There was a recent study done at some consulting firms which showed that people who take family time are considered suboptimal workers and they are punished for taking family time with worse assignments, worse performance reviews and lower bonuses. But people who take vacation time are viewed as optimal employees even if the vacation time is substantial. One is considered a drain on attention and the other is considered as a sign of recharging for work.
The most interesting finding - and the most widely reported - is that the workers simply cheated and the firms looked the other way to enable cheating. Some of the stories included people who’d “visit clients” and go on vacation or take basic time off, with one guy reporting he’d make some calls in the AM and PM but ski the rest of the time. Work groups covered for each other, so people would devote substantial time to family concerns without telling the firm and people would be told the person was busy or with a client, etc.
The under-reported stuff is this:
- The pressure to appear to be wholly devoted to work is not actually required by the work. That is, you must appear to be there even if there really is no reason to be there. (Japanese business culture for decades was you waited till the boss left no matter what.)
- This non-work work results - this is from my experience - in larger bills because at least some of that time must be charged to avoid suspicion. This is one reason why firms moved to set fees; as billing rates increased, the cost of non-work became too much.
- The entire process means firms choose to hire and reward people who are adept at lying to the firm itself. Think about that: your corporate culture is rooted in people who lie to you about what they do. I believe this is the root of why consulting is such a bleep hole when it comes to results: they reward manipulators and punish those who are honest. People who said they needed some family leave or needed to get away for a family reason were punished while those who did the same thing but lied were rewarded. That carries over into work: they don't tell you the truth but instead manipulate you into what they believe is right for you.