You need to take a vacation from work but it’s becoming increasingly hard. Demands of your job may sneak into your time off. You’re likely checking and responding to your email while on vacation.
The result is that you don’t get much stress relief during your vacation. In this episode of our Employee Productivity series, we talk about how you can unplug from work, while out of the office. You’ll also learn how you can be a good coworker to those who are returning from time off.
What Productivity Questions Does This Video Answer?
- How to take a vacation from work?
- How to unplug from your job on vacation?
- What can you do not get called by the office while on vacation?
- How to make someone’s return from vacation easier at work?
Video Transcript: Take a Vacation from Work
Has vacation frustration taken over your organization? A 2017 survey by Fierce Inc. found that 58% of the respondents had no stress relief, after they went to vacation. The problem is they’re not able to unplug from the job.
That something I call vacation frustration. And you need to be concerned about it because it’s a gateway to burnout. A key finding was that 40% the respondents checked check in to work at least every other day.
Some of us do have jobs where we may need to take that step. But for a lot of us, we should to be able to enjoy our vacations because we need get refreshed and recharged, so you can come back to work and be productive. It’s an important part of the cycle.
What happens is, we feel like we can’t go a day without checking in or people don’t know the boundary of a vacation.
Here are some suggestions on things that you can do. I’d like people to have back ups at work. So if an unexpected request comes up, there is there is someone there who is able to handle the request. They’ve been trained in your job.
That way, you’re not on the beach getting calls about where is this folders kept? Make sure someone knows what’s going on.
How much contact should the office have with you when you’re on vacation? This is a discussion everyone in the organization needs to have. Define when it’s appropriate and when can it wait. Everyone needs to adhere to this policy. Flatten the playing field.
The final tip is about making sure that people have a smooth landing, when they come back to work. Very often, you’ve been wanting to meet with someone. You see they’ve been on vacation. You set up a meeting with them at 8 AM on the first day back.
That’s kind a rough. Give someone at least a couple of hours, a morning to get back on the job, to get situated, get up to date, catch up on everything that happened and while he or she was gone.
It will make them that much more effective. Otherwise, while they are on vacation, they’re going to start dreading coming back to work because it’s going to be such a painful re-entry.
Vacation frustration is real but you and your organization can help reduce its affects. Enjoy your time off.
About This Video Series
Ken Okel’s ongoing Employee Productivity video series will make you more effective on the job. Every week, you’ll learn a new, easy to understand tip that you can use right away, like how automation can help your team.
Got a productivity problem? Let us know and we’ll feature it in an upcoming episode.
About Ken Okel
As a motivational speaker, Ken Okel works with leaders and organizations to boost productivity, performance, and profits. At conferences, conventions, and company meetings, he engages audiences with new ways to maximize their time at work. To see a sample of his keynote and workshop presentations, visit his video page.
