“It must be NICE” …. scoffed the coworker when I told him I will be away the week of his meeting. I have heard that so many times in multiple companies it is driving me crazy. There is this attitude that one should never take off in this country. Not using your PTO is a deranged badge of honor and a disease that is spreading. I am not sure what people think they will gain through this thought process.
Even when someone does take a vacation, there are expectations of answering calls and emails. Kevin Leary from Shark Tank thinks you should always ruin your vacation. It is important to work yourself to the grave so a billionaire can make an extra thousand bucks. As if the company just can’t go on without you. You give 230 (plus) days a year to this company and when you go away you are still expected to work?
Whether it is the guy who brags about not taking off or someone who said, “I did it the right way, went to Europe when I retired.” The idea that travelling or vacation makes you less of an employee is B*llshit. Below I will discuss why you should take every second of your vacation.
Reasons Why You Should ALWAYS take Your PTO days
You will Be a Better Employee
Burn out is a real thing, go years in between any meaningful vacation and you will feel the burn. Stress takes its toll on your body; all work and no play will wear you down. A stressed employee isn’t a good employee, this is why professional athletes don’t work out hard before a game, they need to be rested.
Have enough stress and you will miss more work than that 10-day vacation. Just recently I heard of a man, in my old company, counting down to retirement who died in his sleep. Wonder if that urgent meeting was worth it? Stress can lead to sickness or worse, taking you out of the company forever. I believe an employee is more productive when breathing.
PTO is Part of Your Compensation
You wouldn’t let Joe Blowhard “must be nice you” into a salary cut. I assume all the snide comments in the world wouldn’t make you turn down a raise.
Yet, other forms of compensation such as PTO, people are willing to throw away after the slightest bit of pressure. When you don’t take your PTO, you are telling people that you are worth less as a person. When you check your email on vacation you are devaluing yourself as well. Your PTO days are part of your compensation, don’t throw it away any more than you would your paycheck.
There is Very Little Upside
How funny it is when the idiot workaholic, who chooses kissing up over his health and family sees his boss leave? Any goodwill he/she did receive from not taking your vacation will be forgotten. People leave companies and move jobs. The person you sacrificed your sanity for may not remember you in a year.
I really feel like 90% of what we do in the office doesn’t matter anyway. Meetings that go nowhere, projects that fizzle out…there is so much fluff. To cut into your own life for this fluff is foolish
Tomorrow Is not Promised
I love the people who “do it the right way” toil away at a job for 45 years and then take their vacation when they’ve retired. Just what I want to do, pull my socks up to my knees and take extra blood pressure medicine when traveling. I am sure I will be exploring until I die, but it is just easier now, when I am healthy.
Worse than this is the person who works their entire life then dies before retirement. Your company won’t be sponsoring your headstone…your family may get a Walmart card signed by the entire office. I have heard about people dying at their desks at work. I can think of no other horror. Ask anyone with little time left if they are glad they didn’t use the paid time off they earned; that useless meeting will be forgotten, spending time in a foreign land with your family making wonderful memories, won’t be…
The Best Way to Take PTO Days (without being a dick)
Still there are good ways and not so good ways to take off. There is a difference between the guy (or culture) who gets mad when anyone takes off and the person pissed that he has to constantly pick up your slack.
Give Advanced Notice
This should be easy, if you are travelling internationally you will be buying your tickets well in advance. It looks worse to randomly call in the day of a week long break then it does to make plans for months from now. Some people do the former because they are too cowardly to plan it in advance.
Letting people know early allows those useless meetings to be rescheduled or for someone to fill in for you. Put it on your calendar early, tell everyone and ignore the comments.
Timing is Everything
Everyone has their busy season, so plan your trips accordingly. If you work for a pool builder, don’t plan a vacation for the early summer. I work in finance; my deadlines are somewhat predictable. I don’t normally put my vacations down during our period end close, or during budget season. This just creates more work for someone else.
If you work in a field where you are so nonstop busy that there is no slow area, find a new job. If your company is that inept that it doesn’t allow employees a second to recharge, they aren’t worth your time, health or sanity.
That goes for a manager who doesn’t respect PTO as well. Anyone who expects you to be working while you are taking your PTO days isn’t worth working for. People get too complacent and depend too much on one company, there are thousands of other companies out there… its an employee’s marketplace.
Work Like A Champ
I respect the person a lot more who works hard every day and then takes time off then the slacker who takes time off. Make yourself difficult to replace, I am all for earning what you have.
At the same time, help your coworkers out. If they are leaving cover their slack, if they need help give it to them. Being a good employee might shut down those people who brag about working to their grave.
Conclusion
There you have it, my rant about Paid Time Off. Too many times lately I hear of that person with the twisted work ethic who expects others to follow suit. They DON’T care about you or even the company. All they care about is making themselves look better.
Take your PTO days, don’t answer the phone while using PTO, those are your days to relax. People will live without you for 7 -10 days once or twice a year. You and the company will be better off for it!
