To not take my work laptop on holiday?

[Justathrowawaycomment]

I have a relatively intense job - but - it's NOT a life saving type of job - it's in tech.

It is a US-based firm, and I report into a US-based leader. They don't really 'do' annual leave, as in, they take their PTO (Paid Time Off) but still dial into calls, and and...well, work, basically.

DH, DD and I go on a week's holiday (abroad) tomorrow morning.

My gut tells me to take my work laptop - so I have access to work/files if I need them.

My brain tells me that taking my work mobile (with access to email + Microsoft Teams) is enough.

When I ask myself "what could go wrong?" - it's nothing major, nothing that will cost us money, or be embarrassing for the company, but it might be inconvenient for my leadership team if they want access to something I can't provide from holiday.

I can't really pre-provide them with access to everything they 'might' need as there is a LOT of stuff, and some of it is quite sensitive, especially without context.

So AIBU to not take my (stupidly heavy) work laptop...? I think I just need reassurance that I'm not being unreasonable, more than anything.

I also work for a US company, although thankfully don’t have this pressure.

Tell them you’re going to Cuba ;)

You’re being very naive.

We travel with iPads due to the nature of our jobs, but dp is paid accordingly for his 24/7 loyalty and can take personal time off easily during normal work days for instance- these this work both ways. Similarly I can easily nip out if I need to at work or even take a day off without needing to take annual leave, the flip side is I do my emails and other essential things on holiday (by the pool) - we are trying to work out if we can just work from a cruise ship!

Or Russia, North Korea and Iran. In fact you might do a little tour and who knows where you might lose your laptop?

I wonder what happens in US financial institutions when people are in jobs where they have to have mandatory one/two week holidays for fraud prevention reasons.

I work for a Canadian firm. Il not allowed to take my devices out of the uk without ridiculous levels of clearance that take forever to action so I very happily leave it behind.

I wouldn't take the work phone either

When I was at a small firm the chap that never took a holiday was actually hiding a massive fraud he got 7 years in prison for. So agree not being transparent and being over protective about “your” work is a red flag.

Ahh, this is why I love Mumsnet! I'm a realist, not a shit manager - and my team know that by me speaking the truth like this, I have their best interests at heart in a dog eat dog environment.

But hey, you know me better than I know myself obviously!

Everybody needs a break. A proper break. You only get one life!!!!!! It’s shit to expect staff to be in constant contact. Even the Victorians got a few days off. Heart surgeons do. What is it that you do that’s so important?

Why would you even want to work somewhere where you are afraid to take a few days off? That's no life.

My project director has just got back from two weeks off. We have spent the morning going over the projects I kept running while she was away, what needs to be picked up and any decisions I took in her absence.

Because we are normal people who work in an adult environment

If you can’t let someone have a week’s leave without contacting them then that’s not exactly a great manager. Do you contact them when they’re in labour or having their appendix removed too?

@MrsDoylesTea If you were my manager I would leave.

No way I would work somewhere that expected me to regularly work outside of my paid hours or on holiday. That is a mark of a terrible employer.

So only those who accept that their employment requires them to be always contactable are “realists” and those of us that expect a couple of weeks off a year are “naive” and “work to rule”. What sad sad lives you must lead.

Bollocks.

If you can't manage your team/organisation well enough that you can't imagine someone taking a week off without needing to be contacted, you're shit at your job.

Exactly. If you can't implement and maintain efficient processes, put effective delegation and succession planning in place and avoid single points of failure, you're not a good manager.

It doesn't matter how much you get paid. People have been well paid for years before wifi etc and they managed holidays. Even people running the country were out of contact til morning once they had jumped on the train at 17.12:)

Managers whom say ' its expected' and use redundancies to threaten staff they ' might' lose their job - I suspect they are control freaks and power crazed - bothering people on their holiday because they can. Of course your staff agree with you. Do you genuinely think they would dare have another opinion?:)

Suggest you hold your exit interviews when they are safely in another job. You're likely to get the truth.

Your holiday insurance might not cover it. Don't take it. And yeah, I'd flag you as a possible fraudster and not a team player who knowledge shares if you won't just push off and have a break. Let someone else step up, and have a career boost.

You're all too funny. Thankfully I don't need your feedback on my management capabilities, I'm happy with how my team view me instead.

Oh, and by the way, it's not just me being a shit manager - that is the company culture, so we must have only ever hired 20,000 shit managers worldwide - go us!

What utter drivel. You don't know me at all or my capabilities as a manager, nor fake conversations with them that I've never had. Instead I help them navigate the culture.

I'm very much ok with the fact that many of you think I'd be a shit manager and wouldn't work for me, as I'm pretty sure I'd never hire you due to your workshy nature. So win/win I think.

Well then I think we can all ignore your views on running and working within a shitty culture of not allowing people to disconnect completely from work then.

Self-righteous and self-important, much??

Just mirroring your attitude.

People like you just encourage a toxic, work-till-you-drop culture that is completely unhealthy. Everyone should be able to take a week off work and for there to be sufficient capacity within the business to cope with that and thankfully in the UK that is the norm and why I have turned down US based jobs due to their fucking appalling attitudes to work-life balance.

I mean, the examples you gave were literally pulling files off sharepoint. If you can't give more than 1 person access to a sharepoint folder and the knowledge of where that folder is, clearly something isn't being run very well.

Have you ever asked them for their opinion of your management style or whether the expectations on them to be on call even when on holiday. What if it’s their honeymoon, would you still be trying to contact them?

Just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t make it right. Be the change.

You work for a company with a shit culture. Helping people navigate that is not great is it?

Have you ever stopped to think why you work for a company that expects people to work during their holdiays - do you hire people who are not capable of delegating? Are your staff not good enough to do the work required in their rcontractoed hours? Do you not have enough staff?

What is going on at your company that people are expected to work well above what is normal?

Enjoy your well deserved holiday. Leave anything work related at home. Life is too short.