Another Reason to FIRE

[WIBuckeye]

Is going on vacation becoming too much work?

Only 9 more years to go....

 

[M Paquette]

Hmmm...

The American Psychological Association says that 44 percent of adults check email while on vacation, and an astonishing 1 in 10 check in hourly.

 

[Meadbh]

The Out Of Office message is a very important tool. I always used to make it quite clear that I would not be responding while on vacation, and whom to contact if the issue was urgent. Most issues had been resolved or delegated by the time I returned. I always scheduled time on the first few days after vacation to plough through the email, organizing it by thread.

During my career I worked with some very specialized physicians with unique skills. One of them returned to Canada from a Caribbean vacation to respond to a patient emergency. Another flew from NYC to Dublin to see a patient. Fortunately, I never developed such niche skills and was completely replaceable!

Speaking of physicians, going on vacation can be a real chore for them if they practice in a small town. They cannot leave without ensuring that a fully qualified locus is in place, at their expense. Some of these small town physicians are unable to take vacations for years on end. This is a major deterrent to physician recruitment in rural areas.

 

[nash031]

The advent of the smartphone has made it so people never leave work. My wife is this way, and has a hard time shutting it off. When we go out to eat, she does turn it off, but often on vacations or visits home, she gets wrapped up in work emails. I understand the draw because she's the boss, but at the same time, someone at work has to be able to deal with stuff in anyone's absence. Life is too damn short to spend answering work emails on vacation.

I turn down a work-related phone every opportunity I get. When I leave work, I want to leave work as much as possible.

 

[frayne]

Just spent seven days vacation at a house on the Outer Banks with my son, DIL, two grandkids and three other couples all engineers (and their kids), CEs, one EE, one ME. Their positions ranged from plant manager, sales VP, plant engineer, mechanical integrity, and IT. Every day at the house pool they were on their respective Iphones checking and responding to emails. Every kid was on an Ipad in the morning playing minecraft or whatever. The only exception was the plant manager who said F--K it, I'm on vacation and not answering any damn calls or emails. Probably the reason, she was the PM !

 

[Milton]

The advent of the smartphone has made it so people never leave work…. I turn down a work-related phone every opportunity I get. When I leave work, I want to leave work as much as possible.

When I was employed I was repeatedly offered a "free" cell phone, which would have been paid for by the firm. I always declined, much to the surprise and wonder of younger co-workers. The last thing I wanted was to be constantly on call.

 

[Derslickmeister]

I always take my company issued laptop and smartphone with me on "vacation" as do all my US based coworkers. I'm never really on vacation since I check emails and take phone calls and answer text messages the whole time. My European coworkers on the other hand (Finnish, German and Polish) rarely do this during their minimum 4 week long vacations. In fact, the Finns in some cases bring in Chinese colleagues to cover for them while they are away. I've always wondered what the heck is wrong with us Americans? I really need a vacation...

 

[Tallman4123]

I must admit I'm "one of those" who checks email during vacations. I enjoy my job and feel invested in the people I work with (although I fully intend to FIRE in 2.5 years at age 59). I usually check my email once or twice a day while away. I very rarely respond unless it's to assist a coworker in dire need.

My rationale for doing this is that I believe I would be more stressed out wondering about what was happening at work than I am when checking email. Admittedly, I've never checked my hypothesis by NOT checking email, but hey, it's how I'm built! Fortunately, my DW shares the same philosophy, so it work well for us as a couple.

 

[truenorth418]

When I used to work I often picked vacation spots out of the country or in remote locations that had poor cell or email service, and I left out-of-office messages such as "I am currently traveling with limited access" to set expectations that I would not be able to respond to various work "emergencies".

 

[bssc]

When I worked, I told my office that if they needed to keep in touch with me, they would have to buy me a cell phone. Needless to say, Megacorp was too cheap.

 

[brewer12345]

When I used to work I often picked vacation spots out of the country or in remote locations that had poor cell or email service, and I left out-of-office messages such as "I am currently traveling with limited access" to set expectations that I would not be able to respond to various work "emergencies".

+1. "Sorry, at 11,000 feet elevation in a Wilderness area of a National Forest, I could not get a signal..."

 

[Milton]

I always take my company issued laptop and smartphone with me on "vacation" as do all my US based coworkers. I'm never really on vacation since I check emails and take phone calls and answer text messages the whole time.

Why do you do it (I presume company policy doesn't require such gadget bondage, since your European co-workers don't follow suit)?

Not looking to offend or cast blame, but as you seem to be of the opinion that something is "wrong" with your usual practice, perhaps you should just try leaving the stuff home next time. Hopefully that will help you relax and enjoy yourself more.

 

[Milton]

When I used to work I often picked vacation spots out of the country or in remote locations that had poor cell or email service, and I left out-of-office messages such as "I am currently traveling with limited access" to set expectations that I would not be able to respond to various work "emergencies".

A couple of years ago, a yachting magazine published a list of "excuses for your boss":

1. The glare on the aft deck washed out my iPad
2. I had an urgent tweet from the Commodore
3. We were so far out on the lake that we were out of cell phone range
4. I thought the message was a virus
5. I confused your memo with the Race Instructions
6. the drone of the offshore wind farm made it impossible to hear you on my cell phone
7. My smartphone's billing statement was so obfuscated that I missed some details. I was totally certain my data plan included the Grenadines
8. I didn't want to call with a drink in my hand - I am well aware of company policy and respect it

 

[jollystomper]

I decided 5-6 years ago to stop responding to any emails while on vacation. I've told co-workers "I'm not in a state of mind to make decisions while I am on vacation". I've refused listing my cell phone in our employee directory as well - I see folks now on getting calls not only on vacation, but all times of the day and weekends.

However, I will admit to accessing our IT lab. Call it the techno-geek in me. Sometimes I have read something or heard something or something just pops into my mind that I think has applicability for some project or is a solution to some issue, and decide to VPN into the lab to test it. Relaxing on a hotel balcony overlooking a beach working on an operating system or programming code, after a day full of fun activities, may not sound relaxing but it is for me.

 

[Brett_Cameron]

Before I went on my honeymoon, I told my boss I was not taking my pager and would not respond to calls and emails. He said that was OK, if they wanted to find me they could. Since I had not shared any details of my travel plans, I was not sure they could.

 

[fh2000]

I used to work as a mid-management for a high tech company, managing teams in US and offshore. I was basically available around the clock constantly and my Blackberry buzzed all the time.

After our whole group got dissolved and all were laid off in 2008, I "down sized" and went to work for Megacorp as individual contributor. I have far fewer emails and calls to my Megacorp issued Blackberry now, but my Phantom vibration syndrome continues till this day:

Phantom vibration syndrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Throughout the day, I would habitually check my BB even though I know there are no new emails; no one calls me. But I still check it.

I told DW, after I ER next year, I will just get a pre-paid flip phone. No more BB.

 

[MRG]

A cell was required for all my team, wasn't till the last three months that we got smartphones(they accept texts faster). When certain hardware would kick a warning we would receive hundreds of texts. I recall one night getting over 700. That night I missed one text asking me to be on a 3AM conference call. My manager called me at home, had some things to say(forum rules won't let me repeat) about ignoring texts. Then the next morning he felt the need to repeat his tyraid. I tried explaining I still hadn't received the text for the 3AM call yet. We all had smartphones the following week. The really messed up part, these were just warnings an event had occured. The one message we needed to say if there was a real problem was never sent!

Those incidents made my BS bucket get full faster.

When on vacation my out of office message always said I would have no access to phone or email.

 

[Derslickmeister]

Why do you do it (I presume company policy doesn't require such gadget bondage, since your European co-workers don't follow suit)?

Not looking to offend or cast blame, but as you seem to be of the opinion that something is "wrong" with your usual practice, perhaps you should just try leaving the stuff home next time. Hopefully that will help you relax and enjoy yourself more.

I think it comes from the need to stay connected and "in the loop" due to the fear of losing control and getting to far behind. I know I shouldn't do it but the pressure to stay one step ahead of the bear is just too great (in my mind that's how it feels anyway). We are a very competitive bunch, maybe to competitive for our own good . ER is only 20 months away, I will finally turn loose of the reins...

 

[LoneAspen]

ER is only 20 months away, I will finally turn loose of the reins...

I fully expect to get calls and emails about the systems I've worked on even after I've left, no matter how much training and turnover I do beforehand.

But that first call I get after I'm gone, I'm going to make it very clear that my assistance isn't going to be free. I'm going to insist on a PO (Purchase Order) for consulting time, and my rates are going to be shocking. Something on the order of $500 an hour (or maybe a significant number of RSUs), minimum 40 hours, and once we start eating into those 40 hours, it keeps ticking down 8 hours per day until they're all gone, then they need to execute another PO.

I would expect after hearing that, they'll say "no way" and leave me alone, which is what I wanted in the first place.

Once I leave a place, I'm done. If they want to pick my brain after I've walked out the door, they'll have to pay for it, and it won't come cheap.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Speaking of physicians, going on vacation can be a real chore for them if they practice in a small town. They cannot leave without ensuring that a fully qualified locus is in place, at their expense. Some of these small town physicians are unable to take vacations for years on end. This is a major deterrent to physician recruitment in rural areas.

Something like dairy farmers, but the pay is different.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Our world-wide e-mail system was down for several days due to some unexplained disaster. I tried to use my web access e-mail account and found that it had not taken an e-mail for 5 months--it was 5 months behind for some unknown reason.

Fortunately, I do not have a mission-critical role. I do wonder how those who do managed.

 

[Sarah in SC]

I like to go places where there is little chance that I will have wifi access and thus no chance to check on work email for days on end. I don't mind checking it when I do, as all I do in most cases is forward the email to my boss to deal with as he sees fit.

Ed, are you sure they didn't just turn off your email?

 

[JoeWras]

I think it comes from the need to stay connected and "in the loop" due to the fear of losing control and getting to far behind. I know I shouldn't do it but the pressure to stay one step ahead of the bear is just too great (in my mind that's how it feels anyway). We are a very competitive bunch, maybe to competitive for our own good . ER is only 20 months away, I will finally turn loose of the reins...

+1 exactly.

I see co-w*rkers act like this all the time. They have to show they care, that they are in control. You know, they'll fall the sword for the man.

When I'm on vacation, I'm out. I don't care anymore. I'm FI. I come back to 2k of email or so and have learned to find the important stuff (usually about 10 emails) in 1 to 2 hours of work.

I have a way to hook up work email to my phone, but will never do so.

 

[Milton]

Speaking of physicians, going on vacation can be a real chore for them if they practice in a small town. They cannot leave without ensuring that a fully qualified locus is in place, at their expense.

Really? Is this a legal requirement?

 

[Meadbh]

Really? Is this a legal requirement?

Provision of continuous service is a business requirement and frequently a contractual one. In private practice, the host physician, who is usually a private contractor, underwrites the costs, resulting in a reduction in practice income. In many cases, the best that can be achieved is coverage of fixed costs (which usually amount to 30-40% of gross billings). In some areas, there are programs that facilitate the hiring of locums, but private physicians still undertake a significant financial cost to take a vacation.

You can read more detail about billing arrangements for locums in Canada on page 7 et seq. of this document:

https://www.cma.ca/Assets/assets-li...-and-wellness/PS-11-00322_PMC_Module_11-e.pdf

I cannot comment on private practice locum arrangements in the US.

This was one of the reasons why I always chose to work in a team environment where we could cover for each other.