I'm at a constant balance of 2 months of vacation because it's actually stressful to take more time off. Typically I stay up way too late before/after vacation trying to get everything done.
I've also noticed unnecessary urgency/escalation when someone is not in the office to deal with things. Say it's a Friday and I am in the office, but I am in back to back meetings and then have time blocked off to meet a deadline. Someone asks me to help on something semi-urgent, but they see I am booked, and they are generally OK with waiting, even if it delays until Monday. However,if they see a Friday OOO/vacation message in e-mail/slack, urgency is automatically ratcheted up and they want it done now.
I think there must be some psychological factors involved. It's OK if someone is technically "available" but does not have time. However if someone is takes a day off and is "unavailable" and there is wait..that is less acceptable.
I've also noticed unnecessary urgency/escalation when someone is not in the office to deal with things. Say it's a Friday and I am in the office, but I am in back to back meetings and then have time blocked off to meet a deadline. Someone asks me to help on something semi-urgent, but they see I am booked, and they are generally OK with waiting, even if it delays until Monday. However,if they see a Friday OOO/vacation message in e-mail/slack, urgency is automatically ratcheted up and they want it done now.
I think there must be some psychological factors involved. It's OK if someone is technically "available" but does not have time. However if someone is takes a day off and is "unavailable" and there is wait..that is less acceptable.