Then they should quit and find a company that will pay them what they think they’re worth. Good luck with that.
When was the last time you were on a cruise?
My company was very good at respecting employees vacation time. But most people hire in and their benefits packages define time off. It may say “x days of vacation”. but if they don’t put “but you must be on call even if on vacation”, then they are violating the contract with the employee.
And when they say this…which you seem to agree with…are you paid enough that if you paid a few thousand dollars to go an a deep see fishing expedition and your phone rings while you are on the dock getting ready to leave - do you board the boat, knowing that you will be out of cell range for several hours, or do you stay at the marina to be available? Or…do get on the boat and start posting your resume (which is always updated for go getters such as yourself) on job sites?
I thought you worked for the county health department.
Admittedly it’s been a while. IT may have changed and cruises may well have been ruined by total access. But parrot apparently was on one last Christmas. They opted not to get the WiFi package. Would you have gotten it, solely to be in contact with the office? Even they didn’t reimburse you for the cost?
Yes, I did. If I was home taking a sick day, they did NOT allow the office to call me since it was off time.
That’s not a company, it’s a government job.
So jobs actualy respect their employees. But tell me…if you were on the dock with your dream deep sea fishing trip ready to depart when your boss calls and tells you to stand by…do you get on the boat or not?
Yes, my boss wouldn’t call me on vacation.
Probably not. It might be something in your union contract about that.
Nope, according to our contract, there is a needs of business clause where they can force you to work. My boss knows better than to bother me on vacation. The company can force employees with low seniority to work anytime they want, it’s called needs of the business.
BTW what union were you in?
My point wasn’t that only the wealthy could afford these, but they have usually been for the wealthy and upper middle class. About a quarter of American workers get no vacation time at all and of those who do, many get only a week or two. A lot of people have to hold onto it for family things. Many use it only to visit family.
I didn’t grow up dirt poor, but basically working class. My dad got a week of vacation time per year, then two. Not sure what my mom got, probably varied. With 4 kids, they couldn’t afford much. When we did anything resembling a vacation, it was almost always to the Grant Grove area as you could pitch a tent there (at the time) for $6 a night. My parents could not have conceived of these all inclusive resorts. Spending even $1,000 on a vacation wasn’t going to happen.
Contrast with my GF, didn’t grow up rich, but solidly middle class. Her dad was a HS teacher (after his childhood acting career) and her mom’s job was flexible. They took road trips across the country most years. She has been to 49 of the 50 states and would have made the last one this past summer except the trip was cancelled with her dad’s illness.
Yes, though I suspect a large number of Americans don’t know that.
A lot of this expectation many of us put on ourselves. No one tells me I have to be online, but there is a worry that I will miss something important, a grant, an accreditation visit, etc.
Does that include part time or people who self contract?
They are always full of Americans
100% agree.
Set boundaries early and this is all avoided
Another thing that has changed over the years is the number of vacations a family takes. Years ago unless a person was an educator that didn’t have many opportunities to take a vacation
I don’t believe there are hardly any employers out there who would expect their people to be answering emails on a cruise, for crying out loud.
To echo mcarley’s point, I think most people (by far) are doing this to themselves.
Agreed
Back when I worked for IBM they had a pretty generous vacation policy, up to 4 weeks paid time off a year. We took short 2-3 week vacations because we couldn’t afford longer ones until we were debt-free. That didn’t happen until 2000 when we were in real estate.
In real estate we took longer vacations but the penalty for not working usually cost more than the cost of the vacations themselves. It wasn’t unusual to lose another $25k a month while we were gone on vacation. We decided to take 2 to 3 months off each year anyway because when we worked it was a 24/7 job.