What is your obligation regarding being available on vacation days?

[Anonymous]

Gov't attorney here. If I'm just taking a day off but will be around town, I'll check email once or twice and reply if something urgent comes up (although it has to be something truly urgent to get more than an "I'm out today, but will look into it tomorrow" type response). If I'm going to be out for more than a couple days, I make sure that everyone in the office knows I'll be out and that there is someone else who can cover for me on all my cases if something crazy happens. I also make sure I have an out of the office auto reply on my email and similar message on my voicemail. Usually when I'm taking consecutive days off, it's for a family vacation or something where I'll be travelling, watching the kids, or for other reasons will generally not be in a position to work. I try to make that reality clear to my supervisors before I leave for vacation, so that people don't expect me to be working through the vacation. My feeling is, if I'm going to be working, I shouldn't be using time off, and if I'm using time off, it's because I don't plan to be working.

[Anonymous]

Sr manager at a Big 4. When I'm off, I'm off - but I work in Federal and my clients don't work the weekend unless it's something major and if it's that big, there's no way I would be on vacation.

When I was on non-Federal clients, I was always on call. I never went on vacation without my laptop and a way to get internet + a backup plan.

[Anonymous]

There's only one of year when work is truly "urgent" at my office and we are not granted leave during that month.

Since it's over the entire holiday season and I usually have to work at least part of Christmas morning, several hours on Thanksgiving, almost always on New Year's Day, etc., I don't feel the least bit bad when I go on vacation to be completely off the grid. Plus, I'm not allowed to take my work phone out of the country, so I typically try to plan vacations out of the country, even if that's just heading up to Canada.

[Anonymous]

I requested a blackberry because I was getting a lot of after hours emails that were rather urgent and shouldn't wait til I was back in the office in the morning. I explained that I often have committee meetings in my community after work, so I'm not on my home computer, checking work email, after I leave the office.

My request was denied and I took that to mean that I'm not expected to be reachable when off the clock. My personal cell number is on the roster somewhere - if there's a real emergency, they can call.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yea I am expected, and do, respond to work needs outside regular hours. I think it is part of my job as a professional.

When did "professional" become equated with an indentured servant? I know many many true professionals who do not deal with their job 24/7. And the rest of us figure out how to deal when someone is away, so they do the same for us.

This. We're all dispensable, and as a PP correctly noted, the positions for which presence is essential (e.g., nurses) are staffed by teams of people who are essentially interchangeable. It's really not that difficult a concept.

+1. PP here who chooses to be available sometimes outside of normal hours. My professionalism is not an issue. I am someone who, during work hours, always answers the phone, rarely takes lunch away from my desk and is always available. If someone thinks I am not professional because I do not immediately respond to a 10pm email, so be it.

I have had jobs where I was on call 24/7, worked on vacations, etc. Frankly, I found that people contacted me because they could. Their matters were rarely urgent and they did a poor job of filtering them.

Luckily, my bosses and colleagues all came to this job because of quality of work and life balance issues. We cover for each other so that we can all enjoy our time away.

[Anonymous]

When I gave up Big Law, I gave up 24/7 availability to my employer. I check my messages twice a day while on vacation, and only respond/am available for calls if it's an enterprise-size problem or opportunity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I SAH. My husband is always on call even on his days off, and at night. He is a Sr. Software Engineer. When stuff breaks, he must fix it asap.

Your husband's company is poorly managed.
Unless this is a startup company with extremely limited resources, management should plan ahead for employee's time off.

What happens when you are in the woods camping without signal?
What happens when you are out of the country? Software export rules apply then.

A single person should not be the sole responsible party for any one part.
Its not good for the employee.
Its not good for the company. Single point of failure. What happens when that person is hit by a bus or wins the lottery and leaves?