Post #98, it sounds like an awful job. I never had any problem that is even close. But come to think about I tend to leave bad companies, I rarely stay more than 1-2 years, if it’s that bad. I often remind myself, that I have the power, I don’t have to work any where I don’t like.
I guess you wouldn’t like much of the northern U.S. then, DrGoogle! Our climate in Toronto is similar to that in Boston through the mid-Atlantic states. And in recent years, they’ve had more snow than we have in Toronto!
My H years ago often did not take all the vacation time that he was entitled to but later in his career, he certainly did. However, he was in an executive position and it was a rare vacation where he didn’t have work to do some of the time. That’s a given in many senior positions.
Post #101, you are right, I only lasted there 2.5 years in Boston. Left Boston after a big snow storm and never left California since.
For senior position, I can see the sacrifice because the financial reward is bigger. For little people, it doesn’t make sense to sacrifice the life style for peanuts. There is power in being the little people.
When H was working full-time, we were able to take 3 and 5 week vacations. We didn’t have trouble using all his vacation days, and he got a LOT of them. Since he’s retired, we have been able to travel even more, as desired. We have the time and the money–are having more money now than we did previously when he was working full-time.
This is definitely true, especially if you’ve been working for the same employer. My DH in the private sector (commodities trader) has five weeks. I am a professor and I have two months “off” although I must use it to research and write, if I want to get scholarship release time and promotion. Still, it’s two months where I don’t have to show up and clock in.
My DH, though, can’t possibly take off 5 weeks all at the same time. He has customers who need attention. And being gone for a huge chunk of time causes some problems for his co-workers.
I don’t really see how you can have a particularly important job and still disappear for a month. That’s not a vacation, that’s a leave of absence.
I’ve never gone on a vacation that lasted more than two weeks. I don’t know that I would want to be away from home for longer than that. I miss my life, and I miss my doggies. The two week vacation we went on was just too long, but the ten day one seemed about right. Both vacations were extremely active, not a lot of lounging around. I can lounge at home all day, so why do I need to go on vacation to do that?
However, I have really appreciated a huge amount of flexibility that we had with our job. Both me and my husband worked about 2/3 of a schedule each, for 15 years, so we didn’t have to get a babysitter for the kids. Since we were both working, we could take the reduced pay. It’s been an awesome deal to be able to work as little or as much as we have wanted, though getting major holidays off can be tough. I think people would appreciate this kind of flexibility far more than having extra vacation days.
bus, 10 days is all I have for the last 20 years when my kids were younger for summer holiday. I know what you mean by missing your home. I’m going to be in Europe longer this coming year, trying to live the European life for longer, perhaps 3 months. But I don’t know if husband and I can hack it. We may miss our home too much.
But then again, maybe you will never want to come home! You can always change your mind if you’re miserable there, hopefully. That is one loooooong vacation.
It’s not a vacation. It’s called living the retirement life, mostly for my husband. I’ll try to find a town home that I can sublet for 3 months.
I must be either very fortunate or very weird, but I don’t really need or want long vacations. Just from a different perspective:
I spent over 10 years studying and training for my job - most in my field took considerably longer
I just reached my performance pick, and have only a decade or so of productive professional life left before my cognition and memory start deteriorating
I am challenged every day, my job is meaningful, creative, and provides the best memory and brain exercise
I love my colleagues, and they appreciate what I do
I work for one of the top companies providing the resources, infrastructure, and a great team working for me
I can retire any day if I wanted to, and hundreds of people would apply for my job
I am healthy (knocking on wood), don’t have any small kids or other responsibilities outside work
No one does my job when I am OOO, meaning that the more I work during vacations, the less nights and weekends I spend catching up after I return
We do travel a lot, but mostly take short vacations. During my last trip to Italy, I met several women who had to abandon their professional life after getting married and relocating. This lifestyle seems to work for them, but I would be totally miserable in their place.
Years ago, during a pre kids travel hiatus, I was in China for the month of August. We met many young Europeans, there for the entire month, their summer holiday. We saw few Americans. I realized at that time, how bereft the American public was of the sort of extensive knowledge of other counties that is often seen as routine in Europe and Australia/New Zealand. In our typical American 2 weeks, we’d perhaps make it on a 10 day China tour, but could not afford the leisurely travel pace that the Germans could with a lower budget but more extensive travel time.
As I was brought up to value travel over other luxuries, I certainly have felt the lack. My British born dad, who worked on the academic calendar, usually traveled for much of the month of August. For the first time in 30 years, I finally took 3 1/2 weeks off to go overseas this past fall. It required pre approval months in advance, and special permission. A once in a career trip.
My luxury in these empty nest years is time visiting family in warm places in the winter months, for 10 days or so, though I’ve also visited my kids when they’ve lived overseas. I’m looking forward to retirement and extensive travel or life in someplace warmer than home in the winter months.
Yeah, that’s my problem too. The longest I’ve ever been away is 2 weeks. But I much prefer to go for stints of about 5 days…and I prefer to keep on top of work email while I’m traveling. The last time I took a complete vacation (about a week in Paris with my d. about 6 years ago)…it was just too much of a mess getting back and wading through the email backup. So I vowed… never again. It’s just a lot less stressful for me to keep the work/travel transition as seamless as possible.
I also have very flexible working hours so I can always take off time when my kids or grandson are in town … most of my work is done from home – basically if I have an internet connection I can work, and like the freedom that gives me.
H and I were walking the dogs last night and he was telling me about a recent hire of his (had been a contract worker) who had emergency heart surgery a few months ago. He expected to be released to go back to work this week but the drs aren’t happy with his progress so need to go back in. Since he was just hired guy had little vacation time or sick days accrued. NYS allows employees to donate their vacation time to people who are unable to work because of serious illness. H told me he already donated once but since the guy can’t come back yet he donated another month of vacation time and he still has around 200 hours left before the end of the year! He could never come close to using those hours but at least someone benefits them.
^^^We have that type of program where I work too. It can be a life saver for those who fall on hard times.
The culture in the US is very different, we have never treated vacations as that important, a lot of companies have only 2 weeks of vacation time, a lot only offer 1, especially when things are tight financially. Then, too, the weeks vacation is often a neat PR tool that in reality is a crock of BS, there are firms in the financial and tech industry that talk about their generous vacation benefits, that in reality if you actually used them, you would face penalties for doing so (ie the old “you are too important to take vacation”, but never so important when getting a raise). In some positions like banking or defense, you are forced to take vacations, a lot of the time to allow auditing and such to check for security or fraud issues, the whole place shuts down and/or rules mandate the person take vacation. But the reality is that vacation time is not viewed as being productive time, it is viewed as paying someone not to work, rather than as the Europeans view it, a time to recharge the batteries and reconnect with the family. To give you an idea of the irony, Focus on Family, Dobson’s organization that is all pro family , etc, etc, often puts out these rants about how people are neglecting their families working, that they are working long hours so they can have the latest gee gaws, etc, yet Dobson is notorious for firing people who work for the group who don’t put in 50,60,70 hours a week. As a country we talk big about things like the need for downtime, to be with our families, but the reality is common culture makes that the old say one thing and do another.
Regrettably, the amount of vacation time I get is irrelevant. I can rarely escape the job. When I do take vacation, it’s usually a long weekend. I don’t really have someone to cover in my absence, so even then, I’m often on calls or responding to emails. I, for one, would embrace the European model where it’s acceptable to disappear for a few weeks - even if it means less pay. I’m seriously considering early retirement just so I can take a real break.
Yes, H had a very hard time taking vacation, as no one else could do his job when he was gone and the work piled up. He always had a very hard time for quite a while after returning. It’s much nicer now that he’s retired and doesn’t have to dread a deskful of work piling up in his absence. He does feel that the deferred maintenance continues to get increasinglyl backlogged, but that’s what life is.
In my industry, the big bosses always took vacations. And except during major negotiations or road trips, they were usually out of the office on time. I’d say to some friends, if they can do it, why do you feel your work is so important that the company can’t possibly survive? (After all. my teams survived maternity leaves.) But I do get that the littler folks have more to worry about, less ability to manage losing a job, etc. And different environments have different needs and sensitivities. Mine didn’t give “extra credit” for working long hours. They seemed to feel there was something wrong with needing to stay late. It was an odd equation.
I’ve had two supervisors who freely admitted (after I left the respective companies) that they were AFRAID to use all their vacation days, and felt especially fearful at being gone for longer than one week at a time. In both cases these very hard working folks felt that taking vacation was a sign you’re not serious about your job. Not competitive or committed enough. One told me, I know that if the CEO sees the company can get along without me for two weeks, I’ll be let go. This same CEO was infamous for telling his management team - ‘eating and sleeping are for babies.’ And, 'If you don’t show up on Saturday, don’t bother showing up on Sunday. ’ Hence taking lunch, not coming in on the weekend and not working late were perceived as weakness.
All too often in corporate America “getting” vacation is separate from “being able to go” on vacation. It’s a sick system.
My S works for a non-profit. His supervisor says to him: “we don’t want to see emails from you or that you’ve worked from home when it’s not your regular hours.” Such a saner world.