August 20, 2012 at 1:24 am
Sometimes things can go a bit far the other way--because I wasn't able to take 8 days of holiday last year (gave it up voluntarily due to things being so busy in the last 3 months of the year) it got brought forward to this year, and I'm struggling to take all that extra time off!
August 20, 2012 at 1:33 am
Being a Brit I can honestly say the last thing I would ever do is not take any of my allotted holiday. Its just not happening. I don't think I have ever even known anyone who doesn't use theirs. For instance after my summer break I now have 6 days left - I'll plan when to use them and book them over the remainder of the year rather than keeping them 'in case' and being stuck with them. I'd like to say I return refreshed but I return probably more snarlingly irritated than before. Sorry colleagues. I do enjoy my job plenty but actually find it easier when I'm settled into a steady routine of doing it. Who's to say I wouldn't be worse without the break though, and I might have more energy subsequently.
August 20, 2012 at 2:06 am
As another Brit I can echo the above. Our holiday year ends on April 30th and there's always several taking leave in April to get down to the carry over limit without losing the holiday. Personnaly I can never have enough leave!
August 20, 2012 at 2:20 am
As yet another Brit. I have in the past not taken holiday leave or virtually any holiday throughout the year due to work pressures. It can almost become an expectation that you are always on hand. Now for the past few years I ensure to take ALL of my holiday entitlement by the end of each year. The business is better for it and it's better for the soul too. Just wish sunshine could be booked at the same time as leave. 🙂
August 20, 2012 at 2:51 am
Ah Steve... You have not looked at any other European countries. You may find that some are even more generous. And some companies even add more to that.
August 20, 2012 at 3:52 am
My jaundiced look at life tells me that if you are failing to take leave because of work pressures or you are working excessive hours it probably means that you are either inefficient - or more likely you are doing some one else's job as well as your own!
August 20, 2012 at 4:01 am
I distrust people that don't take all their leave.
August 20, 2012 at 4:15 am
"I should have spent more time at the office" is a quotation you will never see on a tombstone.
When I was working (happily now retired) I took all the leave including flexitime (if you worked more than the contracted hours the additional time accumulated). That way I stopped doing two peoples' jobs. We did work the long shifts, the out of hours stuff and disasters but we didn't end up jibbering in the corner from mental and physical exhaustion.
Madame Artois
August 20, 2012 at 4:24 am
It is simply a question of organising your time off. Schedule it long enough in advance so that everybody knows when you are off. Do not wait for the last minute. You are then left with the left-overs.
For my part I always take 2 weeks at Easter, 1 week in June and 3 weeks in October/November, plus a few long weekends. Everybody knows it and everything is scheduled around those periods.
I switch my mobile phone off during those times.
August 20, 2012 at 6:00 am
I hear you, Steve, but WOW, this is hard to do. I have almost 200 hours of vacation, but trying to get the time is difficult. We're short handed. In my case, because I work in the public sector I make, well let's say noticably less than I could doing the same thing in the private sector. Because of that I've not been able to update our family vehicle to something we could trust to get us anywhere, for several years. For several years I've done stay-cations, out of necessity. After a while, though, that doesn't become relaxing, especially for my wife, so why bother taking any time off. I only take time off now when I'm just too burned out.
Rod
August 20, 2012 at 6:40 am
I know it is easier said than done, but I have found (through personal experience) that most people in IT don't have that separation of work and home. It is usually a matter of mismatched expectations. That is, your boss expects you to always work 50+ hours a week at all hours of the day but you don't.
With today's tech, there are plenty of ways to manage things when you are out of the office. Use the tools of our trade to make time for vacation. After all, if you died today, the business will still keep going. That's a lot more than 1 week.
August 20, 2012 at 6:50 am
Michael Lysons (8/20/2012)
I distrust people that don't take all their leave.
That is silly.
Cheers
August 20, 2012 at 7:18 am
I've fallen into this trap many times. I'd find myself logging in to check on things on days off, etc. A lot of it has been due to a lack of organization. I have a hard time "letting things go" so to speak.
Recently over the past few months I've been working on getting more organized and clearing out my head. Since then, I've been finding that I check in far less often and have less stress overall.
August 20, 2012 at 7:19 am
I do whatever I can to make sure I take time off whether it is to go on a vacation or just stay home and get stuff done. My daughter spent a month in Italy for college, and she said she really had to slow down and learn to relax and enjoy being there. She said that people over there take a long time to do everything, even eating a meal is a long ordeal. I think we in America are trying to move too fast. We are trying so hard to be at the top of the technology ladder, that we give up family, health and vacations just to keep up at our jobs. And having the ability to connect to work via phone, tablet, laptop, etc., we have a hard time not knowing what is going on at work at all times. Personally, I don't have any alerts coming to me via phone or email once I leave work. I don't check any email when on a day off, or vacation, and I try not to answer calls from work while on any type of vacation. I believe the term Vacation or Day Off means you are away from work, totally. After all, if I didn't have a job, I wouldn't need a vacation or time off to get away from work.
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