Reply to: Having No Holidays - Is that Sustainable

[Xil3]

I think I've been spoiling myself, but last year I had about 5 months worth of holidays.

I find that I need a holiday after about 3 months of work - maybe it's the dreadful weather in London? Who knows...

[craig1]

Holidays are essential. Usually I'm happy to work for a six month contract with no holidays, after all for that length of time they usually want someone who is consistently in the office. After that though I'll take a few weeks away in between contracts.

For contracts up to a year, I'll usually take a one week holiday around Christmas (nothing happens then anyway in most companies) and a two week holiday when it best suits the client's needs. Beyond a year, I'd have to consider the impact of the role such as commute, hours, stress before I'd work on a holiday plan. Then I like to have a week or so off each year for training.

Ideal holidays are somewhere I get no mobile phone reception! There are still some nice log cabins in Wales and Scotland that have no reception on any carrier but most nice holiday locations abroad have that pesky signal that keeps my blackberry pinging away.

[jmo21]

Depends on individual cicumstance I guess.

How many enforced breaks have you had?
How big is your warchest?
How does your missus feel about it? Does she love the cash or prefer hols? Or maybe you are single and not constrained :-)
What is the market for your skills in the areas you are prepared to work in like?

As others have said, your health can suffer - at the moment I have been in contract for 21 months straight (across 2 contracts), but have taken 1 week off for holiday, 2 weeks for birth of my daughter, 1 week break to my second contract in that period, and another 1 week holiday.

And I desperately need another holiday now!

I have a decent warchest though, plus my missus and I need to have our holidays!

[the_rangdo]

I book holidays when I want them, often way in advance (Easter 2012 is already covered )

Probably have 4-5 weeks off per year, if they happen to fall in contracts then so be it - work to live and all that.

I also don't fret about it being lost money or costing double - it's factored into my earnings.

[lukemg]

I'm averaging 37 weeks in work a year, I can't justify cutting into any contract time by taking holidays !

[perplexed]

If you dropped dead tomorrow (and it happened to one my parents' of working age) would you be pleased that you spent the last week at work feeling sh*t?

If you dropped dead, you'd be like dead... any supposition about being pleased or not is way too theological for me...

[Support Monkey]

No one on their deathbed ever said "i wish i had spent more time in the office"

i work on a 48 week year that allows 4 weeks off, i may take it may not, it depends on the contract\project at the time but i always try and take a break and especially between contracts and i never start looking for the next one while still in contract

it always surprises me why people worry about the money they are losing when on holiday, if you cannot make enough money to have a break when you want your in the wrong game

[FiveTimes]

I always used to take time off in the summer and go on a 2 week break somewhere warm.
It helped me to relax and I forgot about the invoicing, paperwork, clientco etc ...

I never thought of it as lost money or the holiday costing twice as much.

I worked to live

[Wilmslow]

I ve been working for 18 months flat on a contract and have had no time off

Frankly speaking I feel exhausted at the moment but I just wonder how long people on here have been without taking any time off

In my free time I normally try to get away for the weekends and go abroad - Can I factor in abnother 18 months with no time off?

No, not sustainable, but I can see where you are coming from.

When I moved into contracting from being a perm I was keen to keep the money rolling in, and saw a day in the office as lost money.

Now I am back to being permie again, I am enjoying my holidays again.

The way I handled how you are feeling just now was to get a long weekend break, maybe Friday to Sunday, or Friday to Monday. That is enough time to jet off somewhere for a good break which may be all you need for now.

[ChrisPackit]

I think that there has to be a balance between working hard and not burning yourself out. For me over the last 12 months, was one week in summer for a holiday, and one week plus bank holidays over christmas. The problem is I'm sure I don't need to tell anyone here, that it costs twice as much with lost income and I can't stop thinking about it when I'm on holiday!

Saying that, I've got kids at a crazy age and I can do about a week with them, then I'm dying to get back into the office for some sanity !!

[BlasterBates]

I must admit I don't take holidays. I did one year but at the end of the year I regretted the fact that I hadn't spent more time in the office.

[SueEllen]

If you dropped dead tomorrow (and it happened to one my parents' of working age) would you be pleased that you spent the last week at work feeling sh*t?

If the answer is no then take some time off. If you don't want to spend any money then take a long weekend off at home doing extremely little.

[rsingh]

Ask yourself why are working like this. If you can't answer it instantly, take some time off to work it out. Preferably away from a computer, abroad, with friends.

If you do know your goal, then you probably wont reach it due to turnout. So, take some time off to help achieve it. Preferably away from a computer, abroad, with friends.

[lukemg]

Worked 270 days one year (if you only take weekends + BH's off you work 253 !)
Found you can go fairly long term with one day off a week but a full weekend will take a big toll. Wouldn't do that now, I get enforced breaks between contracts that I don't really enjoy but do count as a break.
Factor some hols, live a little...

[TykeMerc]

I did 3 1/2 years non stop for a client from early 1997, I didn't work many weekends, but evening and overnight work on migrations was common, I only took bank holidays off. However I was living under a mile from the 2 main sites I worked on, could come and go pretty much at will and it was fine.

If I'd had to commute and stick to a 9-5 monitored regime I couldn't/ wouldn't have done it.