Extended time off?

RileyS

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Have any of you small lab owners (1-5 person labs) ever taken an extended amount of time off? Like a month? I keep thinking that would be a very healthy thing for me to do to get my head clear and experience living again. Kind of like a recalibration.
 
Car 54

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Same here, one week at a time if anything. For me, having a full weekend off is like a mini vacation.
 
rkm rdt

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After one month you would be back to the same situation with added stress.
Could you balance things out by taking Friday and Monday off? Or work half days?
 
rkm rdt

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Tell me again why outsourcing doesn’t work?
 
Car 54

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That's what I'm starting to do, take Fridays off whenever I can, or at least 1/2 day on Friday.
 
CatamountRob

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I was closed for 3 months when the Covid thing started. That was the first time I’ve ever been off for more than a week.
I could use another pandemic.
I’m usually done by noon on Thursday though.
 
Doris A

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The longest we've been closed was when I had shoulder surgery. Two weeks! We close between Christmas and New Year for our vacation, and take a few 4 day weekends.
We close at noon on Friday, once in a while I actually get to leave then. Sometimes I work all weekend.

Edit: When we were closed for my surgery, one of our competitors got wind of it and they told their employees at their Christmas party that shoulder surgery takes a long time to heal. So, let's pray for Doris. And in the meantime, let's try to get their clients since they're going to be closed for a while.
 
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millennium

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Before I started my lab I was QCing in a 20 person lab. I once asked my boss if I could take a 2 week vacation and his reply was: if I can do without you for 2 weeks don't bother coming back. That was in 1998.
 
zero_zero

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It really depends who do you work with, very easy to loose accounts if you go offline for an extended time. The most I could take off was three weeks during Christmas and New Years counting every day to maximize vacation time, then a week off here and there in coordination when busy accounts also took their holidays. End of May we will be closed 5 for weeks, which corresponds with the low tourist season here.
 
TheLabGuy

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Edit: When we were closed for my surgery, one of our competitors got wind of it and they told their employees at their Christmas party that shoulder surgery takes a long time to heal. So, let's pray for Doris. And in the meantime, let's try to get their clients since they're going to be closed for a while.
That's shltty, hope karma bites them in the gonads. We techs suck at how we treat each other sometimes. Obviously, not so much here, we hold hands and sing kumbaya ;)
 
Contraluz

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I was closed for 3 months when the Covid thing started. That was the first time I’ve ever been off for more than a week.
I could use another pandemic.
I’m usually done by noon on Thursday though.
My backlog was big enough, when the dentists were allowed back to work again, I just finished working it off... :rolleyes: No real break for me.

But, I did not work as intense as I would have under normal circumstances. And yes, in Virginia, USA, we were allowed to work, if we were able to socially distance ourself from each other. Since I was the only one going in, that was not an issue.
 
Contraluz

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Edit: When we were closed for my surgery, one of our competitors got wind of it and they told their employees at their Christmas party that shoulder surgery takes a long time to heal. So, let's pray for Doris. And in the meantime, let's try to get their clients since they're going to be closed for a while.
I have a hunch who that person was...
 
Contraluz

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Have any of you small lab owners (1-5 person labs) ever taken an extended amount of time off? Like a month? I keep thinking that would be a very healthy thing for me to do to get my head clear and experience living again. Kind of like a recalibration.
I hear ya! A week is usually what I do, but I have been off for two weeks straight, too. I had a couple family emergencies, lately, where I had to travel abroad. Although my clients understand that, their patience was running thin... Especially when you have long delivery times already.
 
doug

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Affinity, make yourself know at the FDLA meeting. I'd like to put a face with a name. I'm no longer on the board, but I still wander around trying to help.
 
kimba

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I take 3 weeks every year over christmas. Its pretty quite over that period here and most surgeries close for a large enough part of that time thatits not to long off. In past years that was my only break. This year though I have recently taken2 days each side of 2 public holidays so 6 days off. And guess what , the world kept turning. I just let my clients know with plenty of warning and scheduled cases accordingly.
Its a mind set thing, from the 80's when technicians where expected to work 16 hour days with no break.
remember we are alowed to have holidays and spend time with our families. Having said that 4 weeks mid year would not work , I just couldnt expect clients to not go elsewhere over that time. But I am determined to have more short term breaks over school holidays from now on.
As an industry we need to look after ourselves more. I am as guilty as anyone but am now trying to fix my work life balance.
 

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