Marrying the Billionaire - Macie St. James Page 0,58

to the first table, which allowed him to make more direct eye contact with the people gathered around the various tables. Some were still eating their slices of pie, while others were reclined in their seats, arms crossed over their chests, the area in front of them empty.

“How many of you go on an actual vacation every year?” Nicholas pointed back toward the screen. “The kind of vacation depicted here.”

A few hands went up around the room, including Justin’s. That didn’t surprise him. Although Justin was super smart, he’d also always had a love for the finer things in life. He’d take every chance to surround himself with beautiful scenery while enjoying the best food and drink money could buy.

Nicholas walked back toward the screen, then headed to the side of the room where Brooke sat. “The problem is you don’t really miss it at first. One day turns into two and soon, months have passed and all you’ve done is work. Does it matter? I think it does.”

Someone in the back coughed. A few people shifted. One of the developers yawned. The message was clear. Nicholas was losing them.

Time to turn up the energy. “We love what we do, right?” he said in his peppiest voice. “When you love what you do, you never work a day in your life, or whatever the saying is.”

He probably should have included a slide with that full quote on it. If he was being honest, he’d kind of thrown the presentation together. He’d been inspired at the last minute to talk about work-life balance and had to act quickly.

“But burnout is a real thing. You don’t even know that’s what it is. You say you’re annoyed with a co-worker or your boss or the work itself. You start to say you’re sick of things. And, in actuality, you are because you’re putting everything into your job.”

Now he saw a few people nodding. One guy sat up straighter. Even Justin seemed more alert as he looked around, probably noting the interested expressions of his employees.

Nicholas was getting through to them.

“How much vacation time do you get?”

Nicholas realized too late that was a risky question to ask. What if it differed from person to person? He could end up making matters worse.

“Two weeks!” someone called out.

That was echoed by a few others, then by Justin, who nodded, as well. Good. Sounded pretty solid.

“How many of you have taken the full two weeks this year?”

Not a single hand went up. Nicholas was relieved to see it. It easily could have gone the other way, which would have gotten in the way of making his point.

“How many have taken one week?”

Some hands went up on that one. More than half the room, actually.

“What about last year? Did anyone take the full two weeks?”

A few hands went up, but after asking the one-week question, he safely concluded that one week was what the majority of employees took each year. He nodded.

The reaction when he asked how many had taken a vacation like the one the cats were enjoying in his presentation was even more lackluster. People weren’t taking vacations for fun. They were using all their vacation time to travel to see their parents in the summertime or have an extended holiday at Christmastime.

“I want you all to do me a favor.” Nicholas cast a quick glance in Justin’s direction. He probably should have cleared it with his friend first, but it was too late for that now. “I want you to take a vacation. One week where you go somewhere you enjoy and stay completely offline. Work with your HR department so that you aren’t all taking the same week off, of course.”

He glanced over at Charlie, whose eyes widened slightly in response. Clearly, Justin wasn’t the only one worth getting approval from on something like this. The last thing he wanted to do was make trouble for Charlie.

“I’m not asking you to do anything I wouldn’t do myself.” Nicholas crossed his arms over his chest, mimicking the stance of so many of the people seated in front of him. “I will be taking a full week off to do nothing but hang out here in Lake Tahoe, enjoying the outdoors and ignoring my emails. We aren’t alone. Even Justin can take a week or two off because he has all of you. You will work hard to make sure his business is still in good shape when he returns, right?”

Nods. At least the bored expressions