Take That Vacation.. Please!

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Most working Americans have a strange relationship, at least in my opinion, with vacation time. Throughout my working career, having vacation days and/or paid time off (PTO) programs available ranked in the top 2 or 3 most important features people desired when choosing an employer. And that trend continues. A recent survey conducted by Georgetown University partnering with Bank of America reported that, “young adults looking to change jobs/fields cite time off (65%) and a flexible work schedule (58%) among the top benefits impacting their choice of an employer.” *

We have historically craved and saved our vacation days.?Employers reward long tenure and senior positions with more vacation time.?Yet, we often don’t connect the benefit of time away from the office our employer grants by actually “living” the benefit in reality.?Employers say they want us to refresh, recharge and relax----as long as we let our boss know how to reach us and check-in with the office 2-3 times during the week we are on PTO. ?And while we are at it, let’s work twice as long prior to taking our PTO so we can get ahead of the work we’ll miss – only to stress out during the last few days of a vacation when we think about the full email-box that will await us on our return.

Millennials and Gen Z are being very candid about their desires for a different balance than older generations experienced in the workplace. Now enter the enhanced vacation benefit being offered by a number of employers –unlimited PTO. Seriously? I never considered myself one of those managers steeped in tradition of how we used to do things. But even as progressive as I like to define my thinking, unlimited time off??How can that possibly be the key to a winning employment strategy when there is real work to be done? Then again, how can the future of work ignore what we are being told by the younger generations of workers who experience flexibility as their norm, and they have no intention of retreating.

I always counted my vacation days. I’d track them carefully, yet somehow I’d get to the end of the year and have more PTO days untaken than days left in the year. In some years I was thrilled to have my employer carry some of the unused days over to the next year. In hindsight, why that excited me is beyond explanation, as that perceived generous act of my bosses only increased the number of days I wouldn’t likely take the following year.?So maybe unlimited PTO isn’t that big a “risk” for employers?

There are many reasons why vacation days go unused. While I never felt pressured to not take them, I did have managers who gave the odd look or made a snarky comment when someone considered taking two consecutive weeks off. Taking more than a week used to be considered too much time away, and even a sign that you might not be totally committed to the organization. And when I became a manager myself, I dreaded having to balance schedules when too many employees wanted the same time off.?Vacation sometimes didn’t feel like the benefit we so often fought for when deciding where to work.

I experienced an “aha” moment identifying my own personal conflict with vacation time during my first overseas assignment.?In my last “Witz”dom "Bienvenue Dans le Monde!" , I highlighted many of the learnings and positive experiences I gained from having been an expat during my career. I believe it’s widely known that most countries outside of the United States have significantly broader approaches to paid time off for employees.?In most countries, employers are required to offer a minimum number of days off from work, in addition to paid public holidays (many of which are mandated).?The average paid time off outside of the United States exceeds 20, and in a number of circumstances, 30 days per year. While many employers in the US offer some vacation time, along with some paid holidays, the average across the country is just 10 days of paid time off.?The Fair Labor Standards Act does not require employers to offer any paid time off, nor does it require employers to pay employees for federal holidays. This partially explains why employers and employees look at vacation time as a “benefit” in the US; there is nothing which compels an employer to offer it.

While working that first year in London, it came time to “go on holiday.”?I may have been in a different country, but I of course treated my vacation time just as I had when working stateside. I booked a weeklong trip to Greece where I planned to spend a few days in Athens before relaxing on two different islands.?Yes, all in 7 days. Just like any American. As you might expect, my British colleagues laughed –??“No way are you going to relax in such a short time.”?But I’m not sure I planned on relaxing.?I was going to take in as much as I could as fast as I could. More importantly, I’d only be a few hours from the office and be back before anyone missed me.

I prepared for my week away as I would in the US, by working late each evening the week before the trip. More importantly, I left a detailed note on the status of everything I was working on for both Linda, my executive assistant, and David, my second-in-command, to make sure everything would run smoothly in my absence. ??And I made sure Linda had my travel itinerary – with the names and phone numbers of my hotels and other places she may contact me.?I said my goodbyes and told them I’d check in with them during the week. They both seemed a little “off” by that last comment – but I chalked it up to the degree in which I had driven them crazy trying to get out of the office that Friday evening.

Fast-forward to Monday morning.?I enjoyed a busy tourist weekend in Athens and was on my way to one of the islands. As I was waiting for my flight, I thought it would be a good time to check in, just like any good boss in the US would do. I called my office and Linda answered. ?She hears my voice and says good morning, but the usual bright, cheery tone was missing. I asked how things were going, anything I need to know, did she need anything from me, etc.?I got quick, one word answers back from her. “Fine. No. No.”?This was very out of character, but I chalked it up to her maybe not having a good morning. So I then ask to be transferred to David. “No” was again her short answer. Is he not in his office??“Oh, no, he is in his office,” she said.?I then ask if he was on the phone – and she again says “no.”?At this point I am getting a bit agitated, and ask her why she won’t put me through.?“Eric, if I put you through to him on your first day out of the office, he’s going to think you don’t have faith in him as your back-up. You’ve placed him in charge, updated him on the status of everything he needed to know and let him know how to reach you should the need arise. I also know how to reach you. Now unless someone dies, don’t expect to hear from us – we’ve got this. Enjoy your time off. Goodbye.”?Click.

Now to some, that might have been viewed as disrespectful.?She did say “goodbye,” so I don’t quite consider it hanging up on me. And we had a very good working relationship.?But I will admit I was left speechless, and momentarily angry. But then it hit me – Linda was right- on multiple fronts.?They were fine without me. They weren’t the ones that needed checking on; it was my need to check-in that drove me to call.?FOMO before I knew what FOMO was. And it was 15 years before Sheryl Sandberg’s observation that, “leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.”

And again Linda was right – I needed to enjoy my vacation.?Why was that so hard??I knew from that point that I needed to better respect and trust my colleagues when I wasn’t in the office, but I still struggled with taking PTO.?My next expat experience a decade later in Australia continued to shine light on how wide a gap there is between American views of vacation time off and how most other people around the world view their time off. Many of my colleagues In Australia would take a minimum of 3 to 4 consecutive weeks when they went on holiday. Now some of that is explained simply by the time it takes to travel to other countries if they plan on leaving Australia for any or all of their vacation. But they did take their vacation – and we still accomplished our goals.?I also saw that the pure nature of taking a vacation that lasts several weeks allowed people to shut down almost completely while they were away. And I find most employers outside the US truly expect you to take your time off – and from what I witnessed, most people do return relaxed and ready to go.

The most important observation I gleaned about the differences between the US and the rest of the world is that we seem to be one of the only countries that view vacation time as a benefit to be offered by an employer. We treat it as a privilege – and people will seek or stay with an employer because of their vacation policy.?In many other countries, the vacation time is mandated statutorily.?It’s not a point of comparison when employees choose an employer. Thus the irony - vacation time off may be an actual entitlement in places outside the US, but it seems to deliver employees more of the “benefit” that US employees claim to seek but sometimes don’t or can’t use.

There also may be a direct correlation between how American employers view vacation time off (that is, as a privilege) and the struggle we have had gaining support in the mainstream for paid family leave programs for employees.?Fortunately, many jurisdictions are now mandating some for form of PFL coverage – but here again, are employers complying for the benefit of their employees, or simply addressing a true employee need because they may have to statutorily?

The nature of work is changing- and like anything throughout history, future generations will deliver on the expectations set by those who came before them. But how they do it needs to adapt to the environment in which they live, not the one created ahead of them. Corporate leaders and human resources professionals debate items like benefits – and PTO time – and spend hours determining how to offer something more attractive than the competition. But should we be debating PTO time at all??Have we created too much of a dialogue around how much time people have off from work- for whatever reason – while ignoring how we can be giving them more of a reason to come to work? Would the amount of PTO time be as critical a determinant in where an employee works if the job itself encouraged people to engage??Do you really want people to come work for you because you offer a better vacation package, or do you want employees who value the work you offer to them in a company focused on growth and sustainability?

The pandemic has certainly shifted the mindsets of many of an employee in how they perceive work/family balance. ?And we have seen how work can be accomplished is any manner of functions and locations.?Many employees have creatively found ways to deliver – and that it doesn’t have to be done from 9 to 5,?Monday-Friday for 52 weeks per year – with possibly 2 weeks of vacation, and a handful of paid holidays (all discretionary by employer). Employers should focus on the work and the outcomes they need to be successful and engage more directly with how that work can be best accomplished.

Future studies will ultimately reveal whether unlimited time off truly impacts employee productivity and results. But if you compare the countries with more liberal paid time off policies with the studies that measure countries where the people are the happiest, you’ll find a lot of crossover.?That’s not surprising – and maybe we can debate the definition of “happiness.”?But in the meantime, if you have the days, TAKE THE VACATION!?You – and your employer – will truly benefit from it.

*?Young Adult Report ?(Bank of America Press Release, 6/13/2023)

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Reisenwitz, from the German, translates something akin to “travel joke” in English. It explains why many a German-speaking border agent would snicker as I passed through passport control when I was working in Europe. I would subsequently translate the name to mean traveling fool – a jester, or a “wit,” given my career on the road. Throughout that career – and my overall life journey – I have acquired insight I have found beneficial that I’d like to share in this periodic newsletter. You can decide if it’s wisdom – or “witz”dom.?Hopefully you’ll find a little of both.