June 19, 2006 11:36 AM

Vacation time
Posted by Douglas Eisenhartat 11:36 AM

The warm weather is at long last upon us, prompting thoughts of summer and being outdoors and. . .vacation.

But how many of us take the time to get away, kick back, and truly unwind? This week's "View from the Cube" contributor, Sue Dahling Sullivan, ponders our attitude toward vacation time:

I was shocked when I read an article in the Sunday Globe earlier this month about a series of surveys conducted for the online travel agency Expedia that showed around 30 percent of Americans give up some of their vacation time each year. I vowed long ago, with my left hand atop the employee handbook and my right hand raised over the time sheet, that for better or worse, I would always use the entirety of my accrued days. And I'm proud to say that I have lived through many a performance evaluation while remaining passionately committed to that creed.

With a house full of in-law Brits over the last couple of weeks, I am sensitized to the issue. The European attitude toward vacation is v-e-r-y different. Four weeks is a given, almost a birthright. Some take much more time, and when they get away, they really get away, for weeks at a time.

Sullivan picks up on the old saying that we work to live, not live to work. But Americans are often accused of the latter, while the Europeans embody the former. There is a cultural fear factor in there somewhere - geez, if I can be out of the office for four weeks at a time, maybe they'll realize they don't really need me after all!

But US employers also need to ask themselves what kind of employees they want around - tired, cranky, pasty, overworked? Or - at least once a year, anyway - relaxed, recharged, refreshed, maybe a little tanned, and ready to get back at it again, reinvigorated and with a fresh perspective from having been away?

I'm in Sullivan's camp. If you've earned the time off, take it. You're entitled, and you and everyone else around you - at home or in the office - will be better off for it.