Well, at this time of year I usually end up with a few Vacation or Personal days left to use. However, my projects and responsibilities at work seem to often heat up excessively at this time of year. Therefore I can either:
- Not use all my days (ie give them up)
- Take days, and let projects slide / consequences occur
- Make full use of my unofficial "Paid Flex Time" option
Here is where the "sort of" comes in. I took Wednesday off to work around my family's travel plans. Now that I am back, today or tomorrow I will need to work 4 to 6 hours to ensure everything runs well next week. (ie variations on this include days or late nights before)
So due to plant shutdowns and vacation time, I only have 13.5 working days until year end. However I have about 20+ days of work. Therefore it looks like I will be making full use of my "Paid Flex Time" option again this year. Maybe next year I'll use my days up earlier...
Thank heavens for a job that allows flexibility!!! This may sound odd to the clock watchers out there, however I have always been salaried and project/team/results focused. Therefore this is strangely normal.
Thoughts encouraged
2 comments:
What would happen if you got sick or in the hospital? Would your projects stop and wait for you to get better? OR Would someone or somebodies step up and do your work.
It would appear to me that you should take your time off earlier so that you can get these very important year end projects (that happen each year) complete on time.
Maybe more balance in work and home is needed? Let us know how it works out.
Great Thoughts Number Guy.
Being the Project Lead/BB, it is fairly difficult for someone to step in for short absences. However, another Lead would fill in during a week or more absence if necessary. Of course, this means something else needs to drop or be delayed since they are fully burdened also. The joy of being a highly competitive and efficient organization... Few or no extra resources to handle unplanned events without juggling something else.
I had it all well planned out until those couple of emergency projects arose, however you are correct that next year I will try to use it earlier. Though holding 1.5 days as a "just in case" does not seem too excessive.
As for work/life balance, I set my max work number at 50 hrs/wk* and I have a 10 minute commute. If I could not do an excellent job without exceeding this, I would need to do some rethinking of my situation. However, my company is great and I have a great deal of flexibility. Definitely excellent for me.
When I completed my MBA, I spent quite a bit of time thinking about what I wanted to be when I grew up. I'll post the outcome in a week or so. It may help others...
It is an interesting balancing point though, how much initiative and extra effort should a Supervisor allow in the name of results and competitiveness? Assuming they want results and a healthy work horse of an employee. Should they rate an extremely successful work aholic as a poor performer, because they worked too many hours? At the risk of damaging their productivity. Interesting...
* Unless a true unforeseeable crisis occurs.
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