Vacation

In our followup quiz questions last week, we asked respondents to comment on the following (the yes or no responses are over in the "What do you think?"  column:

In the last ten years (or shorter, if you have not worked that long), answer "yes" if you have taken all the vacation coming to you for a majority of those years.

1 I plan to, beginning this year.
2 And I retired a little early. It was absolutely the right decision for my health and for my family.
3 Because I'm a consultant just like Jim and almost in the same age range (a little younger)!!
4 My wife and I have an agreement. I am allotted a couple of hours each day for e-mails and such and then have to turn the PC off.
5 Have taken way less than half of what was due to me.
6 I did as a corporate employee but do not as a consultant, for the same reasons you offer. Because kids are grown, the people I get to vacation with are less a reason to go.
7 But I never took time off to see my seven children play sports etc during work hours. Thank goodness my children are smarter and do this. When my last child was born, my supervisor gave me one startup shift off, but I knew I was expected to be back at work the next day. Now my wife has died, and I find myself wishing I had spent more time with her and the children during those busy years while they were growing up.
8 Maybe you should rethink that question on your Mill Manager's quiz?
9 If I can't manage my time allocation/workload to take my vacations, then I'm not working efficiently. I see lots of my colleagues cramming in their vacations at the end of the year to avoid losing it, as they been 'too busy' to take it in a more structured manner.
10 However, I always bring my work with me on vacations.
11 Most vacations consist of extended weekends, with the longest vacations consisting of a full week.
12 I have always taken all allowed vacation. It gets harder as I get older. I have more responsibility, projects, reports due, etc. and have earned more vacation time!
13 When most of us left Weyerhaeuser, we had max'd our vacation banking accounts at 12 weeks. You got paid off at your exit salary so I guess it was an investment of sorts. The banking limit was instituted to prevent employees from taking big chunks of time off. One technician took 6 months off!!

Does your immediate supervisor encourage you to take your vacation time?

1 Beginning this year we can carry over up to 50% of earned vacation days. This also means that at separation you could be paid for up to 150% of unused days. Now that the days are monetized, they seem more valuable somehow. I like the new policy.
2 He expects that people will watch this themselves, and in our department they do. He does his best to not interfere with vacation requests.
3 No, because I am the Boss unless you take my wife into consideration!
4 He does not like the length of my vacations. I take 7 weeks a year, two 3 week blocks and one week alone.
5 I'm the owner of the company so have no immediate supervisor.
6 He leads by example and has a much healthier attitude about vacations now that he has trained us to cover well for him when he's gone. He owns the company.
7 I am retired, but my last supervisor did encourage me to take my vacation time.
8 The only time they prompt you is towards the end of the year, if you've not taken your allocation. Normally prompted by concerns over everybody wanting to take vacation time in the same period as they all rush to take it before they lose it.
9 I find that when we do take vacation, coming back almost seems like starting a new job. Energized, a fresh attitude and the realization hits that we really do love our work.
10 He does. He explains that a mentally rested employee is more productive in the long run.
11 They have neither encouraged nor discouraged it. They don't seem to care either way as long as I get all of the work done that is expected. That's probably why I work a lot of overtime the week before and the week after I take a vacation!
12 But as a consultant, my wife is not all that successful in getting me to do it.

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