Jul 24

Jul 24 Got Time? Use That Sh*t

By Ariston Teleo

There seems to be a norm in corporate America’s working culture that has had a lot of baby boomers not utilizing their vacation days. We millennials have seen our parents and now our older peers work hard, day in and day out, for these corporations and barely use these perks that they have earned. I’ll never forget the day I overheard a colleague in the locker room, bragging, “I only took five vacation days last year.” My immediate thought was, “What in thee F*ck?” I knew for a fact he had a minimum of 15 vacation days as an option and likely 20 days maximum, but he only used five of them. That specific company’s policy was, “Use them or lose them.” It wasn’t like he was compensated by not using them, unlike other companies that will pay you for your unused vacation days. I’m glad to see that, generally, we millennials are using the time that we have earned, but there seems to be an overshadowing issue of “how” and “when” we take our time off that plays into how we are treated by our elder counterparts.

The “how” comes from when we decide to take just a Friday off, and make a long weekend out of it. The benefit of this is, you can take 4 Fridays off over a two-to-three-month period and make 4 weekend getaway trips out of your time-off. The older generations aren’t used to seeing vacation being utilized in that manner, even though it is clearly more efficient. So now, the perception is, “That millennial is always on vacation,” followed by eyerolls, passive aggressive comments upon return, and being labeled as lazy or not committed to the job. In reality, when that person takes a full work week off for a longer vacation, they actually use more days off that week than you did over that tow-to-three month time frame. Sorry boomer. You played yourself.

To be fair, “when” we choose to vacation always needs to be strategic. I learned early on in my career, never take vacation when your boss and team take theirs. I always take mine the week everyone else is about to come back. That way, work is light while they’re gone and then I’m off on my hiatus. Meanwhile, they return and struggle to “get back in the swing of things” because they realize how much they don’t like their jobs after they return from vacay. I’ve seen baby boomers throw shade and sarcastically say, “Oh, you’re not taking time off when everyone else is? That’s convenient for you for sure.” I instinctively want to respond with some witty phrase but that will more than likely be deemed disrespectful. But with the corporate American politics of being courteous, I am only able to reply with, “My boss didn’t say it was an issue.” When the boss accepts the vacation request, don’t worry about what others think. They don’t sign your checks.

These older coworkers’ issues with how and when we take our vacations, will sometimes lead to this new phrase that causes some millennials to not use their time ‒“vacation shaming.” This can be defined as the attempt to make one feel bad about taking the time off that the employer agreed upon in their contract. People literally become jealous or upset that others are enjoying life instead of making life about work. We can’t change them, but we can shake the guilt they try to put on us. Here are some key facts to remember:

These companies do not OWN you.
Ask yourself, if you died today, how soon or easily would this company replace you?
Protect your mental health. If you need a break, take one.
There will always be work to do, regardless if you take vacation or not.

Thank you. Now go enjoy that vacation time.