When We Disappear, We're On Vacation

Lately, I've been hearing a lot of talk on people suddenly disappearing in the office. Most just need a break and go on vacation. No formal notice, no vacation leave forms. It's just a vacation for a few short days.

People notice only this. They go crazy when someone does not come to the office, despite the fact that the person has a high-end laptop, top of the line internal modem, wifi connectivity, remote collaboration software and, sometimes, a remote access connection token for connectivity to the office network. I see this again and again, I have even done this myself - the sudden disappearance act. But there seems to be a good explanation behind this.

We work in an intensive, client-driven industry. The customer is king and the deadline drives our life. Where I work, we have ten, sometimes more than ten, projects going on at the same time. Also, there is an unwritten rule that you cannot roll around for a week with no project going on. You always have to have something going on. Then, while you're doing that project, something's always beeing cooked up and new projects suddenly appear out of nowhere! With this kind of intensity going on, there is no way that a proper vacation can be had even if you plan for it months in advance. Of course, by proper vacation, I mean you blissfully relaxing somewhere and the whole office blissfully humming like the well-oiled machinery that it should be and not blasting at you on where you put that god-forsaken file.

I have a theory that the best time for the employees of a project-based firm to go on vacation is in between projects. That time when a project has just been finished so that you come back ready to take on a new project. I tried this once and it was great. Awesome. I came back to work ready to rock.

The American Institute of Stress estimates that burnout costs the United States $300 billion a year in medical expenses, absenteeism and associated costs. According to the National Geographic Society Traveler magazine, some studies have also shown that an annual vacation can cut the risk of heart attack in men by one-third and in women by one-half.

Whatever the reasons may be for employees suddenly going on vacation, it can be said that we cannot underestimate the importance of a vacation. There are some who say that when you're tired, work. But Richard Seltzer, a writer, also said that, "your vacation is a break with the ordinary work-a-day world, and also an expression of who you are, or at least the self you dream yourself to be." It's about you, and your dreams for yourself. The new generation of workers do not accept second-best anymore. Unless the modern-day workplace helps employees realize their dreams for themselves and see themselves in the workplace, these employees will one by one disappear.