Vol. 1, No. 16 — I’m writing this on a tray table, tethered to my phone for internet access, in the small town of Noja, Spain about an hour away from our home. We are here for a week of vacation outside the usual stomping grounds, but it is also quite familiar. My wife’s family has vacationed here for the better part of 40 years. This sleepy town’s population jumps from less than 1,000 in the winter to more than 50,000 throughout August. Many of them have been returning for years, with the parents, kids, and now grandkids reuniting with their neighbors from years past. It feels pretty special.
While taking a summer vacation is not unique to Europe, the sheer number of people who take them and the concentration around the month of August has some interesting side effects. This home-away-from-home is a positive side effect. The negative one would be, to put it bluntly: don’t plan on getting anything major accomplished in August. Everyone is on vacation.
When school is out and the warm weather hits, it is common to see “summer hours” posted on all types of public services and businesses. Some are only open in the morning (9 a.m. to 2 p.m.). Some are only open Monday to Friday. Many small businesses close for a period of vacation, giving everyone at that store a break: “We’ll be back on the 15th, see you then!”
This is so common in Spain that some jobs pack in a couple of extra hours per week during non-summer months. Then, in July and August, everyone is able to take off in the early afternoon some days. Spain also has a peculiarity in salaried positions. Instead of dividing the year into 12 monthly payments, it is divided into 14. One of these extra payments comes at the end of June to cover summer vacation expenses and the other right before Christmas. Budgeting built in.
I said that Europeans can take a lot of time off, but what does that mean? It means at least a month. All jobs allow for at least four weeks of paid leave by law. This isn’t only for salaried specialists or project leaders or middle management. It’s for all jobs. Not everyone can foot a fancy trip, but everyone can take time off and relax. Paid leave can be taken throughout the year, usually not all at once though. Anecdotally around me, I see a week for Easter, a week and change for summer, and a week at Christmas. Pepper in a few days here and there and you’ve hit the four-week mark.
So, back to August specifically. When I was tasked with laying out a months-long software development project in Germany, my first draft was met with instantaneous derision. My boss waggled his finger across the entire August block and frowned. “Oh, just slide all this back. That’s never going to happen.”
I heard the same thing again and again while planning some small renovation projects for our apartment. There is painting, some carpentry, and a couple of windows involved. Three different companies and three identical conversations.
August is on everyone’s calendar, but it’s just not for work. There’s something nice about that. My Midwestern brain says not to take a vacation just because everyone else is and making a habit of “summering” somewhere sounds like something for Mr. and Mrs. Howell. But practically speaking, with everyone switched off, it just makes more sense to take a breath and join them. No use getting frustrated. Productivity resumes in September.
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