Whether it’s the holidays, a well-deserved vacation, or some good old-fashioned personal time, there’s a lot to look forward to you’re leaving the office for a few days.
However, as fun (and necessary) as this is, you could be making a lot of extra work and stress for yourself if you don’t prepare properly before leaving.
How can you stop this from happening? For starters, make sure you’ve got these nine things in check.
- Set up an email auto-responder that lets people know you’ll out of the office (and not around to answer non-urgent questions). (U Stand Out)
- Take time to decide who to delegate tasks to while you’re away. (Forbes)
- Be sure to check in with your boss to make sure that you both have similar expectations of how reachable you’ll be while you’re out of the office. (Tech Republic)
- Also, be upfront with your team about how much you’re going to unplug during your time off. You don’t want your phone buzzing the days away. (HBR)
- Reach out to big clients and any other important people outside of your immediate team a week before you leave so that no one is alarmed. (CIO)
- Have a “vacation back-up buddy” who you trust to handle any emergencies. (The Huffington Post)
- Clean your workspace. It’s always great to come back to a clutter-free desk. (Lifehack)
- Make a list of everything you want to get up-to-speed on when you get back. (Greatist)
- Already nervous about your return to work? Here's how to handle that first day back. (The Daily Muse)