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Twas the week after Christmas…
28 December 2009
By Elizabeth Dodson
Well I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and you’re enjoying what remains of the academic holiday. Of course when I say holiday, I just mean that time when the University buildings are shut - as actually I and countless other researchers will be spending this week mainly working at home!
This is the price paid for flexibility as within my department, now is a particularly busy time. There are multiple deadlines at the end of January and there simply isn’t time to take the full Christmas holiday.
I may curse under my breath at the need to do work, but at the same time I know I will be thankful later in the new year when I need to take time off at my convenience. Being able to take bits of time here and there to manage daily life makes everything so much easier. I used to be tied to an 8.30-5.30 Monday to Friday teaching contract where I could only take time off during holidays – which turns out to be a real pain…
Generally speaking, most deliveries come on week days and things like household appliances can’t really just be sent to the office! Almost every wedding I have been invited to in recent years has been on a Friday (apparently you get much better value for money). Doctor, dentist and vet appointments tend to only be available during working hours. It’s easier to get cars serviced, repaired and MOT’d during the week. If I want to get someone in to fix/replace/install something then I need to be at home (e.g. when my bathroom flooded earlier in the year!). I could go on, but basically if you have no flexibility, then it can be very difficult to manage all the everyday non-work stuff.
The combination of being able to work at home, being able to work flexible hours and taking holiday when it suits me is absolutely worth the sacrifice of working through a bit of traditional holiday time. After all I will be able to take the time back eventually, and when I really need it, rather than simply following tradition. So I may have a small moan about all the work I need to do right now, but ignore me, because actually I think have a pretty good deal.
Happy New Year all!
Matthew Salois28 December 2009 at 06:02 PM
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Flexibility is one of the biggest perks to being a full-time researcher. In fact, I would say flexibility is the one of the things that keeps me from seeking a career outside the ivory tower. Luckily, I have taken a full two week away from work and did not bring a bit of work home with me. But as my PI has told me before, he measures outputs not inputs. So January will be busy to be sure. Happy New Year to you as well!!!
Sarah Davies02 January 2010 at 11:54 AM
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It's interesting that you've had experience of both situations, Liz - well-defined working hours and extreme flexibility - and much prefer the latter. While I love my flexibility I also think it's easy for others to take advantage of this, expecting researchers to work crazy hours on the grounds that we get to go home early every so often. So congratulations on your two week, holiday, Matthew - I think it's great that you decided to take this and have kept to it!
Mashhuda Glencross08 January 2010 at 10:36 AM
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Flexibility is a fabulous perk of the job, lets hope we will be lucky enough to retain it. On re-deployment, this is the one thing that I am most sad about potentially losing, as my head of school finds me various duties to justify my existence. Nine years research experience and international standing vs hard cash... where is that ivory tower?