Forced PTO?

Ok, so not really forced.

But did you know that "back in the day" (whatever that means), bankers needed to take five consecutive days off of work? At some places it was even up to two weeks!

I noticed in my company policy/employee handbook that our policy mentioned taking at least one block of PTO of five or more days.

I asked casually during one of our team meetings and I was told that because due to potential embezzlement or fraud, being out of the office would allow people to notice or allow something to show up? Or if there's suspicion, it would allow higher ups to investigate. 

Or something.

I just realized that I'm already a quarter through the year and haven't utilized ANY of my PTO.

And people. It DOUBLED from my last place of employment.

And I can only roll over five days and they have to be used within the first quarter of the following year. 

We are absolutely encouraged to take the time. It's considered our compensation and yes, I believe we all deserve it. It's taken me almost 20 years to realize this...but alas, I'm glad I've arrived at the "it's my compensation" mentality. 

But dang, I'm a little surprised at how hard it'll be to actually use these days! 

Unless we have actual plans to go on an actual vacation...I can't think of using that many days.

So today I went ahead and requested a bunch of days off just to get them on the calendar. With taking more than a week off during the summer, tacking on two days for Memorial Day, taking the entire week between Christmas and New Years, plus a few random days, I'm still left with like 15 days. LOL. Like what? 

How am I supposed to use all those days? 

I mean, don't twist my arm, I'll fucking use those days. I'll find something to do. 

How nice though right? Like...I don't have to "save" them for things that might pop up. 

And again, because we're fully remote - I can legit work from anywhere. Working from Florida next week. 

So even if I'm on vacation and want to log some hours, I'm totally able to do that. And with the sheer volume of work, it's totally possible.

Not to mention the 11 bank holidays we get. 

This corporate life. I can get used to it.

Business Travel

When I interviewed for this position, they asked me if I could travel. 

I never LOVED it previously, depending on the reason why we had to travel.

But so far the 3 times I've had to travel for work in the 3 months I've been with the company, it's been awesome.

The first time I traveled to Boston on my very first day of work. That was nothing short of amazing.

No responsibilities yet and getting to meet the entire team all in one place. A lot of folks are remote, so it's not often everyone gets together (usually once a year, but now they are thinking twice a year).

When I used to travel for work, it was generally for big client presentations or pitches.

Always butt-clenching work.

The trips I've just been on have been way more fun.

This last time I got to go to Orlando because my client is a hotel/resort destination company and they are headquartered there. No presentation, just a meet and greet really. We got to have our already-scheduled meetings in person. We've spent a ton of time with these people on the phone/zoom meetings, but never met them in person. It was nice to put a face to a voice (a lot of folks don't even turn their cameras on!)

We got to stay at a hotel right in Disney Springs. I've never been, so it was nice to be able to see it a bit and walk around.

It was just me and my boss, and she's young and awesome (I worked with her for years back a couple of agencies ago). Super smart. Fun. A mom. She gets it. 

We landed around noon and then had to go grab lunch. We couldn't get into our rooms quite yet because they weren't done being cleaned and whatnot. So we left our bags with the bell hop and walked to look for food.

The weather was "only" in the high 60's but with the Florida sun on our faces, it felt glorious.

We found lunch, walked around, bought some candy for our kiddos. Ate a churro. Saw some cool Lego structures. 

Made entirely of Legos

So crazy! These structures are huge! 

hmmm...churros

thought this was funny. 

We had a nice client dinner Monday night. It was a long-ass day for me though. Up at 3:45am to make sure I got to the airport on time for a 6:25am flight. 

I made it just in the nick of time - I had forgotten that it was Spring Break so airport security was WAY longer than it usually is for me when I've flown on Monday mornings.

By the time we got back from dinner, it was close to 9:30, I think. I was TIRED.

I showered and went to bed.

Up at 6:30 the next day to get ready for an 8am Uber to the next resort. We had a sales presentation to sit through (which was VERY cool, by the way). 

We grabbed lunch and then had a working session basically the rest of the day before we had to head back to the airport. My flight was at 7:20 with a 50 minute layover in ATL.

That airport is HUGE and I had anxiety immediately when booking that flight. Knowing that if there was a slight delay at any part of my journey, there was a chance I'd be missing my connection home.

But alas, all that over-thinking was for naught as I landed early in ATL, the train basically pulled up a minute after I arrived at the 'plane train' as they call it. Then got to my other terminal/gate with plenty of time to spare.

Got to even sit and finish my kindle book before boarding the plane for the final leg home.

I got home around 12:45am and couldn't really settle until close to like 1:45 or so. But whatever. I considered it a great trip. Great exposure with the clients and experience gained for me.

I should be heading back in May. Looking forward to it! We are thinking of adding a day before or after any meetings or whatever so we can enjoy it a little more.

Till next time, folks! 

We've Been...Busy...

I know I've been MIA recently.

Not only is my new job keeping me really busy, things are just...not great. Definitely not in a place where I want to be shouting from the rooftops.

The kids are busy and Steve has been working a lot.

I'm trying desperately to maintain a level head and not overreact to things and to try really hard to rationalize things.

Don't just make decisions because I'm pissed. 

With it being March...that also puts me in a different kind of mood. 

March is a tough month here in Western NY. 

The skies are gray 90% of the time.

It's still stupidly cold out most of the time.

We usually expect at least 1 bad winter storm in March.

But, at the same time, there's a bit of hope in the air because you can just feel Spring right around the corner.

With how tumultuous my life has been these last 6 months, I can truly say I have no idea what my life will look like in the next 6 months.

I hope better. 

Work Update

You guys. Sorry I've been MIA. 

Things have been...busy. Work for one, is busy. 

I may have landed the job of all jobs.

I have to do a ton of trainings. I got a kick out of the image they used here for the "Work/Life Balance" training video. Like, if this doesn't scream work from anywhere, I don't know what does. 

I'm 5 weeks in and loving it so far. 

I'm drinking the Kool-Aid over here and got myself some swag! I got a new v-neck shirt and this hoodie. It's nice to be able to wear comfy clothes during work! 

I'm surprised on so many levels.

The people have been nothing short of amazing.

The environment is friendly, empowering, engaging, fun. 

I'm very busy. Have I said that yet? 

My days are filled with meetings. Days FLY BY. . 

I'm not essential in all of the meetings, but the meetings themselves are essential. What's nice is that there's a full team who is working on any given project so I'm not responsible for everything. It's so nice. I don't feel alone.

I have a team of project managers asking for statuses of things. Implementation architects asking me for specs from a client. 

People actually follow up on their action items from meeting notes! 

Which...yeah...I write a lot of notes and do my best to capture as much of our discussions as possible. Writing up the meeting notes helps me tremendously with learning terminology, semantics, acronyms, etc. 

We use a shit-ton of acronyms. Google is my friend. 

And I prefer to actually write notes vs. type. 

It can be overwhelming at times, but then again everyone is super helpful!

Working remotely is still amazing. 

It's nicer than before though because there are no guilt trips at this place. Everyone is everywhere and it's completely natural to have people be remote. Very seldom are people in the same room. 

Our clients are also so huge that their team members are all over the country. 

It's just the way life is now. 

And I'm not complaining. 

We don't even have an office around me.

And even so, most people don't keep their cameras turned on. That was a huge thing at my last place of employment. Like "if we're going to be remote, the least you can do it turn your camera on" and it's like - before COVID? Before the world shut down?

We NEVER did video calls.

We basically ONLY communicated via phone calls or email. Meetings were generally saved for presentations or whatever.

I try to keep my camera on for at least the beginnings of meetings. Only because I'm new and I want people to know who I am.

I'm still able to throw a load of laundry in or start dinner if I have a moment.

Take the dogs out. 

Run errands.

Go to kid stuff. 

I still very much make my own schedule, but I'm also in a lot of meetings. Generally if I have enough notice, I can make anything work. I was clear that I refuse to miss out on my kids' activities and things because of my work. 

My parents never came to anything.

Anyway, 5 weeks in and I'm LOVING ITTTTT.

I did another trip to Boston recently and had just as much fun - although it was shorter - just one night. 

We will do another one in October. We are hoping to extend this one by a day so we can actually enjoy the city. 

Yeah, I want to actually go to a business meeting early. To hang with my peeps. 

Because they are legit. 

My team is young and diverse. It's so refreshing.

I work for a team of women leaders. For the first time in my career, the 3 levels above me (and I'm at the VP level), are women leaders. 

For most of my career (almost two decades!), I've worked for older, white men. I'm not saying that's bad. I'm just saying there's not a lot of difference of perspectives when you're surrounded by older, white men. 

And being younger, female and ethnic? 

There's a lot of opportunity in this space.