The V-Word in Academia
Combating the stigma surrounding vacation for academics.
I just returned from a two-week vacation, feeling refreshed, and I am ashamed to confess that this was the first time since becoming a professor that I actually used the “v-word” in my automatic vacation email responder. It was only recently in my ten-year faculty career that I started using the responder at all, preferring instead to fly under the radar and not announce that I was away. After all, I reasoned, as long as I responded to my email in a timely manner, no one could tell if I was on a beach or in my office.
Even when I started using the responder, I would word the message carefully, stating that I was “traveling” or had “spotty connectivity” to cover up that I was away. What if anyone found out — shock! horror! —that I was taking some time off?
Does this mean that I didn’t take vacation in the past? Of course not! Everyone needs and deserves time off, even us academics. However, we are uniquely blessed and cursed in that our working times are very much our own. There is no clock to punch and no manager to appease, and in summer there’s generally not even any students to teach. It’s a blessing because we can easily take a break at odd times as long as we can cover our teaching and service commitments. It’s a curse because this means that external factors (research, deadlines, service, tenure, and promotion, to name just a few) also drive us to work at the same odd times.
Nevertheless, I’ve done a pretty reasonable job in the past of actually disconnecting and making good use of my time off. This is the first step: actually feeling like you can afford to not work all the time. Admitting it to the world is the next step, and believe it or not, it is only recently that I have been able to fully take this step.
This year, perhaps spurred by the fact that I am no longer under a looming specter of tenure or promotion, I not only proudly stated that I was on vacation in my email responder, but I even managed to leave my laptop behind. While I did have my phone so I could be reached for urgent issues (truth to be told, it doesn’t happen as often as I feared), I’m still proud of my ability to disconnect this time around. If nothing else, I returned feeling more rested and relaxed than ever, and these two weeks felt much longer than a mere 14 days.
But it also made me reflect on why there is a stigma associated with vacation for academics. Perhaps this is just me, perhaps this is different in other fields, or perhaps there is a difference between academics at research-oriented versus teaching-oriented institutions, but it feels to me that there is a perverse culture of overwork (or at least the perception of overwork) in academia. I have often seen colleagues taking turns boasting about how busy they are, how many papers they are submitting, and how long hours they work, and it makes me sad. Many times I find myself both sending and receiving lost of emails on weekends. And even the late Randy Pausch, who gave his “Last Lecture” on achieving his childhood dreams and living life to the fullest, also told junior faculty members that his secret to success was working until 10pm at night in his office even on Fridays.
But let’s not blame the victims; while most faculty members are ambitious and driven individuals, they wouldn’t overwork to this level by choice. As stated above, there are a host of external factors that combine to create this dangerous culture. Succeeding in teaching, research, and service in order to get publications, grants, awards, tenure, and promotion are all intrinsic to the life of a faculty member, and thus difficult to eliminate. Instead, what we can do, especially senior faculty such as myself, is to try to eliminate the harmful perception of overwork being necessary. In other words, it is perfectly fine to be busy, to have many commitments, and to work hard. After all, this is how you succeed and excel, and that choice is best left to the individual. However, no one should ever have to feel that they have to work all the time, or that they can’t afford to take time off. On the contrary, time off should be celebrated.
To contribute to this, I will try to be much more open about my own vacations and free weekends going forward, and will encourage others to do the same, especially my senior colleagues. Second, I have taken full use of my parental leave in the past, and hope that my younger colleagues will as well if and when relevant. And finally, I will also try to schedule emails I write on weekends to be sent on Monday. Perhaps there are better ways to combat this stigma; please let me know!
Meanwhile, to take my mind off the few hundred emails that have amassed in my inbox in my absence, I’ve shamelessly taken the opportunity to celebrate my own recent vacation by adding some pictures from it to this post. Sorry not sorry!
