Self
I woke up to a cascade of new emails from my boss: “Hey! Have you followed up on the Riviera project?” She was supposed to be on her honeymoon in Paris, but the emails kept coming. Some were from our department, and none of them were particularly important to me.
Seeing her having to quickly fire off these emails from a coffee shop instead of enjoying the sights and food of the City of Light made me very sad. But this is a fundamental cultural issue we all face. Taking a vacation is almost a taboo in this company, and we are all swimming in it deeply.
For years, we have been scared by the notorious stories of employees being terminated. Perhaps the worst is the story of a colleague, Jose, who had just returned from his honeymoon. He brought his wife to the office to tour the facility (which is a fairly common practice). After he took her to the car, he went back inside and turned on his computer. I doubt he would have brought her on that tour if he thought his job was online.
Why do we all endure this? Because the money is great. You can't earn a comparable salary anywhere else in the area. But I am well aware that our story is a universal one.
Workers in American companies have a complicated relationship with leisure time. There is often an unspoken assumption that if you are not spending a few hours on the road, you should still check your emails every day. I used to chastise myself for taking two days to respond to an email while on vacation.
As many of you prepare for or are already in the rush before this trip, it’s worth reminding you to keep it rational. Laura Giurge, a professor of behavioral science at the London School of Economics, says, “We think there are some things we need to get done before the holiday, but then we ask, 'When does it actually need to be done?' It turns out, probably two months later.”
Dr. Giurge believes that our workaholic culture leads people to think, “I have to earn the right to leisure time.” And people often do not take advantage of their leisure time at all. In 2018, a record 768 million vacation days were…