Mandatory vacation? Sign me up

September 24th, 2006

Gotta love the Los Angeles Times for writing about how employers impose forced relaxation:

Like many Americans, Maris Friedman finds it hard to chill out completely on vacation. A senior manager for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Los Angeles, Friedman says it usually takes her “a few days to decompress,” and she finds herself checking her office e-mail daily.

To discourage such behavior, the accounting giant shuts down its U.S. operations between Christmas and New Year’s, giving virtually all employees the time off with pay. Friedman calls the hiatus “fantastic. No one’s on e-mail, there are no phone calls, no nothing.”

Worried about employee burnout and turnover, some employers are forcing workers to take the vacation time they are entitled to. Determined to take some of the “labor” out of Labor Day and other holidays, employers are encouraging these workaholics to switch off their cellphones and log out of e-mail while they’re away.

Some employers even go a step further — giving weaker performance reviews or lower pay raises to those who don’t make use of their allotted time. The 400 employees of the American Management Association, for example, risk being dinged for poor time management, said Manny Avramidis, head of human resources for the New York-based training group.

One Chicago hotel offers to help electronically addicted vacationers relax by locking up their cellphones and laptops during their stay…

The article basically goes on to say that due to our downsized, hyperwired culture we’re a bunch of goons that can’t unplug and chill out. So, having woken up to the fact that overwork and overstress do not a happy, productive camper make, some savvy employers are mandating time off. Yeah.

Entry Filed under: Overworked and underpaid