More Work vs. More Holidays: It Depends on Where You Live

On an airplane flight a few years ago, I sat next to a retired fire-fighter from Ireland who was visiting his son in Arizona. I asked him what the differences were between life in Ireland and the US. He replied,

“In Ireland, people work to live. In America, people live to work.”

In Australia, I am convinced people work to go on holidays.

Arriving at a cocktail party full of strangers in the US, conversations usually start with “What do you do?” In Australia, it is as common to inquire “Have you gone anywhere interesting lately?”

Traditional Christian doctrine defines afterlife in terms of Heaven or Hell. Aussies seem less concerned about the prospects. Perhaps, they tend to be less religious, but I am beginning to think that they’re just waiting to learn what the holiday policies are for both places. Going to Hell would not be so bad if there were ample holidays to Heaven.

Aussies like to travel on their holidays, especially if the destinations are outside Australia. Everyone I have met in Sydney has been to New York City, Los Angeles, and much of Europe. Most have not been to Perth, Broom and/or Darwin. In the US, it is the opposite. Most have been to NY, LA, Chicago, and Florida amongst other domestic destinations. But if asked if they have been to Sydney or Melbourne, they may very well ask how long of a drive it is.

In the US, a long airplane flight is 3 hours. In Australia, a 3 hour flight puts you on a life raft in the South Pacific. Okay, New Zealand is within reach if you ignore typical airport delays.

In the US, employees typically receive 2 to 3 weeks of vacation per year, depending on seniority. Many never use their entire allotment; they’re too busy at work. However, there are some exceptions. Once I asked the wife of a colleague how she convinced her husband to take more time off. She replied, "I promise great sex if he goes and not much if he doesn't go." Guys are so gullible.

In Australia, employees receive 4 weeks holiday time by law plus extra weeks for long service leave , which begins accumulating after 5 years with the same company. At ten years, an employee has accumulated an extra 8 weeks of holidays and continues to accumulate an additional week per year thereafter. This is all in addition to the base 4 weeks of entitlement. If not taken, the holiday time accumulates by law from year to year. The only reasons someone would not take their full entitlement, however, are if they die or if they seek to accumulate time for a really long holiday like 4 months.

Holidays are taken without regard to what is happening at work. Skip an important Board meeting to go on holidays to India or go to Fiji during final negotiations on a big corporate acquisition, you are not likely to have a job when you return in the US. In Australia, you’re expected to send postcards. When away, Americans check their Blackberries and IPhones regularly; be out of touch too long and your assistant back home may start calling local hosiptials to see if you survived the car crash. In Australia, being on holiday means not checking in with work. Look at your Blackberry too much and you're sleeping on the sofa that night (which largely defeats the purpose of going on holidays for many guys).

The two cultures approach time away from work very differently. I never took more than a 2 week vacation in 30+ years working in the US and often took only 1 week at a time to minimize work disruption. Perhaps because Australia is a million miles away from anywhere except New Zealand and Antarctica, longer holidays are customary. I also suspect Aussie women are better at convincing guys to go away.

Recently I went to Tasmania with a friend. I wanted to go for 4 or 5 days; she argued for 2 weeks. We compromised on 1 week. While there, we met an American couple who were in Tassie on holidays for 3 days; I was impressed but she was aghast.

Sometimes 4 week holidays just seem too short, especially for young people in Australia. In such cases, they often quit work and go traveling.

“Why are you quitting? Is there something we should be doing differently?” I asked a young promising worker with obvious career potential.

“No, the Company is great; I just want to go to London and thought I would take a year or so to get there.”

When you see a gap in someone’s resume in America, you are usually suspicious. However, if the individual is Australian, you assume he or she has been traveling and are less concerned.

A goal in the American work culture is to become indispensible. You cannot be terminated; you receive more money; you have better career advancement options. In Australia, being indispensible could interfere with holidays and may not be so desirable.

Whilst Aussies like to travel, they do not like to relocate within Australia for work. Asking a Sydneysider to move to Melbourne for a better job is akin to asking him or her to give up their first born child. It’s even worse if you ask a “Melbourne girl” to move to Sydney. Relocating to New York City or London may be okay but not elsewhere in Australia.

By contrast, in the US I have lived in the following states attending school and working: Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, Washington DC, Pennsylvania, Maryland, California, New York, and Texas. If I had been born and raised in Sydney, it is almost certain I would have lived exclusively in New South Wales.

A doctor in Sydney told me once he moved his family from South Africa after considering the US and Australia for his future home. He decided on Australia. He explained:

“In the US, kids grow up and move away. In Australia kids grow up, go away, and then return home. He decided he wanted his grown up children to be close by.

The attitude toward work and non-work affects attitudes toward child bearing as well. In the US, maternity leave is usually 6-8 weeks; beyond that the Company will normally replace the employee. In Australia, maternity leave is usually one year and can be extended to two years with the employee retaining the legal right to return to her job. Paternity leave is also more common in Australia and is protected by law.

Work is a bridge. In the US, it is a bridge to career advancement, money, and more work. In Australia, I sometimes think it is a bridge between holidays.

So which culture is better? Is the higher productivity of the American worker best or is the more balanced lifestyle of the Australian worker better? I am unsure, but I will consider the question carefully on my long holiday, which starts next week.

I wonder if her promises were just a ploy to get me to take a longer holiday? No, can't be....

Emails Forever

I receive a couple hundred emails a day. I cannot ignore them; I cannot escape them; I cannot hide from them. Sure I can leave an automated response that I am in Siberia, but they will just keep coming and piling up like winter snow in my birth city of Chicago.

I appreciate the instant communication emails provide. Just this week I received an email from my sister-in-law in the US that my brother was hospitalized and I was able to call him when I awoke in the morning. Emails make me much more productive at work and allow me to keep in touch with the relatives back home. But emails do have drawbacks and consume incredible amounts of time; I have this periodic desire to escape the electronic reach of my blackberries..

I have a trip planned to Darwin soon and thought I would take a day and go bushwalking in a remote area of the Northern Territory. Surely, there is no email reception there (actually I have been to Siberia and there is email there). Alternatively, a colleague told me I should take a 4-wheel drive trip through the Kimberley where there is no email or mobile phone reception.

But that would mean I would have a couple thousand emails waiting for me when I emerged from the wilderness. Emails do not expire like the biodegradable bags that are popular today but are useless in holding heavier groceries – they seem to degrade before I arrive home.

I have 7 email accounts, which eagerly fill up every day with various missives. Why so many? Well, I have an email address at work (that is one). Then I have my email address for my consulting firm which is inactive but registered with various government agencies and investment companies (that is #2). I have a personal email account from the US (#3), and when I moved to Australia Telstra gave me an email account when I signed up for Internet service (#4). Only I did not like the Telstra email name and they would not let me change it (I know because I talked to about 15 guys in India and finally gave up), so I added another Telstra email name that I can actually remember (#5). And then there is my old AOL email address (#6) I had for years before my ex wife took the email account with her as part of the divorce. Then she found out she could not change the email address of record with AOL (they must have a relationship with Telstra), so she has to keep my old account active as long as she wants to use her account. I still receive occasional emails from old acquaintances that do not have any of my other 6 account addresses. Finally, my blackberry comes with its own email address (#7). Now if I could only remember the passwords.

To keep track of my emails, I need 2 blackberries. One is for work and the other consolidates the other 6 personal accounts. Now if I could only remember the blackberry passwords too.

I always respond to personal emails; it is important to me to acknowledge when someone takes the time to send me a note. I do not respond to junk mail or the letters from Nigeria informing me they are holding $100 million for me but they are having trouble sending it to me. But I do respond to other copious emails each day.

The other day I sent an email to a woman with a request to meet for coffee. She, like me, responds to emails even if she is not interested. So she sends me a nice email declining the invitation due to a conflict. Since I respond to all personal emails, I sent her an email thanking her for responding. Since she feels compelled to respond to emails too, she sent me a note thanking me for responding to her response. I am getting ready to respond to her response to my response.

This could be a good story. Two people who have nothing in common other than they both feel it is proper and courteous to respond to letters and emails are caught in eternal email ping-pong. At first, they were irritated to respond so often to spurious emails, but eventually they came to look forward to the routine and familiar comfort from regular contact. After 25 years, the emails ceased. The system of email had been replaced by thought mail – you think something and the thought is transmitted. Unfortunately, he could not adjust and his attempts and sending thoughts often went awry. So he finally gave up, and the emails ceased. But they were fun and comforting for years.

Back to reality. I am uncertain what to do with the deluge of emails. I am reminded of a former US Senator who replied to various constituent letters by saying, “Dear sir, I thought you should know that an idiot has been sending me correspondence and using your good name.” Unfortunately, I would still need to read all the emails before I could identify the undesired senders. so this does not work either.

For junk mail and marketing solicitations, I used to “unsubscribe” to the sender’s list. I have since learned that this action only serves to confirm you have a legitimate email address that now can be sold to other mass mailing services, resulting in a quantum increase in emails received.

Until I figure out a better solution, I will just keep responding to personal emails and ignoring emails from marketing services, get rich schemes, banks where I do not have accounts, and assorted other nuisances. But it is nice to know my brother is fine and the guy in Africa is still holding my $100 million.