Out of the Office
/Today, I wrote an out of office automated email and it included this sentence: “I am currently out of the office with limited access to email and will get back to you during the week of August 30th.” It seemed crazy. I thought they might take me away, so I changed the reply email to include no return date. Because that August 30th just seems so incredible. As I am typing this, the month still goes by the name of JULY.
This is where some European countries, like Spain, have it so absolutely right. Compared to the United States, where one takes little spits of long weekends while remaining fully connected to the office, Spaniards seem to forgo choose-your-own-vacation days for a full month in the summer to do as they please. And, since most everyone takes the exact four weeks of vacation, not much happens at the office. Projects are not getting pushed along, true, but neither are you putting your workload on the shoulders of some other poor soul who doesn’t happen to be on vacation.
The aptly named “Vacation Deprivation Survey” from Expedia, shows that while Spain enjoys ample vacation time, the United States is at the bottom of the list (France is at the top with 38 days). Not much of surprise, though, is it?
But it’s not just about the number of days off. How many vacation days have you taken consecutively without checking in with the office? My record in the United States was a full two weeks, and let me tell you, I felt like a rebel. Coworkers were shocked! (And then they asked for time off.)
It’s the consecutive days when you detangle yourself from the everyday. You have the time to learn something new, experience something more fully, accomplish a personal goal. As lovely as it is, the everyday can numb us. And so, taking a long break – many studies show – promotes health and happiness. It boosts creativity. All of these things, by the way, increase productivity.
A long enough break from the everyday can give us perspective, can remind us why we’ve chosen to make that everyday our life.
