Should you work and have vacation at the same time ?

[Pacolovestacos]

I guess I'm the oddball but I'm a work to vacation person. Meaning, all the work I do is to make money in order to afford vacations. When I go on vacation, it is 24-7 vacation. Emails and phones are off. I actually tell everyone before I leave not to email or call me because they won't get a reply.

 

[focusondisney]

My DH is management at a food production facility. It is a 24/7 responsibility; he puts in close to 60 hours every week. He needs his down time to keep his sanity. Even so he does keep up with emails on vacation. I understand because he does it for his own sake, not the company's. Before he had a smart phone, he would spend all day Sunday after vacation working on emails & reports plus get up at 4am to go in early & finish up. Now at least he doesn't have so much pressure after vacation.

I still remind him once in awhile that if he kills himself working, they won't close the place up. They'll just step over his cold dead body & keep going. The kids & I on the other hand............




That usually helps for awhile!

 

[Skippy918]

Last year was the first year that I was able to really unplug on vacation. Previously, in my old job which was 24/7 on call I had to check in frequently because even though people knew I was out of town, they still paged me anyway. Some of my work even sat while I was on maternity leave for 4 months.

 

[soccerdad72]

Generally speaking, the brief time I spend doing work while on vacation is spent forwarding voice mails and e-mails off to my staff to make sure that issues are being dealt with while I'm gone. It makes life easier when I get back and during the course of a typical day on vacation, there's always some down time when I can do this stuff without taking attention away from enjoying my vacation. Heck, it's especially true at amusement parks, when half our time is spent waiting in lines.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

Generally speaking, the brief time I spend doing work while on vacation is spent forwarding voice mails and e-mails off to my staff to make sure that issues are being dealt with while I'm gone. It makes life easier when I get back and during the course of a typical day on vacation, there's always some down time when I can do this stuff without taking attention away from enjoying my vacation. Heck, it's especially true at amusement parks, when half our time is spent waiting in lines.

I always set up an email auto message that tells people I am out of the office and to please contact so and so until my return.

 

[soccerdad72]

I always set up an email auto message that tells people I am out of the office and to please contact so and so until my return.

So do I - except that I've found through past experience that people often ignore my out of office message and my staff also has a bad habit of not following up on things unless they come directly from me (and often, not even then).

 

[bellebud]

DH and I own a business, so he's never fully on vacation. I have pictures of him on Dumbo w/ the kids, but on the phone. It's the nature of what we do. It has gotten better the past few years, where he can unplug because we either close down, or have people who can run it mostly without him for a week. There's a lot for him to do before the vacation and after he's home, but again, it just comes with the territory. It's given us a fairly comfortable lifestyle, that's the tradeoff.

 

[Hikergirl]

My dh does sometimes have to take his work on vacation. Usually its a meeting he has to call in to. Its not a big deal, we are pretty used to it and its only for a brief moment during a whole week. Its not every vacation either but it happens more often than it doesn't.

 

[bcla]

When I was "needed" my manager has often told me that I wouldn't be approved for vacation because we were at a critical time for a project. Once I wasn't paying too much attention to my accrued vacation and it had maxed out at 200 hours. It was really odd too since it still technically accrued, but at that point my accrued vacation was at 200.1 hours, then 200.2 hours.

I did have my boss (the head of the department and my former manager) leave a message for me while I was on vacation. It seemed really urgent, but I was in a place with less than ideal cell phone coverage. I could get a cell signal, but messages about voice mail seemed to be kind of iffy with my older phone. By the time I got to a mid-sized town in Utah I heard a frantic message and I called him back. Turns out it wasn't a big deal.

However, I don't particularly like the idea of being on call all the time. Even my wife's obstetrician could go on vacation since she worked with other doctors who could fill in if she was unavailable.

 

[Squirlz]

One of the things my Wife does is answer email questions regarding animals. She is a world renowned dairy goat expert and we produce and sell all natural products for animals. Some of the questions she gets are life and death matters.

So she'll take a little time now and then to respond to emails. We can't fill orders while travelling but at least she can get some emails out of the way before we come home to hundreds of orders!

 

[awalker1015]

The nature of my job makes it difficult for me to completely unplug. That said I will check emails at the end of the day and forward any urgent ones (yes, I set my out of office but I still get urgent emails). And for a week vacation I will set up two calls during the week with the boss to make sure all is well.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Should you? That depends. If the vacation is supposed to be focused around family time, then it is disrespectful to take that time away from them to work. But if the trip is more about an experience than relationships then it is probably ok to work when you have down time.

That said, I get why some people have to work during vacation. I don't think it is healthy, but I get it.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

I think it depends on the type of vacation you're on. Disney, out of the country, trip around the US Western National Parks, there's probably no way I'm working. Week at a beach staying in one place the whole time, no big deal to check in a few times a day and answer urgent emails.

 

[Neesy228]

My husband is also a highly specialized tech consultant. It's very hard for him to pull away from his work -- and very hard for me to pull him away from his work.

I will just tell you that you are not doing yourself, or your family, any favors by working during your vacation. Your work gets 100% of your attention in your day-to-day life. Your family should be getting 100% of your attention on vacation. It's only a few days, for petes sake. It will all be there when you get back; I highly doubt you'll be dropped or left behind just because of a vacation -- especially if you're good at your job.

We've taken a couple cruises, because I know my husbands phone won't work and the wifi is too slow to be useful! It forces him into vacation mode - which is a good thing for everyone.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I'm a school librarian, so it isn't like my job is going to have pressing issues, but i still always get emails and texts that start with "I know you're on vacation, but"

 

[Pacolovestacos]

I'm a school librarian, so it isn't like my job is going to have pressing issues, but i still always get emails and texts that start with "I know you're on vacation, but"

That is ridiculous on their part. They should be able to hold down the fort until you come back.

 

[Branflakes]

My husband will check and monitor his emails while on vacation. If absolutely necessary he will engage in work related emails or a possible phone call.

Partly because there is a lot on him at work, partly because any shred of incompetence by coworkers while he is out of office will work his last nerve. It seems they get a little complacent when he is out. And the part where he just can't be away 100%.

So he typically checks his emails while I'm getting ready in the morning. And then afternoon and evening. I'm not usually bothered by it, but I always remind him that it's ok really to just be away. You can put out the fires when you get home. He likes more fire prevention than extinguisher.

He did stop bringing his laptop. So there is a limit to what he can do.

 

[goofy4tink]

My dh works from home...sells large group vision insurance. He seldom takes vacation time. He doesn't like traveling..for business or pleasure. So, the only way I can get him to travel with me, every few years or so, is to agree to let him work every morning. When we go to WDW, he stays behind in the room and works. He meets me someplace in a park for lunch. Then, after dinner he usually returns to the room to work some more before bed. It's not perfect, but it's the only way he will go with us. Evidently the group vision world stops for no man!!!!!

 

[ronandannette]

That is ridiculous on their part. They should be able to hold down the fort until you come back.

Sure - but although the world doesn't come to an end when one of us is gone, there are often unexpected occurrences where only that employee can adequately handle it or make the necessary decisions. We all carry company cells; many of us don't even have personal phones anymore. No matter where we are or when, we can be reached and if somebody from my office is calling while I'm on holidays I'm definitely going to answer because it must be important.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

Sure - but although the world doesn't come to an end when one of us is gone, there are often unexpected occurrences where only that employee can adequately handle it or make the necessary decisions. We all carry company cells; many of us don't even have personal phones anymore. No matter where we are or when, we can be reached and if somebody from my office is calling while I'm on holidays I'm definitely going to answer because it must be important.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I doubt a librarian has a "company" cell.