those articles done, but we missed having more time with her on vacation...

Why are people so stuck on their jobs? Do you use it to define your life's success? Really, nothing is as important as family, IMO.

Everyone needs a break.

 

[amberpi]

I'm a consultant. It gives me the freedom to pick and choose really cool, interesting engagements or with clients I really enjoy. I work insane/crazy hours and bill like crazy so I can take months off at a time in between. It took a ton of hard work and luck to get to be so fortunate. Sometimes I get an engagement that is the best of both worlds, where I take a position I used to have as an interim role to get someone else established, those aren't so intense. I've never felt bad about working while traveling personally. I keep it reasonable, but if taking a 30 minute rest for a quiet bite to eat/cocktail and a phone call makes life easier for me or my travel companions, its not a big deal at all. There's so much you can handle from your phone while waiting for a line too. I've been on WDW trips where we've planned to wait on a ride and do our work email catch up while queing. It meant less quality time away, I mean, no one LOVES standing in line, so why not do double duty?

 

[bigbabyblues]

To me, if you are doing any kind of work, it is not vacation. That said, my job is not one that I would be needed if I am not there. My husband is a paramedic on a helicopter, so he is either at work or he isn't. The constant demands on his off-work time is a big part of why he left engineering. We feel that our off-work/family time is not work time. I get that this doesn't work for everyone, and our income did go down, but we are much happier this way.