"I am on vacation for a week using PTO. My work phone has been off since Saturday, and my boss has access to my work computer and email," she explained. "He just called my personal phone at 4:58 p.m. to tell me I need to check my work phone at least once a day to forward all calls/texts/emails to him."
The woman noted that PTO is an opportunity to "disconnect from work, and relax and recharge," but having to check her work phone daily means she's not "fully able to disconnect from work." No lies detected!
"I've been with the company for two years and have been thinking about moving on due to inconsistent raises across the board, being expected to be available 24/7/365, and some new internal policies," she added. "So combined with this information that I can't take a true vacation, it has me wanting to really put my job search plans into high gear."
This is an absurd request, and the expert manager she came to for advice told her as much.
Alison Green, the "manager" of Ask a Manager, told this woman that it's "not normal" for her boss to make her check her work phone while she's on vacation. However, there are certain situations when she might decide to do that.
"For example, if you're in the middle of a high-profile project and the other key person working on it is in the hospital and the only way you can take this week off is if you check in periodically to handle anything urgent, you might decide that trade-off is worth it," Alison explained. "But that shouldn't be the default or the norm."
Alison said the woman's boss could've easily set up automatic forwarding before she went on vacation or created an out-of-office reply that told people to contact him while she was away.
In the end, Alison told this woman that her boss truly "doesn't care about people's ability to have real time away from work" before suggesting that she start looking for a new job immediately.
"Your company is deeply out of sync with professional norms, as well as just basic humanity," she pointed out, adding that until this woman finds a new job, her "future vacations will just happen to be somewhere without reliable internet or cell service."
