No-Vacation Nation

I'm all rhyme-y tonight, I know. And now for a question:

"Can you imagine your reaction if you were told in a job interview that you were expected to work eight days each year for free?"

So asks Tom Williams, chairman and CEO of Universal Parks and Resorts in a press release announcing results of a survey they conducted on vacation habits. This article reports that, according to Universal's survey, half of Americans forfeit an average of eight vacation days per year.

Tom Williams continues: "Ultimately, though, it's not just about whether you're taking full advantage of your compensation and benefits. It's about whether you're taking full advantage of life."

Well, that's true enough. (Because I take these things where I can get them, I'm not going to question Mr. Williams' motives too closely. But let me just say I have a feeling that Mr. Williams is less interested in the good of society as a whole than the fact that half of all Americans are not taking advantage of the opportunity to come on down to Orlando for eight days and spend a wad o' cash.)

But, really. We are turning into a bunch of pathetic zombies in this country. The Europeans have a much firmer grip on this issue. When I visited Spain last year, the most common notation in my restaurant guidebook was "Closed Wednesday and August."

In case you didn't get that, I'll repeat it: "Closed Wednesday and August."

Being the good American I am, I read that for the first time and assumed it really meant "Closed on a Wednesday in August." And then I read a few more guidebooks and discovered that everyone in Madrid gets disgusted with the heat in August, so they close up shop and head for the mountains. For the entire month.

The article further speculates that the reason people don't take their vacations is their employers overtly pressure them not to. Here is where I might shock you.

I don't believe this is true. For the most part. I think it's a slight variation of this scenario, though no less sinister. Here is what I think happens most often: Modern employees are so overworked that if they take those eight days, they will find themselves so far behind that they then have to kill themselves to catch back up again.

This is a timely discussion for me. As much as TH Spouse loves spending time in Montana, extracting THS from the office is only a little less difficult than pulling an alligator's back molar. This is not attributable to any fear inflicted by THS's company, but the fact that THS has so much to do that any time away from doing it creates a real danger that critically important deadlines will go unmet, and fundamental job functions will go unperformed. If THS wasn't doing the equivalent of two jobs, we could have disappeared for a week without nearly daily resort to e-mail and telephone calls.

I don't think it's too much to ask.

In the case of THS's company, we are fortunate. The situation is not universal, and the company is ordinarily flexible about time away from work. But many employers are not, and this sort of thing is par for the course.

Companies that are not good stewards of their employees' vacation and "off" times pay a real price, I think, in things like increased use of Employee Assistance Programs, burnout and turnover. But in any event, it's disheartening to have to point to the financial impact, instead of just expecting employers to treat their people like human beings, and not disposable objects.

(Wasteland Fan, as sure as I know my own name, I know what you are thinking: "Associates are expected to take at least three weeks of vacation per year..." I'll let you run with that one.)