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| Dear Americans, when is the last time you took a real vacation? | Dear Americans, when is the last time you took a real vacation? |
| (6 months later) | |
| In May, I went to Paris for 10 days. I didn’t bring my laptop. | In May, I went to Paris for 10 days. I didn’t bring my laptop. |
| When I booked my plane ticket in January, I couldn’t imagine having 10 (14 if you counted weekends!) whole days off. Ten days. Ten days when I wasn’t working and I should have been; 10 days without opening my work email or worrying about freelance deadlines or thinking about my job at all. | When I booked my plane ticket in January, I couldn’t imagine having 10 (14 if you counted weekends!) whole days off. Ten days. Ten days when I wasn’t working and I should have been; 10 days without opening my work email or worrying about freelance deadlines or thinking about my job at all. |
| I scheduled the trip on my work calendar months in advance. The Friday before I left, I sent out an email reminder to the team I work with, reminding them that I’d have “limited access to email” during the two weeks I’d be gone. The tone of the email may or may not have been jubilant. | I scheduled the trip on my work calendar months in advance. The Friday before I left, I sent out an email reminder to the team I work with, reminding them that I’d have “limited access to email” during the two weeks I’d be gone. The tone of the email may or may not have been jubilant. |
| Paris was wonderful. Of course Paris was wonderful. I ate every croissant I laid eyes on, went to a perfume museum, and rode open-topped busses around the Arc de Triomphe, wind whipping my hair into knots. I saw a show at Crazy Horse, got lost in the Louvre, sipped pink wine outside cafes in the Marais, and watched tiny French children play soccer with their fathers in perfect, shady, secretive parks. At the Guerlain headquarters, a stylish older saleswoman refused to sell me the red lipstick shade I wanted – it was all wrong for me, she said, taking the lipstick from my hands. She wouldn’t give it back until I tried her suggestion, an odd coral red I would never have chosen. Sitting me down with her hands firmly on my shoulders, she took out a tiny brush and applied the coral shade on me, lips pursed critically. | Paris was wonderful. Of course Paris was wonderful. I ate every croissant I laid eyes on, went to a perfume museum, and rode open-topped busses around the Arc de Triomphe, wind whipping my hair into knots. I saw a show at Crazy Horse, got lost in the Louvre, sipped pink wine outside cafes in the Marais, and watched tiny French children play soccer with their fathers in perfect, shady, secretive parks. At the Guerlain headquarters, a stylish older saleswoman refused to sell me the red lipstick shade I wanted – it was all wrong for me, she said, taking the lipstick from my hands. She wouldn’t give it back until I tried her suggestion, an odd coral red I would never have chosen. Sitting me down with her hands firmly on my shoulders, she took out a tiny brush and applied the coral shade on me, lips pursed critically. |
| “There,” she said, pleased, turning my chair towards the mirror. “That’s how you should look.” | “There,” she said, pleased, turning my chair towards the mirror. “That’s how you should look.” |
| I looked at myself. She was right. | I looked at myself. She was right. |
| For me, Paris was a luxury. That's because I don't get paid vacation days | For me, Paris was a luxury. That's because I don't get paid vacation days |
| Cliche and airy-fairy as it sounds, I re-met myself in Paris. I remembered what I like to do. Oh, right – I like walking for hours with no destination, spending inappropriate amounts of time in bookstores, ducking inside cool, dim churches, making shopkeepers nervous in stores I can’t afford by touching all the different fabrics. I like people-watching. I like mossy old cemeteries. I like sitting next to the river, writing in a notebook. I had forgotten. | Cliche and airy-fairy as it sounds, I re-met myself in Paris. I remembered what I like to do. Oh, right – I like walking for hours with no destination, spending inappropriate amounts of time in bookstores, ducking inside cool, dim churches, making shopkeepers nervous in stores I can’t afford by touching all the different fabrics. I like people-watching. I like mossy old cemeteries. I like sitting next to the river, writing in a notebook. I had forgotten. |
| I needed that vacation, more than I even realized. Those 1o days in France were the first time I’d taken more than three consecutive days off of work in four years. | I needed that vacation, more than I even realized. Those 1o days in France were the first time I’d taken more than three consecutive days off of work in four years. |
| That is ridiculous. | That is ridiculous. |
| It’s also common. Americans don’t take vacations. Even when they have vacation days allotted; even when unused vacation days don’t roll over into the next year. In 2016, 54% of working Americans didn’t use their vacation days – cumulatively, that’s 662m days off, abandoned. Do you know how many vacations – in France, in Florida, at the lake with your family, camping with old friends – that is, lost forever? That is so many vacations. | It’s also common. Americans don’t take vacations. Even when they have vacation days allotted; even when unused vacation days don’t roll over into the next year. In 2016, 54% of working Americans didn’t use their vacation days – cumulatively, that’s 662m days off, abandoned. Do you know how many vacations – in France, in Florida, at the lake with your family, camping with old friends – that is, lost forever? That is so many vacations. |
| For me, the Paris trip was a true luxury I had to save hard for. That’s because I’m a contract worker; I don’t have any paid vacation days. A day I don’t work at my job means a day I don’t get paid. It also means that a vacation for me costs twice as much as for someone with paid vacation days. First, there are the actual vacation costs themselves, like plane tickets, food, and lodging; second, there’s the subtraction of two full weeks of pay from my income. | For me, the Paris trip was a true luxury I had to save hard for. That’s because I’m a contract worker; I don’t have any paid vacation days. A day I don’t work at my job means a day I don’t get paid. It also means that a vacation for me costs twice as much as for someone with paid vacation days. First, there are the actual vacation costs themselves, like plane tickets, food, and lodging; second, there’s the subtraction of two full weeks of pay from my income. |
| That’s why I almost never take vacations. I can’t afford to. | That’s why I almost never take vacations. I can’t afford to. |
| But even when American workers aren’t contractors – even when they’re full employees with a beautiful benefit package that includes paid vacation days – they often still don’t take their guaranteed holidays. | But even when American workers aren’t contractors – even when they’re full employees with a beautiful benefit package that includes paid vacation days – they often still don’t take their guaranteed holidays. |
| Why? Why, when we’re all so stressed we can hardly function? Why, when we know we need a vacation to be our best and most efficient selves? When studies have proven this? | Why? Why, when we’re all so stressed we can hardly function? Why, when we know we need a vacation to be our best and most efficient selves? When studies have proven this? |
| Because employees who don’t take time off are subtly or openly rewarded. | Because employees who don’t take time off are subtly or openly rewarded. |
| In America, a normal topic of conversation among co-workers is comparing how busy and exhausted you are. In corporate America, if you take all your (entirely legal!) allotted vacation and sick days, especially if it’s more than two weeks, people in the office talk. | In America, a normal topic of conversation among co-workers is comparing how busy and exhausted you are. In corporate America, if you take all your (entirely legal!) allotted vacation and sick days, especially if it’s more than two weeks, people in the office talk. |
| It sounds like this: | It sounds like this: |
| “Oh Michael? He’s in Cuba. I don’t know how he’s on another trip, he was just in San Francisco last month.” | “Oh Michael? He’s in Cuba. I don’t know how he’s on another trip, he was just in San Francisco last month.” |
| “We’ll have to wait to talk to Mia till Wednesday. She’s always gone.” | “We’ll have to wait to talk to Mia till Wednesday. She’s always gone.” |
| “Rachel won’t be at the meeting. I guess her son is sick again? Wish I could use that as my excuse.” | “Rachel won’t be at the meeting. I guess her son is sick again? Wish I could use that as my excuse.” |
| That kind talk gets to boss-level ears quickly. And people see how their colleagues view those who use all their vacation time – vacationers are letting the company down, letting projects slide, fobbing off work onto other, more responsible people – and the culture of taking vacations at an office begins to shift. | That kind talk gets to boss-level ears quickly. And people see how their colleagues view those who use all their vacation time – vacationers are letting the company down, letting projects slide, fobbing off work onto other, more responsible people – and the culture of taking vacations at an office begins to shift. |
| This pressure to constantly be at work can manifest in different ways. For years, I worked at a big startup company that was following the latest workplace trend: it had an unlimited vacation policy. “You can take as much time off as you like,” the hiring manager smiled. “Just as long as it doesn’t affect your work. Or your team.” | This pressure to constantly be at work can manifest in different ways. For years, I worked at a big startup company that was following the latest workplace trend: it had an unlimited vacation policy. “You can take as much time off as you like,” the hiring manager smiled. “Just as long as it doesn’t affect your work. Or your team.” |
| If that wasn’t a threat, I don’t know what one is. Not a single member of my team took more than a week of vacation that first year. The recession was a recent memory, and we were all too afraid. No one else was taking time off. In fact, studies have shown that having an unlimited vacation policy tends to have this effect. Faced with peer pressure, employees choose to take far fewer days off than they do with guaranteed vacation days. It’s brilliant – the company gets to appear easy-going, cool, and laid-back to employees and the world, yet they still make more money on saved vacation days than if they had a vacation policy. The only losers are the employees. | If that wasn’t a threat, I don’t know what one is. Not a single member of my team took more than a week of vacation that first year. The recession was a recent memory, and we were all too afraid. No one else was taking time off. In fact, studies have shown that having an unlimited vacation policy tends to have this effect. Faced with peer pressure, employees choose to take far fewer days off than they do with guaranteed vacation days. It’s brilliant – the company gets to appear easy-going, cool, and laid-back to employees and the world, yet they still make more money on saved vacation days than if they had a vacation policy. The only losers are the employees. |
| No one wants to be the employee who’s “always on another trip”, even if you’re actually just taking slightly more vacation days than your peers, who aren’t taking enough. That’s a great way to get fired. | No one wants to be the employee who’s “always on another trip”, even if you’re actually just taking slightly more vacation days than your peers, who aren’t taking enough. That’s a great way to get fired. |
| There needs to be a cultural shift surrounding time off. It should be viewed as a necessity, a key part of keeping employees happy, healthy, and not burned-out. My 10 days in Paris were well-spent. I spent them on me, giving myself the gift of time, for the first time in years. | There needs to be a cultural shift surrounding time off. It should be viewed as a necessity, a key part of keeping employees happy, healthy, and not burned-out. My 10 days in Paris were well-spent. I spent them on me, giving myself the gift of time, for the first time in years. |
| I came back from my trip rested, cheerful, ready to work; clear-eyed and clear-headed. I had forgotten about my daily grind. I was ready to tackle new projects. And I had finally (finally) found the correct red lipstick shade for my skin tone. When I got back from vacation, I looked in the mirror, and saw how I was supposed to look: refreshed. | I came back from my trip rested, cheerful, ready to work; clear-eyed and clear-headed. I had forgotten about my daily grind. I was ready to tackle new projects. And I had finally (finally) found the correct red lipstick shade for my skin tone. When I got back from vacation, I looked in the mirror, and saw how I was supposed to look: refreshed. |
| Krista Burton is a writer for the online magazine Rookie | Krista Burton is a writer for the online magazine Rookie |
| US work & careers | US work & careers |
| Ideas for America | Ideas for America |
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