Should you work and have vacation at the same time ?

[piccolopat]

I check email on vacation but only to minimize what I have to do when I get back. I review these when DH is in the shower in the morning or just before going to bed. I tell my staff to red flag anything they need me to look at but that rarely happens. I'll send quick responses to emails to keep things moving but I won't do any work on vacation that means more than that. Unless something is a life or death situation, work should wait. No one is irreplaceable. Companies have to learn that work life balance isn't just a buzz word; it's something that employees NEED.

 

[kuhltiffany]

I have a DH that works for a high-profile computer company. He also isn't a big Disney fan, nor does he like busy amusement parks. He often stays in the room and works during the day on vacations, and spends the evenings and some other days with us. It works well, as he doesn't get dragged everywhere that would make him hate the vacation, and the kids and I get our fun in the sun

If I really want his undivided attention, we go on a cruise…then he unplugs!

 

[Julie's Haircut]

I'll check e-mail and texts during vacation in the evenings or during downtime, but never while in the parks or whatever vacation activities I'm engaged in. Most of the messages are routine company and/or group wide and don't require a response. At most it takes 10 minutes a day. I have a message on my voice mail stating I'm unavailable until a certain date. If you need immediate assistance contact XYZ. It's rare that anybody leaves a message after hearing that. Maybe "sorry to bother you. Enjoy your vacation."

Vacations are pretty sacrosanct at my company. I don't think anybody has ever been asked to postpone or change or cancel a vacation for business reasons.

 

[lsyorke]

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".

OMG, this is SO true! I get calls for common sense things that are easily handled. I love the one I got while sitting at the pool at Hilton Head.."Our internet is out"(in NJ). Turns out Comcast was literally outside their door, within eye shot, working on something.
Common sense and problem solving are rare these days and that IS due to being to accessible.

 

[DisneyHardin]

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

You are right - I don't have a company cell

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I have a message on my voice mail stating I'm unavailable until a certain date. If you need immediate assistance contact XYZ. It's rare that anybody leaves a message after hearing that.

At one previous job, I left a VM indicating I was no longer with the company. A week later, I logged in to find 3 work related messages from one of the CS reps who worked no more than 50 feet from my now empty cube.

She wasn't the brightest lamp in the store.

 

[dish rag]

I am often on the phone or texting. I don't mind at all really. Those around me have come to expect it.

 

[Nancyg56]

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

I guess you and your family need to decide how to handle this. I think that this is "you", so finding a way to manage "you" is the answer.

Personally, I think that if for your own peace of mind being able to spend a little time working is necessary, it's fine. I would have no patience though if you were not able to shut it down when you were with us. I think that everyone has their own definition of balance, and since you know that your reasoning to be working is an excuse, you might want to examine how you manage that when you vacation with your family. A hour here and there while the family is resting, or at the pool etc? Or are you "catching up" during dinner, in a queue with them, etc?

My son is one of those folks who is not happy spending a length if time away from work. While his wife is using that time to rest and rejuvenate, his anxiety level is rising as the days progress. They compromise...he gets some time to work, which is relaxing for him, and she gets time doing something that is special for her. They work these times in so that the tine they are together is really together. Can you do this, or are you always in work mode?

 

[rastahomie]

I'm self-employed, and I will absolutely be leaving work behind when I'm on vacation - to WDW or anywhere. I'll be turning off Skype (so my patrons can't bother me), ignoring any and all work-related emails, etc. Vacation time is Homie Time, not Work Time.

 

[Jennasis]

I am a small business owner. A farm owner to be precise. About as technologically UNadvanced as you can get LOL! Vacations are VERY hard for us. We do have people we trust to run the farm in our absence but we are always on edge about things going wrong. Our farm is a horse farm and we have a lot of horses we need to worry about. Plus we have a whole lot of owners we need to take care of too! Injuries, illness, things breaking...lots of daily potential crisis.

We have YET to go away and not have at least one call each day with some issue I have to mitigate. It is what it is...the life we chose.

 

[disney4us2002]

The temptation to check in, read email, listen to voicemails, etc. can make disconnecting very tough. I get it, someone else may handle something in a way you would not but I also believe downtime is vitally important to maintaining sanity. The best vacation I have found for disconnecting completely is a cruise. We throw our cells in the safe and don't take them out for a week.

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

I think some people have to. I am lucky right now to be able to turn off my phone and not think about it for a week. I know it will not always be that way, and I know that I will come back to a mess of emails and 87 fires when I get back, but I love being able to really turn everything off. Shorter trips I tend to be still "available".

 

[rastahomie]

This thread reminds me of a job I had years ago where I could be gone for days at a time before anyone realized I wasn't at work.

 

[aprilchem]

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.

This really depends on what type of work you do, IMO. In my husband's job, if he's not available then it's possible that an entire factory floor could go down and hundreds of hourly workers will not be able to work (or get paid!) until he can be reached. So you are right - he won't be "dropped or left behind" because he unplugs for a week, but I'm not selfish enough to ask him to put other people's livelihoods at stake because I want his undivided attention. We've been on several cruises where his company has paid for high-speed internet packages so that he can be reachable, and I'm fine with that.

 

[dish rag]

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.

It's just my opinion that if your husband enjoys or doesn't mind taking calls, don't give him a hard time about it. You would be the one putting pressure on him, not his work. I was in an area last week that had no service and it drove me crazy seeing what all came in once we got back into civilization. Handling some texts and phone calls along the way is not that big of a deal. Usually the family becomes used to it.

 

[Neesy228]

This really depends on what type of work you do, IMO. In my husband's job, if he's not available then it's possible that an entire factory floor could go down and hundreds of hourly workers will not be able to work (or get paid!) until he can be reached. So you are right - he won't be "dropped or left behind" because he unplugs for a week, but I'm not selfish enough to ask him to put other people's livelihoods at stake because I want his undivided attention. We've been on several cruises where his company has paid for high-speed internet packages so that he can be reachable, and I'm fine with that.

I respect your opinion, but I sincerely hope you're not calling me selfish because I want my spouse to focus on our children/family for a few days out of an entire year?

What my husband does is important, but I think it's insane (and unhealthy) to be "on call" 24/7/365. Everyone needs to be able to unplug occasionally. If your husbands roll is so critical, why is there not someone else who can fill in for him? What would happen if he quit his job or (heaven forbid) he was injured/sick and unable to work?

My step-dad nearly worked himself to death for a company that could not have cared less if he lived or died. He was diagnosed with cancer two years ago.The company was horrible to him through his treatments. After 20+ years of skipped vacations, working 18 hour days and sacrificing his health and well-being for the sake of his job, all he has to show for it is some money in the bank, poor health and a lousy relationship with all of his kids.

I think there's a great deal of value in a work/life balance. Maybe your definition of balance is different than mine, but I certainly don't think that makes me selfish.

 

[pryncess527]

I think part of the issue is how much work/life balance exists when one is not on vacation. I'm honestly never 100% focused on work. My job just isn't that stressful. So, while I really enjoy vacation, it's not necessary for me to completely unplug to relax. Nor does my family need me to completely unplug, because vacation isn't a rare chance for them to spend time with me.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

This really depends on what type of work you do, IMO. In my husband's job, if he's not available then it's possible that an entire factory floor could go down and hundreds of hourly workers will not be able to work (or get paid!) until he can be reached. So you are right - he won't be "dropped or left behind" because he unplugs for a week, but I'm not selfish enough to ask him to put other people's livelihoods at stake because I want his undivided attention. We've been on several cruises where his company has paid for high-speed internet packages so that he can be reachable, and I'm fine with that.

That's interesting because the plant manager when I worked for a company with thousands of employees used to take an annual hunting trip with no phones for days on end.

With a big company, there is ALWAYS someone else who can handle any crisis, or at least there'd better be.

 

[DopeyDame]

This really depends on what type of work you do, IMO. In my husband's job, if he's not available then it's possible that an entire factory floor could go down and hundreds of hourly workers will not be able to work (or get paid!) until he can be reached. So you are right - he won't be "dropped or left behind" because he unplugs for a week, but I'm not selfish enough to ask him to put other people's livelihoods at stake because I want his undivided attention. We've been on several cruises where his company has paid for high-speed internet packages so that he can be reachable, and I'm fine with that.

This sounds like a really terribly run factory. There really should never be a situation when only one person is so critical to the success or failure of a business. That's terrible contingency and succession planning.

In my office, we work really really really hard day in and day out to ensure we have cross training and backup systems in place. We frequently talk about "getting hit by a bus" ie, "what if Joe got hit by a bus on his way home from work. Who do we need to train/what systems do we need to have to deal with that?" [I keep trying to change the question to "wins the lottery - cause it sure sounds terrible to talk about your coworkers being hit by busses. But the lottery scenario hasn't caught on yet.] Additionally, we often also think about training and leadership opportunities we can give newer/younger employees when someone goes on vacation (or - even better - long term leave of some sort.)

With very very few exception, if any one person is truly, really critical such that they can't miss a week of work, then the business is poorly managed. Most times, people like to think they are that critical, but they're really not.

Go on vacation. It will be good for everyone.

 

[aprilchem]

I respect your opinion, but I sincerely hope you're not calling me selfish because I want my spouse to focus on our children/family for a few days out of an entire year?

What my husband does is important, but I think it's insane (and unhealthy) to be "on call" 24/7/365. Everyone needs to be able to unplug occasionally. If your husbands roll is so critical, why is there not someone else who can fill in for him? What would happen if he quit his job or (heaven forbid) he was injured/sick and unable to work?

My step-dad nearly worked himself to death for a company that could not have cared less if he lived or died. He was diagnosed with cancer two years ago.The company was horrible to him through his treatments. After 20+ years of skipped vacations, working 18 hour days and sacrificing his health and well-being for the sake of his job, all he has to show for it is some money in the bank, poor health and a lousy relationship with all of his kids.

I think there's a great deal of value in a work/life balance. Maybe your definition of balance is different than mine, but I certainly don't think that makes me selfish.

That's interesting because the plant manager when I worked for a company with thousands of employees used to take an annual hunting trip with no phones for days on end.

With a big company, there is ALWAYS someone else who can handle any crisis, or at least there'd better be.

This sounds like a really terribly run factory. There really should never be a situation when only one person is so critical to the success or failure of a business. That's terrible contingency and succession planning.

In my office, we work really really really hard day in and day out to ensure we have cross training and backup systems in place. We frequently talk about "getting hit by a bus" ie, "what if Joe got hit by a bus on his way home from work. Who do we need to train/what systems do we need to have to deal with that?" [I keep trying to change the question to "wins the lottery - cause it sure sounds terrible to talk about your coworkers being hit by busses. But the lottery scenario hasn't caught on yet.] Additionally, we often also think about training and leadership opportunities we can give newer/younger employees when someone goes on vacation (or - even better - long term leave of some sort.)

With very very few exception, if any one person is truly, really critical such that they can't miss a week of work, then the business is poorly managed. Most times, people like to think they are that critical, but they're really not.

Go on vacation. It will be good for everyone.

He's not a plant manager. He designs and builds automation systems that do specialty production in factories across the country. He works at a small robotics firm that does very specialized work in a particular type of production, and he is the only one at the company who is an expert this particular type of robotic fabrication. Minor machine problems I'm sure a technician in a factory can handle. Major problems mean they go to him for help.

And no - I'm not saying anyone else is selfish for what they ask their spouse to do on vacation. But I am saying it would be selfish for ME to insist that my husband not work on vacation. The last vacation we went on he was able to fix a programming issue remotely while we were at a resort in Jamaica. Had he not done it, that line would have shut down for a full week, a bunch of hourly workers wouldn't have made their salary that week, and a specialized type of medical supply (that some people need to live) would have had a shortage for a couple of weeks until the production line got caught up. I can't imagine asking him not to do that.