I Have Enough Time Off

Here’s what that feels like.

Every month, I accrue two days of vacation time and two days of sick leave. You read that right: Each year, 24 days of vacation and 24 days of sick leave are handed to me and to each of my colleagues. There are no strings attached. Those days are fully paid, and we are encouraged to use them.

Those vacation days act like a pressure release valve. Inevitably, working in an office, under deadlines, with the same 20 people day in and day out, can become stressful. But in the rare instance that the stress starts to build up, I remind myself that I can always tap out for a day or two this very week if I need, or plan a longer trip next month. It makes me feel more charitably disposed toward each of my coworkers, knowing I can get away from them whenever I want. It makes me think of my cubicle as a happy little nest, knowing I can fly from it as needed. I don’t feel any trace of what I’ve felt, overwhelmingly, at every other three-weeks-of-PTO-per-year job I’ve ever held: trapped.

If my parents are coming to town and I want to spend a three-day weekend with them, I don’t have to calculate what my leave balance will be to make sure I’m not eating up time I need for my next planned vacation. If I want to take the morning off to attend family day at my niece’s preschool, I don’t have to deny that urge for the sake of coming into the office and slogging through non-urgent emails. If I want to spend a week completely solo, traveling in a foreign city, reading all day and visiting only the places I want to visit, I can do that, secure in the knowledge that I’m not giving up travel with friends and family to do so. If I want a random day off to hike with my dog, I will take it. There is never not enough time.

With sick time, the benefits are even better. When I wake up with a scratchy throat, I don’t have to decide that it’s not really bad enough to merit use of precious PTO, then head into the office and pass my illness onto my coworkers and their toddlers. Likewise, my be-toddlered coworkers stay home when their kiddos are sick, so they don’t pass stuff onto me. When I’m exhausted and run down, I don’t have to run myself down even further by dragging myself into work. Our sick days extend to caring for family, too, so that when my husband winds up in the ER with severe food poisoning, there is no question that I will stay with him the next day. When my niece has a fever and can’t go to school, I can hang with her. One of my greatest fears in life is my parents getting sick, but I am at least in small measure comforted knowing that if they did, I wouldn’t even have to think about whether to make the trip home to take care of them. I would. I have time.

Above all, the feeling I get from having this amount of time off is that my life is sustainable. In all those other jobs, the ones that left me feeling trapped, my mind was constantly working to think of a way out. I can’t stand my coworkers — I must need new ones. I can’t possibly prepare another agenda for this same damn weekly meeting — I must need to do something else. If I have to walk into this bleak office with those miserable beige metal filing cabinets one more time, my head will explode — I have to get out of here. I used to think that I just hadn’t found the right job, but I realize now that I hadn’t found the right pace. Any job that forced me to come in when I just wanted to stay home, that made me cling to my one week-long vacation and handful of three-day weekends each year, would leave me miserable. I needed time. Now that I have all the time I need, I feel like I could do this forever.

What does this mean for my company? It means that they have a loyal, happy, motivated employee for life. I am the gum worked into the treads of my organization’s shoe — just try to get me out of here. I still have ambition and want to move up, but at this point I’d never dream of leaving to do so. I realize what an incredible deal I’m getting, so I’m motivated to hang onto it: I work hard and well, try to establish great relationships with my coworkers, and figure out how to bring extra value to my department beyond my job description. I’m acquiring institutional knowledge that gets more valuable by the day, and I have no plans to waste that knowledge by bailing. I recommend working here to all of the best people I know, and those recommendations are completely genuine. I want this culture, this sustainable experience, for everyone.

If I didn’t have this much time off, I am convinced that I would not get more work done. I would do the same amount of work, slightly less well, with more irritation, spread over more hours. Instead, my employer chose to expect high quality work from me while I’m in the office and to encourage me to enjoy the rest of my life when I’m not. I don’t feel trapped, so I’m not going anywhere. I have all the time I need.

…

Joanna Trieger is a copywriter and editor at the University of Nevada, Reno. She thinks you should work there, too.

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