Vacation isn’t the answer to employee burnout
technical.ly
Vacation isn’t the answer to employee burnout
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Re: Vacation isn’t the answer to employee burnout
#2"8 hours for work, 8 hours for rest, 8 hours for what we will!" - union slogan, 1920s.
"Unions. The people who brought you the weekend".
Re: Vacation isn’t the answer to employee burnout
#3> What do we do? Well, root out the real causes of burnout. If it’s not those top workplace issues, it may very well be the burn of extended, heightened stress. For employees surveyed, flexible work hours and mental health support were more popular than even a four-day work week or unlimited PTO. The point then is lots of professionals like their actual work, they just don’t like the restrictions and environment. Give direction, let them do the work. Remove barriers.
PTO and a healthy work environment are both good.
Re: Vacation isn’t the answer to employee burnout
#4Once again we have a CEO pretending to know what works best for the rank and file employee.
First we didn't need bonuses, we just needed a pat on the back from managers and co-workers to achieve happiness.
Now, we don't need vacations if we're burnt out, instead we just need flexible hours so we can schedule our death marches around our other responsibilities and mental health resources. 10 hours is 10 hours regardless of how you schedule it. Pressure doesn't go away just because your boss describes impending doom using nice words.
What's next? Desks aren't the answer for writing surfaces because our walls are already flat?
Re: Vacation isn’t the answer to employee burnout
#5I don't want "mental health support" from work. I only need that if my workplace is causing serious mental health issues in the first place. (Which it is at present.)
Re: Vacation isn’t the answer to employee burnout
#6"8 hours for work, 8 hours for rest, 8 hours for what we will!" - union slogan, 1920s. "Unions. The people who brought you the weekend".
I would be so miserable if it had to deal with a union.
Though to be fair I am not overworked or undervalued. I imagine there’s a lot of engineers who large companies just grind through.
Re: Vacation isn’t the answer to employee burnout
#7Once again we have a CEO pretending to know what works best for the rank and file employee. First we didn't need bonuses, we just needed a pat on the back from managers and co-workers to achieve happiness. Now, we don't need vacations if we're burnt out, instead we just need flexible hours so we can schedule our death marches around our other responsibilities and mental health resources. 10 hours is 10 hours regardle…
I didn't assume that he meant anything like that. Digging into the company a bit:
> Though results matter most and Technically Media prides itself on flexibility, as a guide, this role might expect to work roughly 40-45 hours a week.
> Technically Media offers 10 paid holidays per year; 15 PTO days accrued per year with additional P TO offered progressively; as well as a month of paid parental leave.
>Technically Media additionally closes its offices for the final week of the year to relax and unwind before each new year. This serves as additional paid holiday time.
https://technical.ly/job/editorial-director/
It's not the most generous but it's par for Philly area tech companies and its not a tech company, it's a journal.
Re: Vacation isn’t the answer to employee burnout
#8Time away from work absolutely is important for recovering from burnout. If work is causing burnout, prevention means adjusting the parts of work that cause burnout.
Re: Vacation isn’t the answer to employee burnout
#9"8 hours for work, 8 hours for rest, 8 hours for what we will!" - union slogan, 1920s. "Unions. The people who brought you the weekend".
I would be so miserable if it had to deal with a union. Though to be fair I am not overworked or undervalued. I imagine there’s a lot of engineers who large companies just grind through.
Why would you be miserable? Union dues? occasional union communication? I'm just trying to understand what hypothetical issue you feel would be super arduous.
Re: Vacation isn’t the answer to employee burnout
#10Bullshit. Vacation [1] IS the answer for burnout. Long vacations are even more ok for burnout. Sabbaticals are the most ok. Guess what a doctor would recommend you do if you're having health issues from burnout?
If there's chronic burnout in your company/org then indeed, no amount of vacation will fix that. But neither would flexible work hours or mental health support.
[1] Vacation means complete and total disconnect from work or work related activities. That goes beyond not checking work emails. I'm talking no leetcode or learning some new JS framework.