FEBRUARY 1 2008
AMERICANWAY 35
not doing anything,” she says. “I
[
had
]
tried
experimenting withmy e-mail, checking it
every other day at these Internet cafés. But
it basically just toldme that it’s not better
tobe in touch. It just bums youout. There’s
a creative component tomy job, so I need
to recharge my batteries. In that respect, I
guessmy experimentworked.”
According to Rotolo, who’s conducted
productivity surveys for various organiza-
tions, including IBM and the FBI, employ-
ees aren’t the only ones paying attention to
the effects of the PVBs. “Some clients don’t
want to survey in September or January,
because everyone’s just getting back from
vacation,” he says. “Themore-savvy compa-
nies know there arebetter times in the year
to survey, whenpeople are engaged in their
work andnot coming and going— like the
deadofwinter orMarchandApril.”
Flaherty echoes this sentiment. “When
you have a good vacation, you come back
and you’re talking about the vacation a lot,”
she says. “If you’re looking at it from a pro-
ductivity perspective — productivity gets
impacted by the fact that people go away,
[
and thenwhen
]
theygetback towork, they
can’t transition thenextday, so they’rechat-
ting about their vacation all day and dis-
rupting other people who need to get their
workdone.”
But what does all this postvacation psy-
chobabble really mean? Should we never
leaveourdesks?
Oneway—perhaps thebestway, accord-
ing to Rotolo— to skirt the PVB problem
without going stir crazyunder yournew su-
persize workload is to take more weekend
getaways. “Themore frequent, shorter trips
you take, the less of an impact you’ll feel,”
he says. “I’ve gone to places like Australia
for two weeks, and it takes a long time to
get back to work, probably more with jet
lag.With the shorter trips, youdon’t experi-
ence that as much; the transition is easier,
and you can start thinking about the next
one.”He’s not the only one touting the con-
vergenceof longerhoursandmultiple short
vacations.
Says Putzier, “It’s cheaper, you can do it
more throughout the year, and you don’t
have toworry aboutmissingmuch atwork.
It’s like vacationing on the installment
plan.”Putzieralsoassuredme thatanypost-
vacationmalaise,whichhedefines as “more
of a disappointment than a depression,”
shouldn’t ever lastmore than aweek. That
was borne out by our experience. While B
and I experienced a slump for a few days
— her funk a little more pronounced than
mine—oncewe got a fewparties andbusi-
ness dinners under our belts, we were able
toupshift back to (Manhattan) islandpace.
Of course, if you just can’t bear the
thought of the postvacation blues, Putzier
did offer another, decidedly less attractive,
solution. “Go somewhere that’s
[
really aw-
ful
]
, like
[
on
]
a realityTV show. Thenwork
will lookprettygood.”
I thinkwe’ll stickwith the long-weekend
plan. In fact, isn’tEaster comingup soon?
MIChAElSlENSkE
haswritten for
BestLife
,
Men’s Journal
, and
the
NewYorkTimes
. Hisgirlfriend fully recovered fromherBeliz-
eanPVBs but caught another strain after visitingLanai.
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