When Did PTO Become PWV (Paid Working Vacation)?

It's not heroic. It's not cause for applause. If anything, you're doing yourself real harm.

Over spring break I took a few days off. A business associate reached out and asked for something and when I responded with “I’m out on PTO for a few days” he responded (tongue slightly in cheek) “what’s PTO?”

He’s not wrong. What is PTO? Or rather, what happened to it? Browse through Linked In posts about work/life balance and you’ll find more than a few jackasses posting things like “80-hour work weeks? I remember my first part-time job.” They are proud of their “always on” mentality! And PTO? They would never take a day off!

PTO Is Part Of Your Compensation

During your annual review, while your boss discusses your annual pay raise and/or bonus, I want you to stop them and say “you know what, this company is so freaking awesome, I don’t want a pay raise!” Would anyone do this? No! But that’s what we do when we work during PTO! PTO is part of your overall compensation.

Leaving PTO on the table or working during PTO is literally rejecting part of your compensation. It’s like saying “I don’t want a paycheck!” 

You Are Replaceable

I’ve tried to research the “why” people work while on PTO or don’t take it all. Here are a few of the thoughts people have shared:

• I don’t want to fall too far behind

• I have too much to do

• If I take time off and I'm not missed...I'm afraid I'll lose my job

• I don't have time

These are all excuses. The real reason we work while on PTO or don’t take PTO boils down to one thing:

EGO

Our ego won’t let us disconnect. We are so desperate to believe that we're invaluable. Irreplaceable. So irreplaceable that we can’t even take time off. If we take time off…then clearly, the company doesn’t “need” us, right?

I’m going to be morbid for a moment. Let’s say you die tomorrow. Your company might send flowers to your funeral, some co-workers may even show up. Hell, maybe your picture gets hung-up in a lobby. But before grass starts to grow on your grave plot…your job description is online. HR is hiring your replacement.

If you read nothing else…read this:

You. Are. Replaceable!

Just accept that! Here’s the thing, let’s say you take PTO and don’t work while on vacation. You return and your manager tells you “since you didn’t work while you were on vacation, you’re fired!” Do you really want to work at a company like that in the first place? Let me tell you, that manager would be doing you the greatest favor ever! Life is too short to work in an environment like that. The best managers want you to take time off. They want you at your best and vacation time?

Vacation time helps you be your best! Resting, recharging and stirring creativity is what PTO helps us achieve. Energy and creativity that we can then bring back to our job.

Those jackasses that brag about their 80-hour work weeks…how many divorces do you think they have tied to their name? When their kids grow up and bury them…how does that eulogy go? “Gosh, dad never played catch with me or took me to a ballgame…but, wow, did he crush it at work! There’s a picture of him in the lobby and everything!”

Here’s where you are not replaceable--As a parent. A spouse. A friend. A brother, sister, son, daughter…on and on. You are replaceable at work. That’s not giving you permission to abandon your responsibilities at work nor take them lightly. Not at all.

We should be passionate about our work and care about it and perform at a high level. But we should not do that to the point of sacrificing the things that are truly important. Like spending time with family while on vacation. Resting. Recharging.

Let me share a quick story that I’m not proud of. I’ve worked on vacation before, several times. But one trip in particular was extremely hectic. I remember my wife literally taking my phone and turning it off. And then? She glared at me…daring me to take it back. Point taken. And kudos to her for doing what I was too weak to do.

Yes. Weak.

I couldn’t get over my own damn ego. Working insane hours…working while on vacation? These aren’t strengths, it’s about satisfying our own ego. We need to stop glorifying these behaviors. The machines are coming (machine learning, AI, etc...can work 24/7/365, we can't!) and we can't out "hours" them. We can, however, be creative and innovative. But not if we're exhausted and mentally drained.

If resting, recharging and getting your creativity back doesn't motivate you to take your PTO, then remember this: someday your kids’ eulogy about you is going to be awfully short.

But hey, at least they’ll tell everyone how you crushed it at work.