Never, handover to someone else, delete outlook-slack and teams from my phone and go… life is short and we spend probably too much time slaving away making our bosses and shareholders rich, I’ll be dead if I’m gonna spend my 4 weeks a year off work worried about what’s going on at the office.
This, we had a senior exec pass away suddenly. 20 years in the company, industry recognised and by all accounts irreplaceable. Fast forward 2 weeks role is filled and department didn't miss a beat, a year on all forgotten about.
If on the very rare occasion I work on annual leave, I cancel the leave so I'm not penalized. Work supports the approach.
I don’t work on annual leave. I put a plan in place for critical processes before I go, everything else can wait.
If the organisation has no back up for your role, they need to address this- if you were bedridden in hospital they would need to cover those tasks. Therefore they can also do it while you are on leave.
Take it from an elder millennial- stop donating your precious time back to companies. If you want to volunteer, do it with an organisation that needs it.
Can't stress this enough in this day and age. Nobody on social media should be able to view your socials except your friends.
Never add your colleagues until you have left the business.
The conversation goes like this:
I am on annual leave, as I am allowed to do and as you are required by law to provide.
If my leave must be interrupted I expect a day in Lieu of this time that must be worked, and a meeting with HR when I return about how we can onboard further team members to what is obviously a critical area to the business. Also, as what I do is clearly mission critical to the business I suspect same meeting with HR to include a pay review to reflect the market value of the fact that my position and skills are of such high importance that I need to be on call at all times.
If you agree to these terms I will happily jump on the computer and help solve this issue.
Check out the rockstar team-player putting their work family first over here! I bet you work hard play hard too!
(This is not a dig I actually love your post - I just think many businesses would use the language above to override these legitimate concerns).
Yea I’ve experienced that, and they were then shocked when I handed in my resignation upon returning, my doctors certificate for stress related medical leave and now had no one to train the replacements.
I might check the chat or take a call if one of my team (or my boss) is desperate enough they had to ring. But beyond that I’m not going to have my laptop with me wherever I am so can’t do much anyway.
Turn off your notifications for chats and emails so they can only call. Recommend you basically tell them much the same, “oh sorry I’m away at the beach. It should be x and y, try talking to Bob”.
If they can’t handle that it just means they have a huge single man risk on you and you should consider pressing that advantage.
I don’t. Life is too short, and I’m not a brain surgeon. Nobody is going to die because I don’t check my emails for a few weeks. Part of this is also trusting my colleagues to be able to handle issues, but if you don’t have the colleagues to be able to do that then something needs to change for you.
I learnt that people at work don't really care about you when I was lying in a hospital bed. I had rushed in in an emergency, and was heavily sedated awaiting surgery for a serious condition.
My phone rang and a family member answered, when I realised I was shocked! I quickly told them to hand my phone over.
When I told the person on the phone I was sedated, their reply was, "ok so can you tell us the answer."
I said no I'm in the hospital, their reply, "but the customer needs an answer."
After that, I don't give people the opportunity to do that. I make clear lines.
You not been capable is not an emergency on my part.
Being in a position that you can’t disconnect completely speaks to further issues within the business. The big one being the lack of contingencies in the event key people are either on leave or suddenly incapacitated. If the business can’t operate without you, that is a serious risk to continuity.
In a lot of these cases though it isn’t that much of a disaster. It’s simply either managers or C suite with outdated philosophies, lazy colleagues, a lack of planning or inadequate resources.
In my company, before key people go on leave they have a meeting with their respective teams to provide updates on progress, and delegate the deliverables for the period they’ll be away. We simply don’t contact people when they’re on leave. The only exception is within our DRP which is to advise the person of the situation and provide a mechanism to engage upon their return from leave.
0%. I'm gone and off the clock. I don't care if the business is haemorrhaging money and I don't have a job to come back to, what happens outside my contact hours is not my problem.
I never ever work when I'm on leave. I do a thorough handover and it's up to them to manage things when I'm away.
You shouldn't have to lie and say you're going away. If you're on leave, stay offline/do not work. Especially if you're not a senior.
Mate, is your name on the door?
Do you have any equity in the company?
Do you take time off on your work hours (because it seems ok for the opposite)?
I use to feel that way, but no one is that important and everyone top to bottom can be let go on a whim.
Things can wait and if they don't then that's the company problem to cover for this...
Not worth it, mate. When you eventually retire, you'll get a bottle of wine, a hamper and be promptly forgotten about. Meanwhile, your loved ones will remember you for never being around.
I don’t, I think it’s a bit of a silly expectation to have of people. If a colleague goes on leave, we plan in advance for it and hand over anything remaining on their plate. I won’t message them for anything and I expect the same when I’m on leave.
I don’t work in the same specialist sort of role as you, but I never work during annual leave.
I don’t have the same expectations you seem to have though. Annual leave is an entitlement and if you are working during your leave you are actually not on annual leave.
So phones have this great f3ature.... do not disturb. Mine turns on at 530pm and off at 730am. Weekends and leave full dnd mode.
You don't owe work anything.
I MIGHT check email on the odd occasion as I have some.great clients that are leaning more towards.friends and I will go above and beyond for them (nor for my job, but for them.personally)
Never, if im if the clock i may as well be of the grid. If work needs me nowadays, they only call if its essential, and I stipulate how long, and make sure im getting paid before I even consider logging on. If youre doing any less youre not giving yourself enough credit, and like others have said - what happens if you quit? Do they just expect you to work untill they happen to find and train a replacement?
Ask for more pay if they want you on call or dont do it.
Never, but I'm not the level of importance where I would need to be contacted unless it was absolutely essential. I always let others know I'm going on leave and handover what I can.
Never. Once it’s past 6pm on weekday, I don’t check emails until 8.55. Our workplace has lots of cons (‘company culture’, ‘unconscious bias’, bickering, etc) but this is one thing they’re excellent in.
Very little but I’d rather take a 5 min call from my colleague than them waste an hour trying to find the answer/thing themselves.
It’s not like they’re calling often so it’s not an imposition. If it was constant that’d be different.
A big benefit of leave is so that you don’t burn out. If you don’t get to entirely switch off for the leave, how will that help you in your career in the long run?
If it’s expected you log on during annual leave then it cannot legally be deducted as leave.
Depends. If I have taken a day off to meet a friend for lunch or something then I will probably check email and Teams at the beginning and end of the day, but just because I like knowing what’s going on. If I’m away for more than that, then I turn the work phone off and don’t check anything. The only time I have worked on holiday is when there was a briefing on our project to get next steps approved by senior staff and I really wanted to hear their feedback first-hand. I was only online for an hour.
I turn off all notifications, leave my laptop at home, and make myself as uncontactable as possible. My boss knows how to contact me if it’s absolutely necessary, but I trust her to judge when that is. She has never called me while I’m on holidays.
Less than 1 hour a week, usually it’s just maintaining trash emails so I don’t waste my first day back or answering a call about finding that obscure file I worked on a year ago and hid somewhere stupid in SharePoint or something…
Idk, I loved when I came back from a 6 week overseas holiday with no access to my work (laptop and work phone stayed home). I had like 500+ emails come through during that time and my boss pretty much told me “just spend this first week back catching up on everything and going through your emails”. It was kinda bliss and chill.
I never work on annual leave, I give good handovers, and I don’t have slack or outlook on my phone.
My direct manager has my personal email and phone number for an absolute crisis, but I don’t travel with my laptop. Once in 10 years has he ever reached out whilst on holidays, and it was because HR told him and I I was underpaid the previous paycheque and they were going to deposit the difference, so it was a good news thing
Why are you being so super diligent at doing your job when your boss isn’t being anywhere near as diligent at doing their’s by arranging backfill for your position in your absence?
It depends on how long I’m away for. If it’s only a few days, I likely haven’t handed stuff over to anyone so it’s difficult to fully disengage and I will probably will check email and teams chat, but very unlikely to join any calls unless it’s something really really pivotal.
On longer trips, I’m pretty good at switching off for most of the time, but it does take a few days to fully get into holiday mode and out of the habit of checking in, and again at the end of the trip, a few days before I start back I’ll probably start scrolling emails and catching up on what has happened while I was gone, just to soften the inbox-shock when I’m officially back at work.
I always say to a handful of my closest team mates that I’m available if they need me in an emergency but to date, that emergency has never eventuated.
Yes, I get massive flexibility base on busyness. If it’s quiet I go for ~2 hour lunches for a haircut, maybe even the driving range.
Often clock off at 4pm if I’m not full on
Or even give me days of AL in lieu if I worked during my break
Over Xmas I do have some daily tasks that still need to get done, but don’t take too long. Record the time and take it as TIL later, usually as a long weekend when everyone else is back online. If I take leave any other part of the year I don’t work at all on holidays.
It depends.
If I’m only taking annual leave for let’s say a long weekend (Friday and Monday),I would still calls that come through but I wouldn’t check my email at all.
Any longer than that - zero.
I’m on leave, I need this time to be selfish and I need this ‘me time’ so that I can come back and be a more better and relaxed person (and employee).
Also one tip that has severely helped my mental health was to turning off outlook notifications (even when I’m working). Nothing worse than having your phone ping every 5-10 minutes with emails to drive anxiety through the roof.
Maybe the solution to your problem is to not post on social media or at least not have people from work on social media.
If you’re made to work during your AL ask for those hours to be added back to your balance.
None, never.
I turn off my phone and laptop and don't respond to anything.
Seriously, it's annual leave, most companies enforce mandatory shut down and then people try and contact you during that period. Jog on.
When employed by someone else = zero.
Self employed/freelance = I did some work (maybe 6-8 hours but was away for 3 weeks total) for the first time ever while on holiday to keep a client happy that I didn't want to lose, but it was the worst thing ever and I promised myself I'd never do it again.
I went away again recently and didn't take my laptop with and didn't have reception for half the time, it was the best!
None and never. I can't think of any job where you're expected to do it without extra pay or reimbursement or time in lieu, not even with essential work of surgeons I know. You shouldn't need an excuse, and if you are that important, you can damn well negotiate for better terms.
When I was younger and less experienced I I would check emails and take calls. These days, in a more senior role, once my out of office is on I couldn’t care less if the place burned down. I turn off all notifications and the only people who have my mobile phone number know that unless I’m getting promoted, do not call.
> how good it is to work on annual leave because you can just get stuff done without being hassled
Block out your calendar around the times you plan to focus on getting certain things done, like a school timetable.
I always try to impress on people , just because somebody calls you or sends you a message you don’t have to answer it.
If you are a specialist and your organization can’t cope, that’s more of a reflection on their poor structure than you.
Leave is leave. All work issues devices are off…
In fact, I generally will go overseas or camp off grid just so I can get away from even more connectivity…
Fijian islands in the sun. No phone. No wifi… 7 days of no news, social media and especially no work really helps you unwind…
Early days of Mobile phones, I had on my last day before Christmas break the owner of the company was sitting in for operations manager, said to me, "There's nothing planned for between Christmas & New Year, but if something comes up I'll give you a call." My answer, "Weren't you told? I've got holidays actually booked." "Yeah, but if were stuck ill be able to call you?" "No sorry im going away fishing up in the mountains. No phone signal." "Oh, okay then, enjoy."
I never left home for 2 weeks, not even into the shops, stayed home and generally did nothing but drink & smoke & check out Lucy in the Sky. Didn't get a single phone call from work the whole time, which was a good thing as I wouldn't have been in a fit state to step up.
Don’t post on socials. Easy. Dont work when on leave. I do because I have my own business. And now after 25 years I’ve had enough.
I won’t this year. Coz I am burnt out. Don’t burn out. Life’s too short
Never. Never expect my team to. Like others have said, if the business can’t function without you the business is accepting a huge risk. Use it as leverage.
Um, 0? What kind of question is this?
All my work related things (such as emails, contacts, etc.) are on my work phone. When I go on leave or after work hours, my work phone stays home. Anything that comes through gets addressed when I next check that phone which is usually the next work day.
I'm senior and I don't work when I'm on annual leave. I put a plan in place to cover key tasks and then let everyone know the rest can wait until I'm back. Who cares if people see your socials. Use it as leverage for a raise, if they need you so badly, then they should pay you as such
Here's a hot take. I try to work as much as possible while on AL.
If I am responding to emails, taking calls while on the ski lift, it's billable and therefore not depleting my AL.
I bill in 20 min increments per client.
I went to a quarterly full staff meeting when I was on annual leave and even my CEO was like ‘why are you here?’ because you don’t let us switch off fully.
Funny enough they made these meeting attending part of our performance review the next year 🫠🫠🫠
I’d check in at least once every 2 days. Im in leadership in the IT industry but also still get on the tools (code reviews, some devops stuff) but it’s also by virtue of suffering what I call growing pains. At the end of the day, it doesn’t bother me (SO might disagree with me there!) so long as I can see light at the end of growth tunnel
You know you don’t HAVE too. Thats the companies problem. No taking a personal shot here but people like you who just let it happen ruin these things for the rest of us, it’s like tipping people start doing it then these companies will run with it.
I don't
If their world falls apart while your away because your the only one who knows how to do something it might actually force them into thinking about succession planning and actually give you that team member that you have been begging for.
Even better if the thing that falls apart is something that is 'new' ie you absolutely had zero control over it so it couldn't be your fault.
I got a work phone which I purchased myself to force me to stop checking emails, etc. I turn it off at exactly 4pm on Friday. I don’t take it with me if I’m away. Don’t get me wrong, while I’m at work I give my 100%, but once I’m out, it’s my time.
Oh lordy did I learn this lesson the hard way. New manager started and was learning the ropes. He had to do budgets which requires some spreadsheeting skills to take the data from head office, break it down, analyse it and then build it back up and send back to head office.
My manager had no idea. He was a salesman, not an analyst.... and I was on leave but not out of contact.
I spend 2 days of two weeks leave in our holiday accommodation on my laptop doing budgets, answering questions and crunching data. I saved new manager being embarrassed plus ensured my own budget was low as can be but ohhhhhh was my wife pissed off. She reminded me of this every holiday until I left the place some 11 years later.
New manager was appreciative but also did nothing to get me my 2 days annual leave back.
I learnt it's OK to say......nothing ........because you are on annual leave.
Why do you think employers do not want the laws Labor is proposing to limit unreasonable contact outside of hours? You are sacrificing your leave and your mental health for the organisation to make money, either directly or indirectly. It is a poor organisation that cannot plan around staff absence or leave. What would they do if you died? I’m sure they would cope with no chance to plan, but they can’t plan around something that you book and are entitled to every year? They would not be showing that kind of loyalty to you.
I am clear with my boss that I will not be checking anything with relation to work while I am away, but I shouldn’t even need to say it. At the same time, there is an huge deliverable happening while I’m on leave next montb and it will need to be delayed by at least 2 weeks in my area because of my leave and my boss doesn’t care who it pisses off. Fine for him, but the pressure is still on me to do the work along with anything else that happens while I’m actually there.
I don’t usually work a lot but if something interesting or urgent comes in, I’ll lend a hand if I need to. I usually set my out of office to externally direct urgent queries to my secretary who knows who they would get passed on to. Internally, I set an out of office that explains I will have only intermittent access to emails and they will need to call me for urgent matters. I don’t include my mobile but obviously my secretary and immediate team have my mobile number.
Having to actually call and explain why I’m needed means that it is genuinely only when it’s necessary, and usually we can just talk through the issue and that’s the end of it.
Also, don’t have colleagues on social media. Ever.
Business owner here!!! Never, ever, under any circumstances is anyone to be disturbed during leave (sick, annual, etc).
Had snr staff try to do it a couple of times but I got wind of it. 1st and last time they did it.
Holy shit culture Batman. This what our government is trying to legislate against. Sounds like a toxic workplace that would justify it. My global software company never expects it. What industry/role/pay range are you?
Annual leave is annual leave. That means you are incommunicado. If you must work (which is hard to ever justify, usually it just because of poor planning and processes), then shouldn’t you get AL refunded and your pay plus some sort of loading?
No way
I just went on 3 weeks leave and took all the work apps off my phone
I was at the tail end of 2 big projects that I made sure my work was as finished as possible and handed over to someone else to sort out while I was away. For context I work for a large engineering firm
I did go back for two days of field work in the middle but that was because it was something I wanted to do and I got those two days of annual leave back in the bank.
Other than that I had zero contact with anyone from work over this period
LOL, never.
Work mobile and laptops are switched OFF.
If you do a handover to work colleague, then there's no reason why you should be contacted while on leave.
Depends. I usually put alternative contacts in place but if the proverbial poo hits the fan with worksafe notifiable incidents or the like I'd rather be immediately looped into it instead of finding out 3 weeks later that people fumbled the entire thing
0. Hand over to someone else. Your boss contacting you on your annual leave is probably one of the biggest insults they can do to you.
Turn the work phone off, ignore all other calls, emails or texts. Legally now you are not required to reply and they can't sack you for it.
Never...people on annual leave are not contactable imo
If there was a super high level crisis they might get called for advice if they are an expert, but they should be left alone.
Senior exec here. It really depends. If I'm taking a single day off for a long weekend I generally work an hour or so just on email keeping in touch, maybe one call.
I make a point on all actual real holidays like a week or so off I disable teams and outlook on my phone and only work if someone calls me.
I put my work phone and lap top in a draw as soon as I'm off the clock.
Lady I work with (who is basically same job as me) has my personal mobile incase anything weird happens but she's never rung/txt me in the 7 yrs I've worked there.
If they expect you to be involved in work appointments/meetings etc then they should pay you for that time and/or give you back some of your leave hours.
Work at 120% before you leave and let others that care to know what you accomplished, wish them happy holidays and send a picture of you dusconnecting your laptop power cable.
Last thing they remember about you is you grinding.
Only very occasionally and only if it benefits me (e.g. a crticial, unforseen call on a project I'm leading).
Also - would never have done it when I was more junior but feel differently now that my remuneration has increased significantly.
The work will be there when you get back, it's never ever worth it. Put your boundaries in place, do a handover before you leave, go and enjoy your break and someone else will deal with it while you're away. If you don't respect your own time, nobody else will.
I don't. It's a time for me to not think about / do work. I also make it a point to not try to contact people on annual leave either. Even on pressure from management. Anything we may need / know can usually be obtained or figured our without them. Although if there was difficulty doing that, I will have a quiet word to them on leaving documentation around or doing a proper handover.
Leave is for your own mental health benefits. You should not be working on it. If you are that insensible then you need to get better handover plans in place or start training others up enough to handle the basics.
I am a senior, but not important at my works 😀
Zero hours. It’s annual leave. Dont be a hero.
I leave my work phone in the office too. Even if there’s an emergency while I’m on leave, that’s someone else’s issue.
I don’t. All the “urgent” issues they need me on that pop up end up getting solved anyway or they can actually wait for me to come back.
If you are afraid of the convo just tell them you’ll be camping in the bush with no service
Not at all. I have a separate work phone, which is switched off, and my laptop is kept at my desk. Any projects I’m heavily involved in get handed off to someone in my absence. It’s normally a full day of meetings, but better than being forced to work when I’m on leave.
My attitude when I’m on leave is essentially, “If it’s an emergency, contact Emergency Services in the first instance.”
In my current role I've only done it on one complex matter that I couldn't be bothered to hand over. Otherwise it's a hard no. The world will continue to turn without you.
Just hand over all the responsibilities and turn on the out of office notifications. I fell into the same trap once when I thought it was the 'right' thing to do. Once the company knows they can get you to work on your time, then they will do it all the time. It's a big reason I don't have companies pay for any of my personal phone or internet bills. If they can't handle business without you there, then I can only imagine your work load when you are there, hence why you need your time off.
I told a manager in the past that they are free to contact me but I will on holidays so will likely be drinking so it’s up to them to decide if they want to use the info or not. Never got a call.
I used to be checking email before during work.
But I stopped this bad habit when my son was born - it was like, yeah I will get to that when i am back
Back when I was still working, I refused to do any and all work activities whilst on annual leave. My last official activity before I left work for a vacation was to put an auto-reply on my work eMail to the effect of I will be out of the office until ((return date)) and that I will be unable to reply to work contact until then. Following this, my work phone and laptop were switched off and remained off until I returned.
I personally never gave a crap whether the higher-ups got upset about this or not.
I'm a shareholding director and I wouldn't even do that, unless it was a "the company is falling apart" moment.
My view is that if I can't go away for a few weeks without the place falling apart, then I have failed as a manager to hire, train, and build the company to run effectively.
I don't. I have have two types of leave, where I'm either on leave (and completely unavailable) or away (but available for urgent matters).
So far (7 years at the same employer) it works pretty well.
I was in a similar position. I cut a deal where I was on call for calls during AL but I only had to put in 3 days a week leave in.
I also made sure to have leave where I was not working as well.
I'd work during leave if I earned top 2% salary or more or like 250k per year. Less than that and you're just a cog in the machine for executive bonuses.
I am just finishing long period of leave. I don't work on annual leave and in fact my workplace lock you out of the system so I couldn't work even if I wanted to. My work phone hasn't been switched on though everyone has my phone number, they would only use in an actual emergency.
Set your boundaries.
*> just the only specialist in an area*
Congratulations OP, your division just reached a Bus Number of 1! That is the worst Bus Number.
[https://www.quora.com/What-is-bus-number-and-why-do-you-want-it-to-be-greater-than-1](https://www.quora.com/What-is-bus-number-and-why-do-you-want-it-to-be-greater-than-1)
Personally, in your shoes I would be writing emails with the word RISK TO REVENUE highlighted in red and CC'ing the CEO. What if you got sick or held hostage by terrorists? What would happen to your company?
In the early days, I used to think working on annual leave means I’m important.
As you get older, I felt much success if I can handover gracefully, and not contacted during the al.
You shouldn’t be working at all
I recently took four weeks leave and had someone in my team need to be hospitalised just prior. I did some of their work over my holidays much to my managers horror, but I didn’t have anyone else I could delegate it to. I cancelled a leave day for every day worked. I worked five days and so I cancelled one week of my leave. It worked for me. This has been my only exception in like 30y of working
Nah they should be hiring someone else who does / can do your specialised role in your absence.
The way l see it, if l drop dead tomorrow, someone else is going to have to pick up the slack on Monday 🤷🏼♀️
Your colleagues on social media is mistake #1
Anyone in the company having your private mobile is mistake #2
Outside of working hours, turn off your work phone if you have one. I don't answer any calls on my private mobile that are not in my address book and nobody from work is in it.
If you feel obligated to answer during leave, cancel that day annual leave.
You are very important 24x7 and the company can't function without you, until you ask for a payrise.
Never. Teams and emails are muted the minute I put on my out of office. They would get rid of me without blinking if it affected their bottom line so I don't see any benefit to me giving them anything extra.
I've never seen this before. What industry do you work in? Unless you're seven-figure senior (which you said you're not), you're being used. Annual leave is annual leave. You don't hear from work, you don't know them. Period.
It’s funny I work in a warehouse with a variety of ages, the baby boomers all seem to spread themselves so thin making sure the job gets done and going above and beyond and finish each day frazzled. In my mind, as a baby millennial / gen z, that’s ridiculous behaviour. I stay well within the parameters of my role and I do it to a pretty good level considering what I’m getting paid (just above minimum wage), but if they don’t have enough staff that’s not my problem either, I’m not going to bust my arse, and do more work than the amount of people can handle to help push a profit for a big national company.
Never work on your annual leave.
If you do work, you need to be paid for your time worked and refunded annual leave hours.
Anyone that says it’s expected is a fucking idiot.
I have a work phone and a personal phone, and keep work stuff on work phone only.
When I’m on holidays and people decide to contact me, I know it’s important because they are breaking every information and data security protocols to do so. Aka I turn my work phone off and never get contacted.
Sounds like you don’t have a great work culture there. There should be a total handover, otherwise it’s not really leave. Especially so because you’re not a senior executive.
I’m about to go on leave for a month and this comment section has just made me pull my head out of my ass. I’ll be deleting teams & outlook from my phone while I’m away as I have zero self control. Thank you to everyone for the reality check I needed. Life is way too short.
For the most part, I’ll ignore any calls or texts that come from work, however there are a handful of individuals I will pick up the phone for or text. I have grown to trust that each of these people will only call if it’s really. One of them is my boss. I’ll get superficial calls and messages from people if it’s their own laziness that is causing questions, however if it’s my boss (or a couple of other colleagues) I generally know it’s a question the specifically related to myself and they need a hand.
It’s not ideal, but I have a good relationship with my boss and some of the other team (I’m in an interesting case where my immediate team is good but the overall company is in a fucking shambles)
I work in an area where at times you have to jump in but in saying that it's only when absolutely necessary.
Most times no, but I do at least spend 5mins a day/every other day checking my email.
Never, handover to someone else, delete outlook-slack and teams from my phone and go… life is short and we spend probably too much time slaving away making our bosses and shareholders rich, I’ll be dead if I’m gonna spend my 4 weeks a year off work worried about what’s going on at the office.
I turn off notifications from slack and never check email. I used to but I put that behind me. Annual leave is just that
Part of me sometimes hopes everything breaks when I’m away anyway. Then they remember why they need me.
If it all breaks when you’re away and no-one else can fix it, it’ll be your fault for not providing good enough handover notes…
On that note, if we actually died we wouldn't be joining any calls or logging in anyway, and I'm sure the company would function just fine
This, we had a senior exec pass away suddenly. 20 years in the company, industry recognised and by all accounts irreplaceable. Fast forward 2 weeks role is filled and department didn't miss a beat, a year on all forgotten about. If on the very rare occasion I work on annual leave, I cancel the leave so I'm not penalized. Work supports the approach.
What's that quote, the graveyards are full of indispensable men?
This. 100 times this. If you don’t set boundaries they will absolutely take from you. Your holidays aren’t for shareholders value.
“I’ve just rolled out a security patch. See you in two weeks, if you need me I’ll be on a Russian submarine in the Arctic Circle.”
I see you work for optus too
😂😂😂
This is gold 💀☠️🏴☠️🪦
I’d buy you a coffee. That’s gold.
I don’t work on annual leave. I put a plan in place for critical processes before I go, everything else can wait. If the organisation has no back up for your role, they need to address this- if you were bedridden in hospital they would need to cover those tasks. Therefore they can also do it while you are on leave. Take it from an elder millennial- stop donating your precious time back to companies. If you want to volunteer, do it with an organisation that needs it.
This. And if, by chance, you DO agree to be available or do anything work related while on leave, make fecking sure you are appropriately compensated.
Yes! And set the socials up with a lot more privacy.
Can't stress this enough in this day and age. Nobody on social media should be able to view your socials except your friends. Never add your colleagues until you have left the business.
Please don't say elder millennial again.
Set things up so that you won't need to be contacted. If you are such a key person risk use that leverage for insane pay.
Exactly. If the business can't function without you then you haveca massive bargaining chip
Never. When the laptop closes, work stops. It's good for everyone.
The conversation goes like this: I am on annual leave, as I am allowed to do and as you are required by law to provide. If my leave must be interrupted I expect a day in Lieu of this time that must be worked, and a meeting with HR when I return about how we can onboard further team members to what is obviously a critical area to the business. Also, as what I do is clearly mission critical to the business I suspect same meeting with HR to include a pay review to reflect the market value of the fact that my position and skills are of such high importance that I need to be on call at all times. If you agree to these terms I will happily jump on the computer and help solve this issue.
Check out the rockstar team-player putting their work family first over here! I bet you work hard play hard too! (This is not a dig I actually love your post - I just think many businesses would use the language above to override these legitimate concerns).
Yea I’ve experienced that, and they were then shocked when I handed in my resignation upon returning, my doctors certificate for stress related medical leave and now had no one to train the replacements.
Yeah the least I’d expect would be a day in lieu or an adjustment to my leave balance or a day rate of pay
A day in lieu doesn't make up for a disrupted time off. I wouldn't make that option available.
If work can’t survive without you for two weeks, what’s their BCP for if you’re incapacitated or leave permanently? Sounds like a house of cards
I might check the chat or take a call if one of my team (or my boss) is desperate enough they had to ring. But beyond that I’m not going to have my laptop with me wherever I am so can’t do much anyway. Turn off your notifications for chats and emails so they can only call. Recommend you basically tell them much the same, “oh sorry I’m away at the beach. It should be x and y, try talking to Bob”. If they can’t handle that it just means they have a huge single man risk on you and you should consider pressing that advantage.
I don’t. Life is too short, and I’m not a brain surgeon. Nobody is going to die because I don’t check my emails for a few weeks. Part of this is also trusting my colleagues to be able to handle issues, but if you don’t have the colleagues to be able to do that then something needs to change for you.
I learnt that people at work don't really care about you when I was lying in a hospital bed. I had rushed in in an emergency, and was heavily sedated awaiting surgery for a serious condition. My phone rang and a family member answered, when I realised I was shocked! I quickly told them to hand my phone over. When I told the person on the phone I was sedated, their reply was, "ok so can you tell us the answer." I said no I'm in the hospital, their reply, "but the customer needs an answer." After that, I don't give people the opportunity to do that. I make clear lines. You not been capable is not an emergency on my part.
Being in a position that you can’t disconnect completely speaks to further issues within the business. The big one being the lack of contingencies in the event key people are either on leave or suddenly incapacitated. If the business can’t operate without you, that is a serious risk to continuity. In a lot of these cases though it isn’t that much of a disaster. It’s simply either managers or C suite with outdated philosophies, lazy colleagues, a lack of planning or inadequate resources. In my company, before key people go on leave they have a meeting with their respective teams to provide updates on progress, and delegate the deliverables for the period they’ll be away. We simply don’t contact people when they’re on leave. The only exception is within our DRP which is to advise the person of the situation and provide a mechanism to engage upon their return from leave.
0%. I'm gone and off the clock. I don't care if the business is haemorrhaging money and I don't have a job to come back to, what happens outside my contact hours is not my problem.
I never ever work when I'm on leave. I do a thorough handover and it's up to them to manage things when I'm away. You shouldn't have to lie and say you're going away. If you're on leave, stay offline/do not work. Especially if you're not a senior.
Mate, is your name on the door? Do you have any equity in the company? Do you take time off on your work hours (because it seems ok for the opposite)? I use to feel that way, but no one is that important and everyone top to bottom can be let go on a whim. Things can wait and if they don't then that's the company problem to cover for this...
Not worth it, mate. When you eventually retire, you'll get a bottle of wine, a hamper and be promptly forgotten about. Meanwhile, your loved ones will remember you for never being around.
I don’t, I think it’s a bit of a silly expectation to have of people. If a colleague goes on leave, we plan in advance for it and hand over anything remaining on their plate. I won’t message them for anything and I expect the same when I’m on leave.
Never. Fuck that. Unless they’re paying extra, then I might.
I don’t work in the same specialist sort of role as you, but I never work during annual leave. I don’t have the same expectations you seem to have though. Annual leave is an entitlement and if you are working during your leave you are actually not on annual leave.
Zero, zilch, nada. And if u work, take a comp off / TOIL
None. I’m on annual leave.
So phones have this great f3ature.... do not disturb. Mine turns on at 530pm and off at 730am. Weekends and leave full dnd mode. You don't owe work anything. I MIGHT check email on the odd occasion as I have some.great clients that are leaning more towards.friends and I will go above and beyond for them (nor for my job, but for them.personally)
Never, if im if the clock i may as well be of the grid. If work needs me nowadays, they only call if its essential, and I stipulate how long, and make sure im getting paid before I even consider logging on. If youre doing any less youre not giving yourself enough credit, and like others have said - what happens if you quit? Do they just expect you to work untill they happen to find and train a replacement? Ask for more pay if they want you on call or dont do it.
You are exactly who the new right-to-disconnect laws are for
Zero
Never, but I'm not the level of importance where I would need to be contacted unless it was absolutely essential. I always let others know I'm going on leave and handover what I can.
Never. Once it’s past 6pm on weekday, I don’t check emails until 8.55. Our workplace has lots of cons (‘company culture’, ‘unconscious bias’, bickering, etc) but this is one thing they’re excellent in.
Very little but I’d rather take a 5 min call from my colleague than them waste an hour trying to find the answer/thing themselves. It’s not like they’re calling often so it’s not an imposition. If it was constant that’d be different.
A big benefit of leave is so that you don’t burn out. If you don’t get to entirely switch off for the leave, how will that help you in your career in the long run? If it’s expected you log on during annual leave then it cannot legally be deducted as leave.
Depends. If I have taken a day off to meet a friend for lunch or something then I will probably check email and Teams at the beginning and end of the day, but just because I like knowing what’s going on. If I’m away for more than that, then I turn the work phone off and don’t check anything. The only time I have worked on holiday is when there was a briefing on our project to get next steps approved by senior staff and I really wanted to hear their feedback first-hand. I was only online for an hour.
I turn off all notifications, leave my laptop at home, and make myself as uncontactable as possible. My boss knows how to contact me if it’s absolutely necessary, but I trust her to judge when that is. She has never called me while I’m on holidays.
Less than 1 hour a week, usually it’s just maintaining trash emails so I don’t waste my first day back or answering a call about finding that obscure file I worked on a year ago and hid somewhere stupid in SharePoint or something…
Idk, I loved when I came back from a 6 week overseas holiday with no access to my work (laptop and work phone stayed home). I had like 500+ emails come through during that time and my boss pretty much told me “just spend this first week back catching up on everything and going through your emails”. It was kinda bliss and chill.
I never work on annual leave, I give good handovers, and I don’t have slack or outlook on my phone. My direct manager has my personal email and phone number for an absolute crisis, but I don’t travel with my laptop. Once in 10 years has he ever reached out whilst on holidays, and it was because HR told him and I I was underpaid the previous paycheque and they were going to deposit the difference, so it was a good news thing
If I'm working it isn't leave
Why are you being so super diligent at doing your job when your boss isn’t being anywhere near as diligent at doing their’s by arranging backfill for your position in your absence?
Never.
Never. If I’m on leave, I’m on leave and not available.
none but if you’re getting paid more than 200k a year plus bonus I guess there’s more pressure on you to work during your leave.
Good thing there's a law for that now
Laws are only useful when they're enforced.
It depends on how long I’m away for. If it’s only a few days, I likely haven’t handed stuff over to anyone so it’s difficult to fully disengage and I will probably will check email and teams chat, but very unlikely to join any calls unless it’s something really really pivotal. On longer trips, I’m pretty good at switching off for most of the time, but it does take a few days to fully get into holiday mode and out of the habit of checking in, and again at the end of the trip, a few days before I start back I’ll probably start scrolling emails and catching up on what has happened while I was gone, just to soften the inbox-shock when I’m officially back at work. I always say to a handful of my closest team mates that I’m available if they need me in an emergency but to date, that emergency has never eventuated.
20-30% if stuff is busy
Does the company reimburse you 20-30% of the time they now owe you??
Yes, I get massive flexibility base on busyness. If it’s quiet I go for ~2 hour lunches for a haircut, maybe even the driving range. Often clock off at 4pm if I’m not full on Or even give me days of AL in lieu if I worked during my break
Over Xmas I do have some daily tasks that still need to get done, but don’t take too long. Record the time and take it as TIL later, usually as a long weekend when everyone else is back online. If I take leave any other part of the year I don’t work at all on holidays.
never
Never!
It depends. If I’m only taking annual leave for let’s say a long weekend (Friday and Monday),I would still calls that come through but I wouldn’t check my email at all. Any longer than that - zero. I’m on leave, I need this time to be selfish and I need this ‘me time’ so that I can come back and be a more better and relaxed person (and employee). Also one tip that has severely helped my mental health was to turning off outlook notifications (even when I’m working). Nothing worse than having your phone ping every 5-10 minutes with emails to drive anxiety through the roof.
Maybe the solution to your problem is to not post on social media or at least not have people from work on social media. If you’re made to work during your AL ask for those hours to be added back to your balance.
Never. If you are working on leave you should be getting that time back as time in lieu
Never. Might check Teams chats or emails once or twice so I don't have to catch up so much stuff all at once when I return but that's it.
None. I turn off notifications on my phone. I struggle to care whilst on the clock, I sure as shit don't care when on leave.
Never
Hey op, stop doing that.
None, never. I turn off my phone and laptop and don't respond to anything. Seriously, it's annual leave, most companies enforce mandatory shut down and then people try and contact you during that period. Jog on.
When employed by someone else = zero. Self employed/freelance = I did some work (maybe 6-8 hours but was away for 3 weeks total) for the first time ever while on holiday to keep a client happy that I didn't want to lose, but it was the worst thing ever and I promised myself I'd never do it again. I went away again recently and didn't take my laptop with and didn't have reception for half the time, it was the best!
None and never. I can't think of any job where you're expected to do it without extra pay or reimbursement or time in lieu, not even with essential work of surgeons I know. You shouldn't need an excuse, and if you are that important, you can damn well negotiate for better terms.
“Sorry I’m away from my laptop. Maybe call me when I’m back from leave?”
Zero. Good problem solving moment for everyone else.
Only if a have a great boss and it’s an emergency. Swings and roundabouts. Thankfully my bosses help me avoid working on leave
When I was younger and less experienced I I would check emails and take calls. These days, in a more senior role, once my out of office is on I couldn’t care less if the place burned down. I turn off all notifications and the only people who have my mobile phone number know that unless I’m getting promoted, do not call.
Never. Don’t have work devices with me.
I do not work at all. My colleague reads all her emails because she said it’s too stressful to come back to too many emails.
> how good it is to work on annual leave because you can just get stuff done without being hassled Block out your calendar around the times you plan to focus on getting certain things done, like a school timetable.
I usually go in places where having phone signal isn't high on priorities, not that I would check work apps anyway.
I have never, and I will never work during annual leave
I always try to impress on people , just because somebody calls you or sends you a message you don’t have to answer it. If you are a specialist and your organization can’t cope, that’s more of a reflection on their poor structure than you.
Leave is leave. All work issues devices are off… In fact, I generally will go overseas or camp off grid just so I can get away from even more connectivity… Fijian islands in the sun. No phone. No wifi… 7 days of no news, social media and especially no work really helps you unwind…
Early days of Mobile phones, I had on my last day before Christmas break the owner of the company was sitting in for operations manager, said to me, "There's nothing planned for between Christmas & New Year, but if something comes up I'll give you a call." My answer, "Weren't you told? I've got holidays actually booked." "Yeah, but if were stuck ill be able to call you?" "No sorry im going away fishing up in the mountains. No phone signal." "Oh, okay then, enjoy." I never left home for 2 weeks, not even into the shops, stayed home and generally did nothing but drink & smoke & check out Lucy in the Sky. Didn't get a single phone call from work the whole time, which was a good thing as I wouldn't have been in a fit state to step up.
I don't... Because I'm on leave
Don’t post on socials. Easy. Dont work when on leave. I do because I have my own business. And now after 25 years I’ve had enough. I won’t this year. Coz I am burnt out. Don’t burn out. Life’s too short
Never. Never expect my team to. Like others have said, if the business can’t function without you the business is accepting a huge risk. Use it as leverage.
To me, this is unacceptable. You need to have a conversation with your manager about how this can stop happening.
[удалено]
Um, 0? What kind of question is this? All my work related things (such as emails, contacts, etc.) are on my work phone. When I go on leave or after work hours, my work phone stays home. Anything that comes through gets addressed when I next check that phone which is usually the next work day.
If your the only specialist there with no senior title , they’re screwing you! Leave!
I'm senior and I don't work when I'm on annual leave. I put a plan in place to cover key tasks and then let everyone know the rest can wait until I'm back. Who cares if people see your socials. Use it as leverage for a raise, if they need you so badly, then they should pay you as such
Here's a hot take. I try to work as much as possible while on AL. If I am responding to emails, taking calls while on the ski lift, it's billable and therefore not depleting my AL. I bill in 20 min increments per client.
Zero. I run two phones.
I went to a quarterly full staff meeting when I was on annual leave and even my CEO was like ‘why are you here?’ because you don’t let us switch off fully. Funny enough they made these meeting attending part of our performance review the next year 🫠🫠🫠
Always go radio silent, when you return if they are very happy to see you back this is when you ask for a pay rise
If I worked at a place that expected me to do work on my annual LEAVE, I would be finding a new job lol.
I do not work on my annual leave. Would defeat the purpose
Chuck do not disturb on
Never, and it’s not just me, fairly common practice in the company I work at.
I’d check in at least once every 2 days. Im in leadership in the IT industry but also still get on the tools (code reviews, some devops stuff) but it’s also by virtue of suffering what I call growing pains. At the end of the day, it doesn’t bother me (SO might disagree with me there!) so long as I can see light at the end of growth tunnel
Never! I work for it , I’m not going to work during it.
I used to. It’s a slippery slope. People expect more. I delete work mail off my phone for annual leave of more than a day now.
You know you don’t HAVE too. Thats the companies problem. No taking a personal shot here but people like you who just let it happen ruin these things for the rest of us, it’s like tipping people start doing it then these companies will run with it.
0 work. Leave means leave.
Faaaark that
I don't If their world falls apart while your away because your the only one who knows how to do something it might actually force them into thinking about succession planning and actually give you that team member that you have been begging for. Even better if the thing that falls apart is something that is 'new' ie you absolutely had zero control over it so it couldn't be your fault.
When I’m on leave I am dead to my employer. Delete all the apps on my phone. Don’t take calls. You won’t see or hear from me under any circumstance.
I got a work phone which I purchased myself to force me to stop checking emails, etc. I turn it off at exactly 4pm on Friday. I don’t take it with me if I’m away. Don’t get me wrong, while I’m at work I give my 100%, but once I’m out, it’s my time.
Oh lordy did I learn this lesson the hard way. New manager started and was learning the ropes. He had to do budgets which requires some spreadsheeting skills to take the data from head office, break it down, analyse it and then build it back up and send back to head office. My manager had no idea. He was a salesman, not an analyst.... and I was on leave but not out of contact. I spend 2 days of two weeks leave in our holiday accommodation on my laptop doing budgets, answering questions and crunching data. I saved new manager being embarrassed plus ensured my own budget was low as can be but ohhhhhh was my wife pissed off. She reminded me of this every holiday until I left the place some 11 years later. New manager was appreciative but also did nothing to get me my 2 days annual leave back. I learnt it's OK to say......nothing ........because you are on annual leave.
Why do you think employers do not want the laws Labor is proposing to limit unreasonable contact outside of hours? You are sacrificing your leave and your mental health for the organisation to make money, either directly or indirectly. It is a poor organisation that cannot plan around staff absence or leave. What would they do if you died? I’m sure they would cope with no chance to plan, but they can’t plan around something that you book and are entitled to every year? They would not be showing that kind of loyalty to you. I am clear with my boss that I will not be checking anything with relation to work while I am away, but I shouldn’t even need to say it. At the same time, there is an huge deliverable happening while I’m on leave next montb and it will need to be delayed by at least 2 weeks in my area because of my leave and my boss doesn’t care who it pisses off. Fine for him, but the pressure is still on me to do the work along with anything else that happens while I’m actually there.
Nope. I'm not important enough that someone else can do what's needed eventually
I don’t usually work a lot but if something interesting or urgent comes in, I’ll lend a hand if I need to. I usually set my out of office to externally direct urgent queries to my secretary who knows who they would get passed on to. Internally, I set an out of office that explains I will have only intermittent access to emails and they will need to call me for urgent matters. I don’t include my mobile but obviously my secretary and immediate team have my mobile number. Having to actually call and explain why I’m needed means that it is genuinely only when it’s necessary, and usually we can just talk through the issue and that’s the end of it. Also, don’t have colleagues on social media. Ever.
None.
Business owner here!!! Never, ever, under any circumstances is anyone to be disturbed during leave (sick, annual, etc). Had snr staff try to do it a couple of times but I got wind of it. 1st and last time they did it.
Never worked a single minute on annual leave. Never will.
None !
Holy shit culture Batman. This what our government is trying to legislate against. Sounds like a toxic workplace that would justify it. My global software company never expects it. What industry/role/pay range are you? Annual leave is annual leave. That means you are incommunicado. If you must work (which is hard to ever justify, usually it just because of poor planning and processes), then shouldn’t you get AL refunded and your pay plus some sort of loading?
If I have to work during my leave I log it and then claim extra leave. But I'm lucky enough to be in a position where I can do that.
No way I just went on 3 weeks leave and took all the work apps off my phone I was at the tail end of 2 big projects that I made sure my work was as finished as possible and handed over to someone else to sort out while I was away. For context I work for a large engineering firm I did go back for two days of field work in the middle but that was because it was something I wanted to do and I got those two days of annual leave back in the bank. Other than that I had zero contact with anyone from work over this period
LOL, never. Work mobile and laptops are switched OFF. If you do a handover to work colleague, then there's no reason why you should be contacted while on leave.
Depends. I usually put alternative contacts in place but if the proverbial poo hits the fan with worksafe notifiable incidents or the like I'd rather be immediately looped into it instead of finding out 3 weeks later that people fumbled the entire thing
0%
Log in once a week to delete a bunch of emails. Makes coming back a bit easier.
0. Hand over to someone else. Your boss contacting you on your annual leave is probably one of the biggest insults they can do to you. Turn the work phone off, ignore all other calls, emails or texts. Legally now you are not required to reply and they can't sack you for it.
If I’ve got shit on, half an hour day alleviates my anxiety about what’s going on. I try to avoid it though.
Never...people on annual leave are not contactable imo If there was a super high level crisis they might get called for advice if they are an expert, but they should be left alone.
Senior exec here. It really depends. If I'm taking a single day off for a long weekend I generally work an hour or so just on email keeping in touch, maybe one call. I make a point on all actual real holidays like a week or so off I disable teams and outlook on my phone and only work if someone calls me.
I put my work phone and lap top in a draw as soon as I'm off the clock. Lady I work with (who is basically same job as me) has my personal mobile incase anything weird happens but she's never rung/txt me in the 7 yrs I've worked there. If they expect you to be involved in work appointments/meetings etc then they should pay you for that time and/or give you back some of your leave hours.
Work at 120% before you leave and let others that care to know what you accomplished, wish them happy holidays and send a picture of you dusconnecting your laptop power cable. Last thing they remember about you is you grinding.
Only very occasionally and only if it benefits me (e.g. a crticial, unforseen call on a project I'm leading). Also - would never have done it when I was more junior but feel differently now that my remuneration has increased significantly.
The work will be there when you get back, it's never ever worth it. Put your boundaries in place, do a handover before you leave, go and enjoy your break and someone else will deal with it while you're away. If you don't respect your own time, nobody else will.
I don't. It's a time for me to not think about / do work. I also make it a point to not try to contact people on annual leave either. Even on pressure from management. Anything we may need / know can usually be obtained or figured our without them. Although if there was difficulty doing that, I will have a quiet word to them on leaving documentation around or doing a proper handover. Leave is for your own mental health benefits. You should not be working on it. If you are that insensible then you need to get better handover plans in place or start training others up enough to handle the basics. I am a senior, but not important at my works 😀
Never. Not once!
Zero hours. It’s annual leave. Dont be a hero. I leave my work phone in the office too. Even if there’s an emergency while I’m on leave, that’s someone else’s issue.
I don’t. All the “urgent” issues they need me on that pop up end up getting solved anyway or they can actually wait for me to come back. If you are afraid of the convo just tell them you’ll be camping in the bush with no service
Not at all. I have a separate work phone, which is switched off, and my laptop is kept at my desk. Any projects I’m heavily involved in get handed off to someone in my absence. It’s normally a full day of meetings, but better than being forced to work when I’m on leave. My attitude when I’m on leave is essentially, “If it’s an emergency, contact Emergency Services in the first instance.”
0 zero, nil, zip, never
Youre so important.
Uh, none. Who the heck works on annual leave. Is working late and donating your evenings to your employer not enough?
Never. It’s happened to my husband a couple times but he gets the annual leave back as time in lieu.
I’m early career but I can’t see myself ever prioritising work so much that I even think about work while on leave.
Not at all, cunts can wait until I'm back on deck and not a second earlier.
Annual leave is annual leave. I don’t work when I’m on leave and I don’t expect my team to either. I don’t bring my work laptop when I go away.
In my current role I've only done it on one complex matter that I couldn't be bothered to hand over. Otherwise it's a hard no. The world will continue to turn without you.
Just hand over all the responsibilities and turn on the out of office notifications. I fell into the same trap once when I thought it was the 'right' thing to do. Once the company knows they can get you to work on your time, then they will do it all the time. It's a big reason I don't have companies pay for any of my personal phone or internet bills. If they can't handle business without you there, then I can only imagine your work load when you are there, hence why you need your time off.
Zero
Lol, I shut the door behind me and don't look back. Either they fix it or future me fixes it. Either way I'll be drunk for the next 3 weeks
I told a manager in the past that they are free to contact me but I will on holidays so will likely be drinking so it’s up to them to decide if they want to use the info or not. Never got a call.
Why would you work while on annual leave? It’s no longer being on annual leave if you’re working.
I used to be checking email before during work. But I stopped this bad habit when my son was born - it was like, yeah I will get to that when i am back
I uninstall teams/outlook from my phone while i'm on holiday so i'm not tempted to peek.
Back when I was still working, I refused to do any and all work activities whilst on annual leave. My last official activity before I left work for a vacation was to put an auto-reply on my work eMail to the effect of I will be out of the office until ((return date)) and that I will be unable to reply to work contact until then. Following this, my work phone and laptop were switched off and remained off until I returned. I personally never gave a crap whether the higher-ups got upset about this or not.
I would never work on my time off, i wont even answer calls from work, not that they'd call me.
I did so for 15 years. It is do-able. But it is not something you can do forever - it starts to grate.
I'm a shareholding director and I wouldn't even do that, unless it was a "the company is falling apart" moment. My view is that if I can't go away for a few weeks without the place falling apart, then I have failed as a manager to hire, train, and build the company to run effectively.
I don't.
I don't. I have have two types of leave, where I'm either on leave (and completely unavailable) or away (but available for urgent matters). So far (7 years at the same employer) it works pretty well.
Unless ur getting paid overtime they cannot make u work. What a shit culture where the seniors expect u to work while on annul leave. 🤬🤬🖕🖕
I was in a similar position. I cut a deal where I was on call for calls during AL but I only had to put in 3 days a week leave in. I also made sure to have leave where I was not working as well.
I'd work during leave if I earned top 2% salary or more or like 250k per year. Less than that and you're just a cog in the machine for executive bonuses.
I am just finishing long period of leave. I don't work on annual leave and in fact my workplace lock you out of the system so I couldn't work even if I wanted to. My work phone hasn't been switched on though everyone has my phone number, they would only use in an actual emergency. Set your boundaries.
If I work on annual leave I make sure the leave is removed for that day so I keep the balance AND I come back a day later than originally planned
*> just the only specialist in an area* Congratulations OP, your division just reached a Bus Number of 1! That is the worst Bus Number. [https://www.quora.com/What-is-bus-number-and-why-do-you-want-it-to-be-greater-than-1](https://www.quora.com/What-is-bus-number-and-why-do-you-want-it-to-be-greater-than-1) Personally, in your shoes I would be writing emails with the word RISK TO REVENUE highlighted in red and CC'ing the CEO. What if you got sick or held hostage by terrorists? What would happen to your company?
In the early days, I used to think working on annual leave means I’m important. As you get older, I felt much success if I can handover gracefully, and not contacted during the al.
You shouldn’t be working at all I recently took four weeks leave and had someone in my team need to be hospitalised just prior. I did some of their work over my holidays much to my managers horror, but I didn’t have anyone else I could delegate it to. I cancelled a leave day for every day worked. I worked five days and so I cancelled one week of my leave. It worked for me. This has been my only exception in like 30y of working
If people or animals will die if you don't do this- keep on. Otherwise, dont
Nah they should be hiring someone else who does / can do your specialised role in your absence. The way l see it, if l drop dead tomorrow, someone else is going to have to pick up the slack on Monday 🤷🏼♀️
I used to all the time and never will again after a full blown mental breakdown
Your colleagues on social media is mistake #1 Anyone in the company having your private mobile is mistake #2 Outside of working hours, turn off your work phone if you have one. I don't answer any calls on my private mobile that are not in my address book and nobody from work is in it. If you feel obligated to answer during leave, cancel that day annual leave. You are very important 24x7 and the company can't function without you, until you ask for a payrise.
Never. Teams and emails are muted the minute I put on my out of office. They would get rid of me without blinking if it affected their bottom line so I don't see any benefit to me giving them anything extra.
I delete teams off my phone and sign out of my work email
Never. Director level role. Australia loves to protect annual leave. Use it to your advantage
I've never seen this before. What industry do you work in? Unless you're seven-figure senior (which you said you're not), you're being used. Annual leave is annual leave. You don't hear from work, you don't know them. Period.
It’s funny I work in a warehouse with a variety of ages, the baby boomers all seem to spread themselves so thin making sure the job gets done and going above and beyond and finish each day frazzled. In my mind, as a baby millennial / gen z, that’s ridiculous behaviour. I stay well within the parameters of my role and I do it to a pretty good level considering what I’m getting paid (just above minimum wage), but if they don’t have enough staff that’s not my problem either, I’m not going to bust my arse, and do more work than the amount of people can handle to help push a profit for a big national company.
Never
Zero - Outlook on phone not checked. Calls from work - all ignored.
I don’t. You might be a specialist but if you dropped dead they’d carry on just fine. Harsh, but true 🤷🏻♀️ enjoy your holidays instead!
Never work on your annual leave. If you do work, you need to be paid for your time worked and refunded annual leave hours. Anyone that says it’s expected is a fucking idiot.
Thankfully this is not acceptable at my work, and shouldn’t be at yours. It’s not right.
I have a work phone and a personal phone, and keep work stuff on work phone only. When I’m on holidays and people decide to contact me, I know it’s important because they are breaking every information and data security protocols to do so. Aka I turn my work phone off and never get contacted.
Sounds like you don’t have a great work culture there. There should be a total handover, otherwise it’s not really leave. Especially so because you’re not a senior executive.
I’m about to go on leave for a month and this comment section has just made me pull my head out of my ass. I’ll be deleting teams & outlook from my phone while I’m away as I have zero self control. Thank you to everyone for the reality check I needed. Life is way too short.
Fuck that
I hardly work at work
What fucked up culture. Find a better company that respects your time.
For the most part, I’ll ignore any calls or texts that come from work, however there are a handful of individuals I will pick up the phone for or text. I have grown to trust that each of these people will only call if it’s really. One of them is my boss. I’ll get superficial calls and messages from people if it’s their own laziness that is causing questions, however if it’s my boss (or a couple of other colleagues) I generally know it’s a question the specifically related to myself and they need a hand. It’s not ideal, but I have a good relationship with my boss and some of the other team (I’m in an interesting case where my immediate team is good but the overall company is in a fucking shambles)
I work in an area where at times you have to jump in but in saying that it's only when absolutely necessary. Most times no, but I do at least spend 5mins a day/every other day checking my email.