Work-life Balance

“Work to live or live to work?”

I thought about this quite a bit when I was in Europe a few weeks ago.  We attended a friend’s wedding in Holland and those Dutchies have quite a philosophy on vacation, or “holiday” as they put it.  In the Netherlands, the legal minimum employment leave is 4 weeks plus 9 paid holidays – that is the MINIMUM.  Australia is 4 weeks standard, Finland and France are 5 weeks. The United States is listed as “0” days off because vacation is dependent on each individual employer.  The average American working in the private sector receives about 10 days of paid vacation and six paid holidays per year, numbers that fail to meet the minimum amount required by law in 19 other rich countries. BUMMER

I spent quite bit of time working when I was in Europe. I answered emails, texts and worked each night before bed and first thing in the morning.  If I could find a wifi cafe during the day, I made that my first priority.  Around my third day, while in Brussels having breakfast in the hotel restaurant  and remoting in to my work computer, I realized that this is ridiculousness!   And all this nonsense is my own doing, something ingrained and embedded in me and the American culture since I first started working.  Americans work too much! Now that we can work anywhere, work has become a feeding frenzy, so much that even a simple vacation is not valuable enough to TURN IT OFF!  

Who do I pin this craziness on?
Could it possibly be my job?  I work in a crazy business – hospitality.  Everyone works all the time and not only do they pay attention to how many hours they work, they pay attention to everyone else’s. Vacations, while earned, are rarely taken and when they are – you return back to work with angry co-workers griping about the fact that you weren’t there to help with this or that.  Granted, none of us have to work while on vacation but somehow it is expected.  I had emails and texts from co-workers asking about this report, that spreadsheet, and help with various things when I was 4,000 miles away!  I find a general lack of respect when someone takes a vacation – I don’t hear “We got this for you”, but rather; “You’re not going to be here?”

I think most Americans definitely bring some baggage to the work force.  We tend to be “work-centric”,  Baby Boomers especially.  Baby Boomers are extremely hard-working for the most part and are motivated by position, perks and prestige.  They relish long work weeks and define themselves by professional accomplishments, and believe in “face-time” at work.  Given these attributes  embedded in my psyche,  I find shredding my work life to enjoy vacation challenging.  It just hangs over my head.

At the end of the day, the current work ethic of what appears to be the American work force and my generation especially  is that Americans are still obsessed with working and somehow feel that vacation time is frivolous, rather than a necessity and an earned right.

I happen to believe that happy employees make good employees.  A case in point – Genentech – consistently voted as one of the best companies to work for in America.  Why?  Mainly because they value their staff.  They call vacation a “time to recharge” and go so far as to offer a sabbatical every six years for employees, including full pay and benefits.  Standard vacation is 18 days per year, plus designated paid holidays and a year-end shutdown.

People need time for their lives outside of their work “walls”.  This needs to become engrained in American culture. Maybe then will there be hope for me.

I end with a list of what we should NOT be:

1. Feel so important that our work environment cannot survive without us.
2. Concerned about the perception of our co-workers because we take vacation time we have EARNED
3. Enabling our co-workers; they can “have this” while we are gone
4. Having a hard time relaxing while away – take care of your mind and your body first!
5. Worrying about your work load when you return – it will be there when you get back.