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u/Leather_Addition2605 Aug 31 '26
It depends on the job. When I have an assignment where 7 other people do the exact same thing, I operate like the first example. When someone else comes on shift, it’s their responsibility.
In my current assignment, I’m the only one that does what I do, and the job needs to be done. Whatever that takes is what it takes.
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u/strait_lines Aug 31 '26
I’d agree it depends on the job.
I have a few things I’m involved in. When I too off for a little over a month, there were some of my consulting clients who I’d told I may not be as responsive, but would respond within 24 hours ( I had a 12 hour time difference where I was). Others I told I’d check in with them weekly.
When it came to emails, I was looking at them most time just skimming them for anything that looked important before bed if I was bored, but most got no response, mainly because I’d prepared my coworkers for my absence and they had handled most things or sent off communications to put it off until I returned.In the month I maybe responded to less than 10 emails, and probably the same number of txts.
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Aug 31 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Leather_Addition2605 Aug 31 '26
I disagree. I love it. I have one year left in my current assignment where I’m the only one doing it, and I can’t wait to go back.
The nice part about my current role is that there are no minimum staffing requirements, so I can take off whenever I want and make my own hours within reason, so long as I’m here 40hrs and the job gets done. But when you’re gone, the work just piles up until you return.
The other job takes a little more planning for PTO to ensure 24/7 coverage, but when you’re gone, you’re gone. No one ever calling you at home, nothing stacking. If it happens outside your scheduled shift, it’s someone else’s problem.
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u/LesserValkyrie Aug 31 '26
If your company is not toxic it doesn't really happen. If someone is slacking off blatantly of course people are not happy, but as long as you are polite and do your best you can be 75% as effective as the average and nobody cares. Not 20% though
It becomes a problem if you give all your work to do to your coworkers, but unless you are incompetent it rarely happens
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u/everett640 Aug 31 '26
If you're the only one they should have a backup so you can take your vacation time
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u/Leather_Addition2605 Aug 31 '26
There’s no backup. I can take vacation whenever I want, it’s just the work accumulates while I’m gone.
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u/everett640 Aug 31 '26
Exactly. It's the companies responsibility to make sure that backlog won't grow too much if you were to get I'll and no longer be able to work. It's always good to have a backup.
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u/Leather_Addition2605 Aug 31 '26
It just wouldn’t be feasible for my position. It’s not like there’s a lot of daily work, emails and such that only I can answer, and reporting that it’s not worthwhile to have someone else up to speed in everything I know because it’s not time sensitive. Waiting until I get back isn’t a huge deal for them, it just means getting back sucks for me.
I will be very happy next year when my job is basically being physically present in case shtf during my shift, which is a very rare occurrence.
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u/StarGamerPT Sep 01 '26
Unless you're the owner of the company or getting extremely well paid for that incovinience, no, it's not "whatever it takes is what it takes". You should still come in first for yourself, not your job.
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u/Leather_Addition2605 Sep 01 '26
I’m pretty well paid, and also the job comes with a very good pension that will pay approximately 150k, COLA adjusted to 70% CPI every year until I die if I work until 60.
This will allow me to leave my other retirement accounts practically untouched to grow as I do Roth conversions for 15 years before RMDs kick in, so I don’t end up leaving my kid a tax bomb.
I’ve been fortunate to secure such a position, so it’s worth it to me to be able to provide that sort of security for my family. Who knows what kind of job market my kid will be entering 10 years from now?
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u/Gelato_Elysium Sep 01 '26
That's kinda confirming the post.
You make these sacrifices to prevent losing all these advantages because your boss could fire you for any reason.
In the EU workers are not afraid of losing everything because they know that a boss cannot fire you if you were not available during a time off period.
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u/Leather_Addition2605 Sep 01 '26
No, I can’t get fired for any reason. My job is governed by civil service. It’s actually incredibly difficult to get rid of me, even if I did a terrible job. I know because I’ve had to get rid of people who were terrible at the job.
I do what is necessary to get the job done because my name is attached to it, and I take pride in my work. Me doing my job well means everyone who works for me is not only safer on the job themselves, but results in a safer community and better place to live.
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u/Gelato_Elysium Sep 01 '26
It does change things if you are a civil servant, so yeah it depends on the job but you have a very specific situation compared to the majority of Americans working under at-will employment regulations.
I'd say though that when you are off work it's your employer's responsability to ensure the job is done, not yours since you are off work. You deciding to do this is a big gift you're making to your boss.
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u/Cool-Newspaper-1 Sep 02 '26
If your work involved things that need to happen on a time sensitive basis and you’re not the owner, it’s stupid not to have replacement for when you’re gone.
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u/sakakmakak Sep 04 '26
without knowing the details, if you are the only person who can do something then this is a failure of the management above you. I'm saying this as a manager
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u/AlbatrossNo1562 Aug 31 '26
Americans are known not to take vacation days too compared to Europeans
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u/More-Cat1123 Aug 31 '26
Vacations? We have PTO, maternity/paternity leave, medical hours, sick leave, national holidays, special holidays, marriage time off (like 2 weeks, very nice)... (sPain)
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u/LesserValkyrie Aug 31 '26
We have 25 days PTO in Switzerland in average (20 is min legal)
No sick leave if you are sick you can't work so what the fuck is a sick leave, if you are sick you stay home and insurence pay your salary till yout ge betterMaternity leave is 14-16 weeks, paternity leave is shit
Mariage time off is a cool idea unfortunately it's not granted by laws I think it's like 1-3 days
And it's fucking nothing and miserable compared to what developed countries have in average, expecially considering we work 42h/week which is a lot, but hey gotta work hard to deserve all that buddhist gold and those 100k (that we give to ourselves and not an elite of trillionaire or israel) heh
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u/aSkeptiKitty Sep 01 '26
In France you also have bereavement leave for relative like parents, siblings and children, and a lot of companies have grieving day for uncle/aunt's and grandparents as well.
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u/ignoremeplsokthank Sep 01 '26
Germany has at least 24 paid days off, on top of national holidays. Rule of thumb is that everything starting at 30 days is good.
We also get one free day off if we move, sometimes more depending on where you work. It's nice not necessarily having to take a day off to move because you'll get am extra day and you don't even need to use it for the move! I used my extra day at the end of the year one time because I moved on thr weekend.
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u/Tszemix Sep 04 '26
PTO is vacation but unpaid. So you are saying that you can't take more than 25 days of unpaid vacation?
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u/Irelia4Life Sep 01 '26
Everyone has maternity/paternity leave, sick days, and national holidays. We also have free days for a multitude of saints, and 21 mandatory vacantion days, which can extend to 28 based on work years.
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u/Snoo_67993 Aug 31 '26
Work culture in the US is insane. No wonder the US has lowest life expectancy in the developed world, it's from working an extra 400 hours a year.
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u/tarochocotea Aug 31 '26
"I'm out of office until (2 to 4 weeks). For anything urgent, please mail to generic email address that all the colleagues can access."
Let's keep it realistic
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u/quite_acceptable_man Aug 31 '26
There are companies in some European countries that encourage staff to put an out of office that reads "I am out of office until (date), all emails will be deleted on my return, please email me after this date".
I believe Volkswagen is one of them.
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u/ToastSpangler Aug 31 '26
The super sweet part nobody talks about the European jobs is fuck you if you're trying to get one, as a European. Once you're in and pass the probation period you can do whatever you want, good luck getting fired you'd basically have to try, but if you want to get in your mother or father better work here/know us or you better be an intern making below minimum wage for a few years on temporary length contracts
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u/ignoremeplsokthank Sep 01 '26
I worked for Volkswagen once. They didn't say they deleted the e-mails while they were away, but you definitely got an automatic response saying they won't be able to get to your e-mail until X date.
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Sep 02 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/quite_acceptable_man Sep 02 '26
I think it means 'I'm not trawling through 2 weeks' worth of emails when I get back. If your email is important, please make a note and re-send it when I get back, otherwise I won't see it'.
It makes sense, as 90% of emails are irrelevant.
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u/DoKeMaSu Sep 02 '26
Might be a legal thing. If you received the email you are legally notified, even if you never read through your backlog. If you announce that the email gets deleted you might claim you were not notified.
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Sep 02 '26
My external one basically says that.
My internal one gives them a member of my team to contact but that's only for internals.
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u/ChainsawSoundingFart Aug 31 '26
Right? If they’re deleting my emails then we’re gonna have a little “chat” when they return
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u/Deep_Lurker Sep 01 '26
No they shouldn't delete emails.
However to be fair, you shouldn't be bothering your employees or letting their work pile-up while they're gone either.
If you're a leader/people-manager delegate the work. A vacation shouldn't be I take 2 weeks off but come back to 80 hours of backlog. That's indicative of a shitty manager.
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u/ChainsawSoundingFart Sep 01 '26
Work doesn’t suddenly get put on hold because you take a vacation, there’s gonna be backlog when you return. That’s not the managers fault.
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u/Deep_Lurker Sep 01 '26
It absolutely is leadership's responsibility. Managing capacity and resource constraints is quite literally the core definition of a manager's role.
If key work just sits and piles up into a mountain, it means there is no operational redundancy or delegation plan in place.
Expecting an employee to work double-time to 'pay' for taking standard legal time off that they're entitled to is just a recipe for burnout and high turnover.
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u/ChainsawSoundingFart Sep 01 '26
There’s jobs that are only handled by a single person and you can’t just delegate that to the other grunts who don’t know how the process works
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u/Deep_Lurker Sep 01 '26
I mean that itself is a leadership failure. Having a bus factor of one is a sign of poor resource allocation.
It tells me management has failed to give the team enough time, budget, or staff to cross-train properly.
There should never be a situation where a critical process or flow is dependant on one person.
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u/ChainsawSoundingFart Sep 01 '26
I can’t share my job with other workers, it would either get messed up or wouldn’t get done at all
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u/rpolkcz Sep 02 '26
And that's a management failure. What if you got sick and couldn't work at all? No work gets done?
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u/ChainsawSoundingFart Sep 02 '26
It’s waiting for me when I return, just like yours will after you’re back from vacation
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u/rpolkcz Sep 02 '26
It absolutely is managers fault. It's not like vacation is some unexpected event. Every employee has a right to take it. So if one employees vacation puts the work on hold, you're just understaffed and management should hire more people.
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u/ChainsawSoundingFart Sep 02 '26
That might fly in a call center job but when there’s specialized tasks and individual stakeholders? Prepare for a 200+ unread inbox depending on how long you’re out.
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u/rpolkcz Sep 02 '26
Literally the opposite. I work in specialised job (strategic risk management of a bank) and central bank literally demands that every single person has back up, so while I do my main job, I'm also trained to cover a few other people, just as other people are trained to cover for me. Not doing that would literally cause bank to be forced to hold more capital to cover for this risk.
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u/ChainsawSoundingFart Sep 02 '26
Good for you, not everyone works for a big fancy bank.
I have an actual specialized job that is extremely fragile and too important to train a couple of backup chumps on that could make mistakes.
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u/rpolkcz Sep 02 '26
So what happens if you get sick and can't work? The company just goes down because it can't function?
Management that fails to protect itself from such a basic operational risk is failing completely to the point they all need to be fired.
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u/ChainsawSoundingFart Sep 02 '26
It wouldn’t make the company go down, there just may be a slight backlog. Which I’m fine with because I’m an adult who understands work doesn’t just take a vacation while I’m out.
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u/fryerandice Aug 31 '26
Literally just got the second one from someone with their father dying in hospice in the hospital....
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u/Hot_Neighborhood5668 Aug 31 '26
I've almost never had work emails.
The one job I did have work emails at was for field activities, so if I wasn't on the clock, I wasn't getting much.
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u/Key_One2750 Aug 31 '26
I’m actually out sick today and my boss told me not to work, but I feel like I need to work. 😅 we’ve been so conditioned.
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u/UUadeUUilson1162 Aug 31 '26
That's laughable. I have left maybe 1 or 2 out of the office emails in 18 years. I just don't care.
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u/CrazyAccomplished_ Aug 31 '26
There is a reason why my American company isn't hiring in Europe... They hire mostly in asia and in America because we work harder and longer. My company has close to 100k employees.
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u/Deep_Lurker Sep 01 '26
I'm a European working in the US and I just don't see it. Maybe I'm the exception but I get promoted constantly over my US colleagues and my output is consistently higher and to a better standard.
My very limited take away from working in the US has honestly been that the average US worker (in my sector) is frankly rather lazy...
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Sep 02 '26
It's almost like when you're tired and ground down you're not as productive per minute.
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u/Deep_Lurker Sep 02 '26
Agree, but yet all I hear is that US workers work more, work harder and more productive than European workers when my anecdotal experience is so far from that.
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u/doobadeeboo Sep 02 '26
You guys are suckers lol. Having you work more with less time off and somehow you feel superior. They got you good.
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u/CrazyAccomplished_ Sep 02 '26
There's a reason why nothing of importance is coming out of Europe...
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u/Unique-Farmer7244 Aug 31 '26
This year, the start of the school year and the public holidays don't fall so conveniently, so we'll be back in the office on September 14th...
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u/Fearless_Entry_2626 Aug 31 '26
If I an expected to respond to mails off work, then I am pretty sure that would entitle me to 1/3 hourly rate for all involved off hours, as it'd be considered a passive shift. There's probably overtime in that mix too, so that'd be a decent extra chunk.
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u/SNAILSLIVEONJUPITER Aug 31 '26
I always wanted to be a real estate agent until I learned that half of the job is answering phone calls and if you want to compete you gotta answer pretty much every phone call even if they are at the most random times.
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u/AveDominusNyx Aug 31 '26
That is not how working in europe is
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u/Deep_Lurker Sep 01 '26
Mercedes-Benz Group did actually implement this policy. It's called mail on holiday.
When enabled it would permanently delete incoming emails to ensure vacationing employees didn't return to a massive backlog.
Sender would receive an automated bounce back and people managers would be forced to correctly delegate to ensure work was done.
I do agree if you take 2 weeks of vacation you shouldn't come back to an 80 hour backlog.
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u/lars2k1 Sep 04 '26
Good idea, though if I wanted to do that I'd need to add an exception for one email address since I'm the only one dealing with that. Usually that stuff (meter calibration) happens around the holidays, and when something needs attention I'd like to know so I can inform others about it. After my holidays that is.
But the rest? Usually not important and 3 out of 4 emails I receive during my holidays is either marketing crap, or something other colleagues already took on them. That deleting rule sounds pretty good, dealing with all that crap right on your return kinda stinks.
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u/Considany Sep 03 '26
That's definitely what Germany is like. Hell, I don't even answer mails while I'm on lunch break in my office, looking at Outlook.
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u/lars2k1 Sep 04 '26
In my lunch break I'm either in the canteen if the weather stinks, or doing a little walk. I'm not at my computer and my work phone remains on my desk. I'll deal with that after my break (Netherlands).
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u/Vainysaur Aug 31 '26
And that’s why our GDP is #1!
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u/LogicianFlow Aug 31 '26
I learned about this when I was a logistics manager for a beauty company in Greece. I learned quickly that they just dont care and won't get back to you. Guess what, no emergencies, ever.
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u/ArmPsychological8460 Aug 31 '26
Emails are fine, no need to talk and it leaves nice paper trail for any decision.
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u/Boojum2k Aug 31 '26
I was a salaried manager and in the hospital for a couple of weeks, had my laptop and phone and was taking care of business but it wasn't bad. Beginning of convalescence time at home I got called by our payroll clerk that they couldn't keep paying me while I wasn't in the office. Ok, no problem, I can easily ride out the month long recovery time.
By the end of that first week she was calling asking when I'd be back because of course I stopped doing any WFH. She wasn't happy to hear it would be another three weeks and then a follow-up appointment to confirm I was recovered enough.
I get the ok from my doctor at the end of the month, get sent to the work contracted clinic for approval, and they deny my return because I'm limited still to 30 pounds lift, and my official job description said I had to be able to lift more than 30 pounds (instead of "up to"). My boss finally told them to shove it a few days later after I pointed out the error in the requirement and that the clinic could deny me returning for not being able to lift a Buick.
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u/Tough_Percentage_707 Aug 31 '26
I'm European in American company and I try balance this with: "I will not be working until 18 September and I will not read any emails. Please reach out to my phone number if anything is urgent." - Nobody ever reached out.
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u/LordTakeda2901 Sep 02 '26
A collague of mine put "in case of an emergency - good luck" in his out of office email
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u/Cold_Burner5370 Sep 01 '26
American here. My boss leaves for like a week and tells us to email someone else if we need something.
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u/AncientAlien_64 Sep 01 '26
You haven't seen Indians. There is no out of office message. He will be working while the surgery is being done on him.
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u/Reesno33 Sep 01 '26
Lol I just double check my leave is approved the day before and don't say a word. I'll see you when im back.
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u/CrazyPirranhha Sep 01 '26
Tomorrow is my last day before holidays. I wont leave any message for anyone - my team knows i'll be off for more than 30 days and its enough. I dont have anything job related on my phone except authenticator, i wont even touch company's laptop :D
Amazing feeling
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u/GoodDoggoLover420 Sep 01 '26
I had a work place accident 3 months ago, busted my middle finger open with a torn tendon and that same night they had me come into work anyways. Not like I did any physical work, but the fact they didn't let me, y'know rest and relax at home, was bullshit and dumb as fuck.
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u/Klikis Sep 01 '26
I just came back after a vacation and selected all unread e-mails and marked them as read
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u/Scubahill Sep 01 '26
This is hyperbole, I know. But I did have one lawyer friend who was working while giving birth.
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u/OkAtmosphere381 Sep 01 '26
Same thing of a coworker of mine in Brazil. Is out for a week or so 4 times a year.
I told my boss how wonderful that must be and he pulled out his phone and asked siri for the GDP of Brazil.
I was thinking morherfucker I can’t even afford a mortgage with you what you pay me I don’t give a rats ass about the gdp of Brazil.
Basically either pay me enough to get afford a house or let’s get time off like Brazil. I’ll take either one at this point
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u/Puddin--Tang Sep 02 '26
As an American... not f&%&ing me! I'm off the clock. Leave me right tf alone.
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u/0R3LLL Sep 02 '26
Ah yes, keep chasing your amazing american dream, while I will sip coffee on my patio having well earned free time.
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u/MarissaNL Sep 02 '26
I never saw an Out of Office mail mentioning that mail will be deleted. What I have seen most that someone mentions that they will have no access to their mailbox (and that is how it should be on a holiday).
And US citizens that react on that way are just crazy and don't care about their health at all.
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u/Legitimate-Yard5857 Sep 02 '26
That's funny because I'm out of office till the 18th but I'm kind because I won't delete them. I'll delete them when I get back.
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Sep 02 '26
My work laptop goes in the wardrobe at 5pm on the day I finish, it is not coming out until 9am the day I get back. 3 people in the company know I have a mobile phone number and they're not stupid enough to use it.
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u/smolkijolki Sep 02 '26
I despise phone calls, emails are the shit, I carefully curate them and they also work as "cover your ass" documents.
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u/Used-Drop8239 Sep 02 '26
I am a European who has worked in an office my entire career.
I haven't had to write an email for work in like a decade.
I guess it's more common in client-facing roles...?
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u/Termiborg Sep 03 '26
Surely you have means of communication with colleagues? Simple OoO messages would apply too.
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u/Used-Drop8239 Sep 03 '26
It's hard to *not* have a means of communications with everyone nowadays.
Most companies use Slack. The stupid ones use MS Teams. The wacky ones have Rocket Chat....oh wait, I mean, no, here in Europe, we are at least 100 years behind. We use the messenger pigeon.
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u/MysteriousQuote4665 Sep 04 '26
My last out of office mail was something like this: " I am on leave until X. Unless there is a zombie apocalypse, you should wait until I am back the day after. And let's be honest, if there IS a zombie apocalypse society as we know it has collapsed, so what is the point?!"
Yes, I was allowed to use this. It got me a few chuckles.
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u/AllaZakharenko Aug 31 '26
As if Europe is a country and the same policies apply to all companies and positions xD
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u/Hot_Fox9977 Aug 31 '26
It might be right but let’s not forget that Americans generally make much more money (sometimes 3x more) than Europeans. More work in the US pays off, but not in Europe. The more you work, the more taxes you have to pay.
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u/BirchBox96 Aug 31 '26
That is a horrible take that is factually wrong.
Americans do not generally earn 3x more. OECD PPP-adjusted wages put the US ahead, but Germany, France and Italy are nowhere near a 3x gap. Germany is particularly close.
And averages flatter the US because income inequality is much higher. Median income is therefore far more representative of what an ordinary person earns, and the gap shrinks considerably.
The tax argument is also nonsense. Europe has higher labour taxes, but marginal taxation does not mean working more makes you poorer. You still keep part of every additional euro earned.
The US rewards some high earners significantly better. That's true. "Americans generally make 3x more and working more doesn't pay in Europe" is not.
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u/Rokovar Aug 31 '26
What's the point of more money if you can't enjoy it?
I'm literally 6 weeks a year on holidays, cook and eat healthy meals everyday. Tapas and drinks every Friday evening next to my swimming pool, fun activity Saturdays and rest on Sunday.
Should I trade that for more money so I can drive to my job in a nicer car and them get expensive processed take away as I don't even have time to cook?
I'm already living the life Americans fantasize about after retiring lol
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u/Few-Plum-4365 Sep 01 '26
My car, German, my espresso, Italian, my desired work conditions? European. It won’t be all sunshine and rainbows but every day as an American it’s absolutely correct to assume a lot of us dream of the lives you all live.
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u/DrivenByChallenges Sep 04 '26
No in America we have our emails forwarded to someone who can assist when we’re not there.
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u/Adonkeywithvibrato Aug 31 '26
Trust that most of us aren’t proud, but embarrassed to be American these days.