Productivity Question – Should you stay in contact with the office while on vacation?
Should you stay in contact with the office while on vacation?
This is a question that was recently posed by a reporter for Fox News.
Given that COVID hospitalizations, thankfully, were on the downturn as 2022 rolled forward, the world opened up for travel. More and more people are moving beyond staycations and back to vacations.
Here are three of the questions she asked:
What are the benefits of staying in contact with your office while on vacation?
The primary benefit is that you’re not missing a beat while you’re on vacation. You’re not missing emails, voicemails, texts or updates. If a situation arises, you can immediately address it and solve everyone’s problems. When you return from vacation, you won’t have hundreds of emails and voicemails to return because you’ve worked through your vacation.
What are the downsides?
The downsides are many. First and foremost, one of the keys to maintaining high productivity levels is resting and recharging. If this is not happening while you’re on vacation, it’s doubtful that it happens on evenings and weekends when you’re at home. The more hours you work without fully recharging, the more your productivity levels, creativity and problem-solving skills will deteriorate. Additionally, if you’ve set the expectation that you have no problem working while on vacation, there will be less of a hesitation in the future for your office to contact you and expect responses outside of regular business hours. Plus, if you solve everyone’s problems for them, they never learn to think or operate independently, which means you will continue to be on call to do everyone’s thinking until the day you part ways with the company. All of this equates to productivity killers.
Does company size or job role matter?
It’s not so much the company size that matters, but whether or not there are other employees who have the knowledge and training to issue preliminary responses in your absence. The job role does matter, but is usually limited to those with an exceptional level of knowledge and skills in a high-stakes industry.
These three questions should help get you started in determining whether or not you, personally, should stay in contact with the office while on vacation.
If you need a step-by-step guide to getting away and deciding whether or not to stay in contact with the office, take a peek at these Escape from Work recommendations in online or book format.