Recently I joined a tier 2 consulting firm in Australia. As an Asian new to Australian culture, I'm wondering whether it is appreciated if I propose being able to hop on client calls or team meetings during my leave period.
From an Australian (or Western) working cultural view, is it appreciated to be flexible to work a bit during leave period? Or, is it weird and people never do this unless it is urgent and critical ? Appreciate any thoughts on this. Thanks.
Don't do it. Time off is sacred and everybody should respect that! Unless s*** really hit the fan and you're the only person that can save the day. However, this is almost never the case for junior people e.g. BAs, Associates, etc.
Once you're at Partner/Director level, fair enough. At that point it's essentially your business and you have a strong interest in the smooth running of it, including client calls during PTO (fun fact: Partners at MBB don't really have PTO for that matter).
Junior people need to protect this space for recovery. If not, you'll be burnt out quite quickly. Because when you offer to hop on calls, people might take you up on it (if they're good leaders, they won't)
Hey there,
Definitely not. You work hard enough on your work days. Protect your weekends and even more so your days off…
Cheers,
Florian
Hi there,
I worked 5 years in Australia across multiple consulting firms - please trust me when I say you should not attend calls while on leave.
Culturally Australians value work-life balance, not to mention there are laws against them making you work while you're away.
Definitely take the full time off and fully recharge!
Hello!
In Spain at least, it would be totally expected.
however, this generates a vicious circle, since if you don´t set your limits from the beginning, they will be overstepped all your time in the company.
Hence, ideally, set clear limits and stick to them
Hope it helps!
Cheers,
Clara
Dont do it! Period.
You need to take control of your life & balance your time. If others do it, let it be.
Please should have a way to reach you if there's a need. But that's it.
Take your time off. You don't have to attend meetings or jump on calls and you don't have to volunteer to do that.
They will be appreciative if they have a way to reach out to you if there's a problem, and that already will be great!
