Careers in Real Life

I’ve got vacation time on the brain, since I’ve been off all week. Deciding to take a week’s vacation and leaving behind several important, in-progress projects was somewhat stressful. I still don’t know how and when I’ll get it all done. But I took a week off, anyway, and am doing my best to not worry about the fact that students return to campus in a month and I’m totally not ready.

So why take vacation if it stresses me out? Because if someone is going to pay me to watch The View, paint my bathroom and sleep in, like I did this week, I’ll take it. Plus, I truly believe some time away from the office to focus on other aspects of my life will make me a better employee. When I return to work on Monday, I’ll be a more productive, rested and motivated employee than I would have been without some time off.  And while I work hard, I’m not so arrogant to think my office will fall apart in my absence. Few people are that important.

Not using earned vacation does not make someone more valuable than their co-workers, it makes for a burned out, resentful, grumpy co-worker who has trouble setting boundaries.

I’ve heard people argue that employees who are away from the office are “out of sight, out of mind” and at a higher risk for losing their job, especially during tough economic times.  An employee that demonstrates their effectiveness and value on a daily basis will not be shown the door as a result of their absence. If they do get laid off, it was probably in the works before the vacation.

Apparently, if Google is any indication, unused vacation time was a hot topic back in the early-mid 2000s. I was in grad school at that time, so my life, in comparison to working full-time, was a vacation. (Sleeping in ‘til 10 on the weekdays? Summers off? Check and check.) What was going on in 2006 that made this such a hot topic? Have things changed since then? I don’t think so.

What do you think? Do you use all your vacation time? Is the concept of vacation changing? Did I totally cheat on my vacation by checking my work email about 34923098 times?