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TRENDS
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Working
Vacations Now Routine For Many Professionals
By Laurie Burstein
Getting away
from it all has gotten more complicated. For busy professionals,
especially those in the client service industry, working to some
extent during vacation appears to be common practice. It might mean
just checking in with the office each day, but for others, it means
spending part of each day talking with clients, participating in
conference calls, and preparing reports on a laptop to be e-mailed
during vacation. The good news/bad news is that today’s technology
has enabled workers, bosses and clients easier access to one another
no matter where they are.
A recent survey from The Creative Group, a temporary staffing service
for marketing and advertising professionals with offices around
the country, confirms that a swimsuit and sunscreen aren’t the only
items creative types are taking with them on vacation. The survey
says that a cell phone and a laptop computer are also likely to
be on hand.
Nearly two-thirds or 65 percent of advertising and marketing executives
polled said they check in with the office at least several times
a week while on break. Among those, 38 percent said they make contact
daily. Only 19 percent said they don’t check in at all. The survey
was conducted by an independent research firm and includes 250 responses—125
from advertising executives with the nation’s largest advertising
agencies and 125 from senior marketing executives with the nation’s
largest companies.
“This is a significant trend we are seeing in our industry. In fast-paced
advertising and marketing environments, it’s natural for professionals
to want to keep current on business developments while away through
voice mail, e-mail, and conference calls,” says Christina Tedesco,
division director of The Creative Group’s St. Louis office. “But
it’s also important to re-charge and take time off. Holidays can
turn into extended conference calls, which defeats the purpose.”
Tracey Turner, executive director of The Creative Group points out
that frequently checking in with the office may be a sign a manager
has not delegated effectively. “Overburdened executives should appoint
a trusted staff member to ‘hold down the fort’ in their absence.
He or she should be given the responsibility—as well as the authority—to
make decisions,” Turner says.
Caren Vredenburgh, director of creative services at Brown Shoe Co.,
says that she doesn’t think about the office constantly while on
vacation, but it does give her peace of mind to call in each day.
“It gives me a comfort level to know that things are moving along
and going well.”
“I also like to be able to help while I’m away. I have 24 people
reporting to me, and with so many deadlines and projects, my staff
knows I’m a phone call away. But we really respect each other’s
time and while I was recently in Florida, I only got one call on
my cell phone from the office.” Vredenburgh adds, “I have four weeks
of vacation and I believe in taking it. I urge my staff to take
all their vacation because without it, we burn out. ”
It’s not just creative types who are regularly working on vacation,
but of course, so are attorneys. Megan Phillips, an attorney with
Bryan Cave who is part of the firm’s mergers and acquisitions group,
says she always takes her cell phone and laptop on vacation. She
recalls vacationing in Florida last year during a busy time and
having to work part of each day.
“Although I did work during my vacation, it was worth the time investment
so I could keep things moving and make the client happy,” she says.
“I was still able to enjoy my time away, but it’s just a reality
that in my industry I have to be accessible all the time,” Phillips
adds.
Stephen Walmsley, a manager at PriceWaterhouseCoopers for the past
seven years, says he recently went on vacation and had to work three-out-of-five
days. At the time of the vacation for a friend’s wedding, he was
in the middle of a major transaction and spent much of his time
on the phone, sending e-mails, and writing reports.
“While I try not to work on vacation, responsiveness and meeting
deadlines is key. Strong relationships with our clients and getting
the job done is obviously very important,” Walmsley says. He adds
that his firm’s policy is for those at the manager’s level and above
to check in with the office once a day. Walmsley also sets up an
automatic response on his e-mail that sends back a message that
he is out of the office.
While it couldn’t be helped that Walmsley worked for much of his
last vacation, his company did credit him for the billable time
he worked. He is using that time and more to spend at home following
the recent birth of his baby. And since this was time off he knew
was imminent, he primed his co-workers and clients to be prepared
as much as possible.
There could be worse places to work than on a beach or outdoors
setting says writer and art director Carl Schlanger of Carl Schlanger
Associates Inc. “I’ve taken work to a remote fishing cabin in Minnesota
and also recently on vacation in Charleston, S.C. Sometimes the
work flows better being in a beautiful outdoor environment. I can
work for a few hours and then enjoy the beach. This is the way I
make my living and I don’t want to disappoint my clients. ”
For many, working to some degree while on vacation is simply a function
of providing the best possible service to their clients. As long
as managers feel they had some time off, vacations can give today’s
busy executives some much-needed “R and R.”
Laurie Burstein is a St. Louis-based free-lance writer
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