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More than half of those surveyed said they will be working while on vacation.
A growing number of employers are giving workers paid vacation time these days. The only thing is, many of you don’t understand what vacation is all about.
Vacation means taking time away from work, relaxing and recharging. That means, not working.
Unfortunately, more than half of U.S. workers plan on working during their vacations this year including everything from checking emails to doing actual work tasks.
A poll released this week by software company TeamViewer and conducted by Harris Interactive in May, found that 52 percent of those surveyed will be working while on vacation, up from 46 percent the previous year.
Here’s how the workaholic’s vacation/work schedule breaks down, according to the survey:
- Reading work-related emails – 30 percent
- Receiving work-related phone calls – 23 percent
- Wanting access to a document on my home computer – 19 percent
- Receive work-related text messages – 18 percent
- Wanting access to a document on my work computer – 13 percent
- Being asked to do work by a boss, client or colleague – 13 percent.
The worst gender for this vacation offense are men with 56 percent saying they were more likely to work, compared to 47 percent among women.
And the one group that can’t seem to get a break is single working Americans, who expect to be asked to do work by the boss more often than their married counterparts, 15 percent versus 6 percent.
For many workers, the decision to keep working through R&R times, is about making sure jobs are secure and going above what’s expected in order to impress employers.
But that can be a recipe for disaster and may ultimately hurt your job performance.
"Rest and renewal ultimately increase our ability to be productive, it is essential to completely unplug when on vacation," said Susan Steinbrecher, a business consultant and author of "KENSHO: A Modern Awakening, Instigating Change in an Era of Global Renewal."
"Most people don’t take renewal seriously," she continued. "I believe our connected, always on, 24/7 society has lost the ability to recharge and renew without distractions. The minute you check an email or voice message while on holiday, you’re likely to get sucked right back in."
Some employers seem to realize the importance of vacation for their workers. The number of employers offering vacation benefits is actually on the rise.
Today, about 94 percent of employers offer paid vacation days to workers. And now, more than half of organizations provide paid time off as part of all-encompassing packages of days off, including vacation days, sick days, etc., compared to 42 percent in 2009, according to a report released in June by the Society for Human Resource Management.
And some firms are actually trying out unlimited vacation policies.
Alas, many workers still aren’t taking their vacation days seriously, or should I say, un-seriously.
"Today’s work environment of intense time pressures and limited resources means we are all required to put in extra effort, energy and time – which can create a lot of stress," Steinbrecher maintained. "This 'do more with less' work ethic means that if we don’t completely disengage when on vacation, we’re not fully recharging or refueling."
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Does anyone think that NBC will ever run a story with the title,
What part of the word illegal do you not understand?
Some people (like me) will work a little bit during vacation for selfish reasons: most redundancy has been eliminated from salaried. So, in my case, when I'm not in the office, the work doesn't get done. After a week (or two), when I come back to the office, my desk is OVERFLOWING with tasks/assignments that weren't touched in my absence. So I have to spend extra time to get caught up. Working a little bit while on vacation reduces that backload of work that I have to do.
I used to have a job like that-vacations, holidays, even sick time didn't really exist. Before vacation, I'd try to get ahead, after vacation, catch up. If I called in sick, I was expected to check and respond to voice mail. Now I no longer will accept a "leadership" position. Just let me be a peon and not give away any of my time.
However, I still read journal articles and take professional courses in my time off;I'm committed to my profession, not enslaved by my job.
The work will always be there. Let it back up. Get to it when you have time. Unless you are an emergency room doctor saving lives nothing in your workplace is so urgent that it can't wait a few days or even a few weeks while you are on vacation.
A vacation getting away from it all even for a couple of days! What a wounderful thing! Tune out and charge up! Let some one do for you! Serve me, I'm D-- tired! That is what a Vacation is all about! Try a cruise! Once on that ship, YOU DON"T GOTS TO DO NOTIN!!!
Put down those Ipods and have a good time. It's like an addiction. What's going to happen if they all get disconnected for a few days?
Vacation? I thought you only took those with your family when you were a little kid. I don't even know what a vacation is anymore.
No vacation? Is that by choice? You must be a very dull person to be around.
What part of vacation doesn't management understand. Paid vacation or not, many companies are under staffed these days for more profit and it is increasingly difficult to get the management to allow you that time, even when you have accumulated it.
There is little evidence that supports the contention that if one takes a vacation and does not work on vacation thry will be among the first to be fired. It seems to me that many workers are afraid of their own shadows. Take vacation. Be inaccessible on vacation. Your job will be there when you return. And your place of employment won't have fallen apart. You may even be missed while you're gone. Unless you're a real jerk, and then you won't be missed.
This may be a little off the point, but I feel it is still germane, especially since it speaks to missing time - in this case, sick time. I was preparing (writing) a technical manual for final delivery when I wound up hospitalized with Leigonaires. I was the only writer in my company with the required security clearance to do the job. My boss had to call the customer and apprise him of the situation. The customer had no great problem with that. As it turned out, I missed a total of three weeks before I was able to return to work. When the final delivery was completed, the customer must have been pretty happy, because we enterred into a contract that ran for 17 years before our CFO messed up the bid on its renewal. That was when we all lost our jobs, and not because of vacations or other time off, but because the CFO was incompetent. When I had a vacation planned, I always took it, whether it was for a few days, or a week. I usually got bored after a week.
What part of the phrase, "what business is it of an NBC article that stereotypes what NBC should have you to believe how you should spend your vacation" doesn't an idiotic reporter get?
Gender??? What a joke.
Too much sociopathology for EVE for one day or for that matter businesswiredbackwards dot commmmmmm. What a ridiculous survey.
If you love doing what you are doing for money, then everyday is a vacation. That's why they can't stand me smiling all the time at work.
Thaat was a best part of my job: I loved what I was doing. Yes, I did take vacations to keep my head clear, and to relax, but I really enjoyed what I did, not to mention my customers. I enjoyed working with/for them, I respected them, and - yes - I admired them.
That's the way this world works. Man dominating man to his injury. Work work work.
No vacation for you in most cases.
When it comes to vacation, the first thing that goes through my head is whether or not I'll be REQUIRED to check my emails while I'm gone. When I've earned my paid vacation, I should have every right to "check-out" and avoid any type of work. Employees should not be expected to check or respond to emails while they're on vacation. The reason for this time off is to recover from all the b.s. the employer has thrown at you for the past several months or years. I went on vacation one year, making the decision to not check my emails at all for 2 weeks. It was the best vacation I had every had. However, when I returned I had over 200 emails sitting in my Inbox.
Employers need to understand that employees need downtime to keep them in tip-top shape. How can they be productive if they're burned out all the time? There has to be some sort of law introduced to first require employers to offer vacation time, and second no less than 4 weeks a year. It sounds excessive, but think about those companies offering unlimited vacation time. They know they're employees are doing the work and they also aren't abusing the system. And, there is always a backup when someone is out on vacation. The only problem I have on my end is that the backup that I have is someone who doesn't communicate and keeps information to herself. So, I can't trust her to give me the scoop as to what's been going on while I've been out. If I was the dept head, I'd have fired her a long time ago because that's not being a team player.
Went off on a tangent...I have finally told myself that although I need the money, if I don't check my emails while I'm on vacation, and I return to find that I had lost my job, oh well. Employers need to stop being so greedy. They need to stop making us work 24/7 just so that the top dawgs can put another buck in their wallets so that they can afford that million-dollar renovation to 1 of their 5 homes across the country while the rest of us endure a pay cut or lose their jobs. Selfish IMO.
A lot of this in on the employee and their big fat ego!
yeah take a vacation right. i have to request it 6 months in advance, and even then, I still get grief about it. And gone for ten days? No one is picking up the slack from me not being there. Thats my job. And yeah, I have been told that by my bosses.
I think employers are foolish for not allowing employees more time off with no contact. If people work burnt out, you don't get high nor creative productivity. A corpse does not produce much or think much. I would rather work smart than harder. Just my 2cts But then, employers don't see it that way and think they know it all. So, people just press on. Must be some really dull people out there not to take time off.
I don't really even know who I'm working for when I'm on vacation. BTW, it's twoo that Europe and Scandinavian companies give tons more vacation days to their employees. These companies don't beat their employees to death like they do here in the good old USA, they know the majic of keeping their people happy....unlike here in the gool old USA. Or should I say the "was good at onetime USA until it got greedy", now that we are slipping in all areas. Congratulations corporate America...here's your prize.
Self employed, take a few vacations a year but always check email daily to connect with clients if necessary. The employees basically have free reign to take time off as needed. Mostly they don't abuse this, and they are productive when they are here so it works for both sides.
What a complete insulting slap-in-the-face from Eve Tahmincioglu this is. How dare you. How dare you tell me I don't know the meaning of the word vacation. I know full well what a vacation is, but my employers never have. Employees behave like workaholics because their employers demand it and reward it, mostly by putting keeping only the workaholics after layoffs or finding reasons to fire employees who do take them and behave like they are on one.
Employers and supervisors demand that employees take calls, answer email and respond to text and instant messages almost immediately, even when on vacations. If an employee doesn't, the, next review will rate them zero on corporate identification and commitment. In my last position I was directed by an Exec VP and Director that I had to rate them that way. I eventually got walked to the door for disagreeing with this nonsense. They will use the farmer's breakfast analogy. The chicken, who only lays eggs, makes hardly a commitment. The pig, who dies to give the bacon, is committed. If you think this is a joke, just go to any corporate seminar on time management and corporate commitment. It's one of the most common metaphors for corporate expectations of employees. So, don't insult me with your you don't know rhetoric. I do know, all too well.