Last week’s poll asked whether public employees should be subjected to more frequent drug testing. While most people voted “No”, the voting was fairly close. There was some really excellent discussion with some believing that the public sector should have more control over the firing of employees for poor performance which may have been caused by drug abuse.
This week’s poll comes because the new job I took a few months ago has required me to do some more traveling for work. I went to SAS Global Forum in Orlando a few weeks back and I have two trips (one day and one week) coming up. I always enjoyed intermittent travel for work but with a growing family I am not enjoying it nearly as much as I once did. I talked to a friend on Friday who went to Chicago for about 24 hours and spent most of his time in the airport. He noted that he hates traveling for work. So I wonder what you all think about it.
Are you a fan of traveling for work? Do you prefer a lot, a little, or no travel? Does it all depend on location? Does it depend on the reason why you’re traveling for work (conference as opposed to meetings)? Do you avoid jobs that require travel? Whatever you have to say about this one vote on the sidebar and then comment on below. After you do both of those things feel free to check out our expired polls in the archive or read through the previous posts about polls here.
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May 6th, 2012 at 8:28 am
I do love traveling for work. For the most part…
I’ve gotten to see new cities I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to normally do so, and interact personally with co-workers and vendors, which really is a great thing vs. just phone and emailing forever.. You get to put a face and personality with the name, and I think help the working relationship.
The drawback is that indeed you are away from your family, and responsibilities at home. I am very busy outside of work, and a trip I took in December took me away for 3 days during a time when I had some other responsibilities to attend to, so juggling all of that was a little difficult.
Otherwise, You take a job knowing the amount of travel, and I knew there to be some, but not much. 1 trip for me in 2.5 years isn’t all bad, however the last job we had a spring travel to FL for a conference, so it was always something to look forward to.
However, I feel if I had to spend 1/2 of my month in a hotel, and fly to some less savory places constantly, I might be a little more opposed to travel. After all, who wants to travel to Des Moines, or North Platte, NE all the time.
May 6th, 2012 at 8:41 am
I don’t enjoy traveling for work and in fact one of the main reasons I left a previous job was the amount of travel. Woodz said, “You take a job knowing the amount of travel,” however that isn’t always the case. The job I left was stated with travel about four times/year. I left when I was traveling approximately every six weeks. I don’t harbor any ill feelings to the company in that regard, it wasn’t like they lied. It simply was a matter of the position I took evolving, evolving to a level of travel that left me drained.
Since that position I’ve been acutely aware of the travel requirements of any position I consider. The one upside, which my husband has found over the last year as well as his travel has increased, is that when you’re forced to travel often for work you get pretty good at it. It might not make it more pleasant, but you get into a better routine. You pack nearly the same things every time, you know the best luggage to use, etc.
May 6th, 2012 at 11:56 am
I generally like traveling for work. Usually, I’ll try and extend the trip a day if it works and I’ll also grab a rental car wherever I am and check out some sights in the evenings. I’ve had some great work trips to Miami, San Francisco, Dallas, and DC in the last few years. 4 days in NYC for a training course was about the best work trip ever…one of my favorite places on Earth.
Unfortunately, my last trip was also to Orlando. Advice: if your job sends you to Orlando, run away fast and/or stab your eyeball with a letter opener to get out of it. If you’re more than 10 years old, Orlando is hell.
May 6th, 2012 at 12:57 pm
My answer depends on the week. I’ve been in a job for the last 13 months where the longest I have consecutively been home is 2 weeks. I hate it when I have to leave on Saturday or Sunday. For example, a few weeks ago I had to leave 3 out of 4 weekends in a row..that sucked. But generally, I wouldnt take a job where I didn’t travel at all.
Pros in general are that I don’t have an office to sit in every day (and when I’m not on the road, I work from home), and it’s always something new. I get to see a ton of cool things, meet a lot of really smart people, and I have friends all over the country. It is also quite a money saver…being home only on weekends means my utility bills are next to nothing, and I spend very little on groceries, gas for my car, etc. Also, the more you travel the better you get at it…I don’t think anything of going to the airport every day and I breeze through security (the TSA guys at the checkpoint I always go through even recognize me now). :-)
Cons…well, thankfully I’m not married and don’t have kids..but I also definitely see that I’ll never be able to meet anyone and start a meaningful relationship by being on the road every week unless they also travel and understand the demands. I have little to no social life, as when i am home..I don’t want to go out to eat and just want to sit in my house. I have no routine…I go to bed at a different time almost every night, wake up at a different time (and don’t get me started on time zones), and eating every single meal in a restaurant sucks (and gaining the associated weight…ugh).
So yeah, it’s good and bad, all depends on the day or week. :-)
May 6th, 2012 at 2:26 pm
I love to travel. I really don’t care to travel for work, though. I don’t like airports. I don’t like being away from my family. I don’t like missing out on things I’d like to see in a new city because I have to work. I haven’t had to travel for work in almost 2 years (after traveling pretty frequently for a while) and it’s been awesome.
May 6th, 2012 at 3:02 pm
In the past decade I’ve averaged 2-3 work trips a year, usually 3-5 days at a time. Most have involved conferences, which I generally enjoy: I learn a lot, find opportunities for new business, meet people I deal with via email or phone, and often stay in some upscale hotel. (Sometimes too upscale for my taste, but that’s another story.) One thing I need to do on these trips: Go out and see more of the host city. Usually I spend nearly all my time in the conference/hotel.
Most of these trips involve flights, so of course I’m at the mercy of the airlines and the TSA, which — along with being away from family — is one reason I’m glad I don’t travel more than I do.
May 6th, 2012 at 3:41 pm
I traveled a lot during my working years. It was mostly very enjoyable and almost always interesting and educational. I would never have seen 24 other countries, most all the states and countless new cities without that expense account. The only trips I dreaded were the 7 countries in 21 days excursions. By the end of the 3rd week out I was beat. Had fun though, and lot’s of stories to tell! The year I traveled 90% of the time the company awarded me…… a trip! Go figure.
May 7th, 2012 at 6:10 am
As a consultant I travel frequently for work, depending upon the current client I am assigned to. Frankly, I am floored that some clients still feel that I need to be sitting in front of them to be effective. I have had clients request that I be on site in their office daily, only to have them either work from home or not show up or not have any meetings with me the entire time I am there. I cheerfully do whatever the client requests, but sometimes I don’t get why they want to spend the money having me come, when it does not seem necessary. I have gotten to go to places that I would not otherwise have gone to so that has been fun. However as a female traveling alone, I don’t always get to experience the flavor of the city and often pick up something on the way back to the hotel for dinner and work in the evening from the hotel. I personally don’t like to dine out alone. Currently I have been traveling to Charlotte nearly weekly since February–starting to get a little old at this point, but flying out Monday morning and back home Thursday evening, so I at least have one weekday and the weekend home. This week they are working on something else, so told me I didn’t have to come. It’ll be nice working from home this week. At least the dog will appreciate it :-)
May 7th, 2012 at 6:58 am
I don’t travel nearly as much as a used to for work. i’m down to a trip or two a year. Now that I have that stupid CPAP machine I would just assume never get on a plane again. And, the enjoyment I get from dropping off the family at the airport for a trip and going home to an empty house makes me want to travel even less.
May 7th, 2012 at 8:35 am
I travel quite a bit for work, to exciting airports like Eugene, OR, Billings, MT and now Dallas has been added to my regular destinations.
Excepting Billings, the other two places I need to drive a minimum of 2 hours to get to my final destination so often it takes me upwards of 10 hours to get from my house to the office I am visiting and rarely do I spend more time “working” than I do traveling.
Last month I went to Billings a day early and did some hiking near Yellowstone (about 2 and a half hours from Billings), so that was the first time I had gotten to do something fun when travel working. Otherwise it has been Travel Work Travel without much fun in between other than maybe eating a good meal in one of those cities since I am always traveling in the role of customer and my vendors feel like they need to treat me.
So mostly I hate traveling for work.
May 7th, 2012 at 8:41 pm
After being on and off the road for over forty years………………… It gets old and difficult, especially when you miss your child’s special events.
May 8th, 2012 at 8:47 pm
I haven’t had to travel for work yet, but I wouldn’t mind it. I’ve always told my employers that I’d be fine with it too. Of course, I don’t have kids, so I’m sure that affects my attitude towards it.
May 13th, 2012 at 7:02 am
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