Taking (Some of) the Stress Out of Your Holiday Vacation from the Office

It’s Thanksgiving time and that means you might be getting ready to head out on a great winter vacation from work. It doesn’t matter if you’re taking the family across the country to Grandma’s house or taking that special someone on a ski trip or to the beach, you need to plan. There are a few steps you can take before you leave that will allow you to totally disconnect from work. Additionally, a bit of foresight and planning on your part will make your transition back into work practically seamless.

Before you go on vacation:  

• Let everyone that needs to know how long you’ll be gone and give them exact dates. Yes, this sounds a bit “no duh” but I’ve been on a couple of interdepartmental work teams that discover a member of the team is on vacation AFTER they’ve left. It doesn’t help to get an “Oops, sorry!” from that co-worker ten days later, no matter how sincere it is. Be a courteous co-worker and let everyone know. Make sure teammates and co-workers have all the resources they need from you before you leave.
• If you’re a manager, delegate as many tasks as you can to your staff members that can handle it. It takes a load off your mind and makes your staff feel valued and trusted. Arrange with another manager to sign off if an employee needs management approval for something.
• If you’re not a manager, talk with your boss about your workload and let him or her decide if something cannot sit until you get back.
•  Leave a message on your work phone and an out-of-office email reply stating that you are out of the office, the date you’ll return, contact info for one or more co-workers that people can contact if they need something. This will dramatically cut down on the number of messages you’ll have when you return.
• If your office gets a temp to handle your work while you’re gone, spell out your daily responsibilities in writing. Then, leave the temp a list of important phone numbers and who the temp should contact for questions. Finally, ask a friendly co-worker or two to welcome the temp and show them the ropes around the office. Maybe ask them to take the temp to lunch the first day. If the temp feels welcomed and wanted, your work gets done better.

While you’re on vacation:

• Forget the office. Leave it behind. You’ll enjoy your vacation more and your companions or family will enjoy it if you’re not checking work emails. See that cute little girl with the braids? Yeah, that’s your daughter. Get reacquainted.
• Unplug from technology as much as possible. Unplug from work. Your brain needs a break. Even if it’s just one day, it’s good to get away from phones, the internet and more. If you have a family, take their electronics away as well. All humans must unplug from time to time.
• Get back home a couple of days early. Don’t get home Sunday afternoon and have to get up early the next morning to go back to work. Give yourself time to decompress. Plus, if you have access to your work emails at home you can go through them at your leisure and not face an intimidating mountain of them when you get back to the office.

When you return from vacation:

• Give yourself transition time. If possible, don’t schedule meetings that first day unless necessary.
• Make a list of what you need to do immediately and what can wait. Then only do one thing at a time. Trying to multitask is a bad idea.
• Prioritize your emails and don’t read them in chronological order. It’s more important to find out what happened rather than when it happened.
• Finally, make it a point to leave the office every day on time. Burning the midnight oil immediately on your return will suck away all the good that your vacation did for you.

If you still can’t get back into the swing of things at work after a couple of days:

If you’re going through a funk when you come back, don’t despair. It’s only natural to need some time to readjust. Check out a few of these quick tips and you’ll be back to yourself in no time!

• Ease back into it. Don’t pull a double shift on your first day back or try to catch up on everything you missed. You’ll burn out quicker.
• Change up your work environment. I’m not talking about painting the walls and bringing in a couch to breathe life into your space. Add a plant, a new picture (of your vacation?) or do that workspace reorganization you’ve been putting off for the last six months.  Dust out that corner of your desk with the gargantuan dust bunnies that no one ever sees except you and the IT crew.

Even just following a few of these tips will make your vacation less stressful before, during and afterward. The key is to just relax and work yourself back into the mix. Meanwhile, have a piece of Grandma Rose’s holiday fruit cake. It doesn’t taste that great, but she soaks it with brandy for a couple of weeks before serving, so it’s what helps MY family make it through December vacations.

Happy holidays, everybody!