Wow. Sad stats. Ashamed to say I fall into with the other 75% of respondents that can't seem to resist the pull. I partially see that need to be digitally tethered feeling as an unfortunate by-product of full-time telecommute, but still: what is wrong with us?!?
Rigby - 9 years ago
I wholeheartedly agree with Notabeliver. In the years prior to the all intrusiveness of email and voicemail and the expectation that people's vacation is just an extension of the workday and there should be no free time away from work, managers went on vacation and left the running of their departments in the capable hands of their subordinates. If your organization isn't set up to allow this to happen, they need to step back and truly understand that a human being cannot be "on" all the time. Downtime is not just a nicety, it's a requirement.
NotaBelieber - 9 years ago
I'm not convinced that anyone at any level must check their emails in order to avoid catastrophic or even minor issues. @ Almost - If this is the way your organization runs, than I think it says more about your organization than it does about you. Time off is time off, and should be respected as such.
AlmostAdjusted - 9 years ago
This has often been a minor irritant for my spouse, because I used to sneak off and try to quickly rush through my emails. My reasoning is that since I am in healthcare IT Leadership, I almost need to keep a pulse check on everything going on. Most of my checks are brief, and I rarely need to take action, because my peers or staff are appropriately addressing the issues at hand. However, there is often one operational issue per day that is time sensitive and it does require my input. Not responding on a timely basis can even cause bigger issues, which has proven to then require even more time in a couple of days. This has occurred recently several times, because I thought it would resolve itself, and it did not. So it is more pain avoidance by proactively monitoring the issues. My spouse now has "accepted" it as the norm for me. By having her permission to check my emails, I can actually enjoy my vacation more.
Wow. Sad stats. Ashamed to say I fall into with the other 75% of respondents that can't seem to resist the pull. I partially see that need to be digitally tethered feeling as an unfortunate by-product of full-time telecommute, but still: what is wrong with us?!?
I wholeheartedly agree with Notabeliver. In the years prior to the all intrusiveness of email and voicemail and the expectation that people's vacation is just an extension of the workday and there should be no free time away from work, managers went on vacation and left the running of their departments in the capable hands of their subordinates. If your organization isn't set up to allow this to happen, they need to step back and truly understand that a human being cannot be "on" all the time. Downtime is not just a nicety, it's a requirement.
I'm not convinced that anyone at any level must check their emails in order to avoid catastrophic or even minor issues. @ Almost - If this is the way your organization runs, than I think it says more about your organization than it does about you. Time off is time off, and should be respected as such.
This has often been a minor irritant for my spouse, because I used to sneak off and try to quickly rush through my emails. My reasoning is that since I am in healthcare IT Leadership, I almost need to keep a pulse check on everything going on. Most of my checks are brief, and I rarely need to take action, because my peers or staff are appropriately addressing the issues at hand. However, there is often one operational issue per day that is time sensitive and it does require my input. Not responding on a timely basis can even cause bigger issues, which has proven to then require even more time in a couple of days. This has occurred recently several times, because I thought it would resolve itself, and it did not. So it is more pain avoidance by proactively monitoring the issues. My spouse now has "accepted" it as the norm for me. By having her permission to check my emails, I can actually enjoy my vacation more.