FC NOW: The Fast Company Weblog
April 28, 2006
The Great Escape
Pardon me for being so late to weigh in; not sure where I was when Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott announced he'd be taking a four-week vacation.
Oh, right: I was working.
Let's ignore for a moment the ensuing flap over whether the CEO of the world's largest retailer should be leaving the store for so long--though to my mind, it's a sign that he's doing something right.
My question is this: What would it take for you to take a four-week vacation?
Here at Fast Company world headquarters, it's become increasingly rare for anyone to take even two weeks off at a time, despite company policy that, on paper, let's us take as much as we want. With regular deadlines and a lean staff, it just seems hard to abandon work and colleagues for that long. One of our staffers just shoehorned a vacation to Vietnam into a one-week window, when just getting there takes nearly a day.
Yet we all understand that a one-week break doesn't really cut it. It takes that long just to unwind, to really relax. Two weeks, three weeks--that's when the restorative powers of vacations really start to kick in.
We haven't read much about how Lee Scott is managing his break--except that he's taking his Blackberry along when he goes fishing. It may just be that a CEO, whose job should be to focus on the long-term, is just better placed to take a longer vacation than the rest of us.
Posted by Keith Hammonds at April 28, 2006 3:26 PM | Category: work-life balance |
9 Comments
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I work in Higher Education for the specific reason you get more vacation time. True our pay does not equal the private sector but for me it was about quality of life.. I make a good living and I have time for family and other things.
There are times when I can't take vacation like during the month of August but with proper planning and training of staff with clear expectations I say you do yourself more harm not taking vacation time!
Some people spend their health to get wealth only to spend their wealth to get their health back again!
I have worked both sides of the fence: corporate America and now in higher education. The culture is 180 degrees out of whack. You do NOT surprise me with you little ditty above about the Blackberry riding along with said exec as he hits the road. So it goes in Profit & Loss,USA. Depending on where you hang your hat, it could be thought you are a traitor if you DON'T take it. I know hotel sales execs who check in from the beach once a day, feet in the water, the women are worse then men.
It isn't a question of can you afford to take two WHOLE weeks away from work for a mind-resting vacation. You owe it to yourself and your family for whom your slave,...slave. After all, why ARE you there?
I worked for a company that offered a 6-week "restart" after 5 years of employment. Yum. You had to take it wihin a year or it evaporated. No one allowed that to happen and people enjoyed themselves. People took vacations too. HR would remind managers when people's vacation time was starting to reach "maximum".
Perhaps it's a case of company culture. When the culture says "you will take vacation" then you do.
Hoorah for Wal-Mart.
To different people, "vacation time" means diferent things...
http://www.linkedin.com/in/burda
I also used to work in higher ed and had four weeks but taking two weeks at a time was a "no no" because of our students.
Due to financial need, I'm back in "for profit" and right now would take four weeks off, hands down.
For the record, I'd like to give the Wal-Mart CEO a permanent vacation.
Andrea Mall
Batavia, IL.
Hats off to Lee Scott! If only the leaders in my company were so confident in their reports as to take such a vacation.
What would it take for me to leave for 2-4 weeks vacation? Simple - a time-off request form and that much residual vacation time. My team knows that I trust them, and that I probably won't check in more than once or twice a week.
In my opinion, the only leader who does not think he or she can take this much time off without being wirelessly connected to the office is the one who has not yet learned how to let people manage themselves.
MAS
I live in France. I admit the country is doing pretty bad at the moment mental wise. Our companies are doing well, but the mental environment is quite negative.. Goes up, goes down, fluctuates along with the unemployment rate and other random stats.
However, as bad as this counter efficient mindset ( whats tomorrow made of, why is our western society crumbling so fast and so on.. )might reflect on the economy, the average french worker is still as productive as the top five most "efficient man power per hour of work" economies AND get somewhere around a month off per year.
The lazy one does, the effictive one does ( he might bring is blackberry along too).
It therefor feels weird to see business specialists discuss how right or wrong it is for one of the biggest capitalism fanatic to take 4 week of vacations on 52 weeks.
You should focuss on the harm he is doing on the everyday life of the average american, the daily economy and the long term evolution of our societies. He should get a lifetime vacation. Or fall in love and grow a heart with a radar with a bigger spectrum than his own ego.
I went to spain recently. People earn 30% less but seem so much happier with that. I am going to do my best at not getting caught in the net that disminishes our dreams hope and empathy on a daily basis. I might make less money but I ll get my month off every year, the company that I ll work for will have a union, working to make things fair and equal ( with its flaws, nothing is perfect ), and I ll sleep better knnowing my kids won t have it worse than I did just because I was numb.
Let him have his month off.
Stop shopping where your money wont be used well.
Listen to your conscience rather than your banker.
LIVE
peace
Gregoire
ps: my apologies for my poor english level
I once had a job in hospitality management where I worked 9 am to 10 pm or later, every holiday except Christmas Day, and too many Saturdays to count. If and when I did sleep, I woke up at least once per night to jot things down that would suddenly pop into my consciousness. In the shower I would sing songs whose lyrics consisted of a laundry list of to-do items that would occur to me as I washed my hair. I had no time for the gym, my friends, or a relationship of any kind. The one time I did ask for a week off, it was requested that I not take my time off just yet, "what if we need you while you are gone?"
Somehow I found the time to interview for another job, and I was smart enough to take one week off between the two jobs. That week, plus the two weeks I spent reading and learning about my new employer (and little else - it felt like reading week in college (except without the pressure of exams)) were so REFRESHING that I will NEVER allow anyone to talk me out of taking vacation again.
I recently saw my old assistant and she asked me if I had had "work done", I looked so much better.
Almost every company has a policy for allowing leave, with money and air fare/train fare for its employees,for a ceratin period at periodic intervals.But extended leave of the Boss will have adverse impact on fellow emplyess.One is paid for his work and it is the boss who will deny the call back his employee from leave or vacation if some of his crucial emplyee goes on vacation for a period beyond his desire.Now a days Bosses are more money centric,and I do not deny their right of vaction.But extended vacation will negate the purpose.He may come cool to become hot because of prolonged absence.