I didn't bring a laptop computer with me, or a cell phone. It seems that I'm in the minority, however. A recent study by Andersen Consulting found that 83 percent of the respondents who had taken a week's vacation or more since April had stayed in contact with the office while they were gone.
Some jobs are harder to leave than others, of course.
Some people have jobs that are very difficult to do while they're away from the office, so staying in touch doesn't make much sense. But workers who are trying to close a deal, hire a new employee or finish a project may feel that the only way they can afford to take time off at all is to continue working just a little while they're gone. Others may want to make sure they don't come back to discover that their job has been reorganized out of existence. It seems, for example, that despite all the efforts people made to make themselves available while on vacation, in many cases their offices didn't need them. Most of those who left a way for co-workers to contact them never heard from the office while they were gone.