Vacations and work emails (1 Viewer)

[shuke]

Over the course of a week, depending on the vacation, I will look at emails maybe 2 or 3 nights if we don't have something going on, just so I don't have to wade through 1000 my first day back.  I do my best not to reply or send any, just catch up on what is going and organize/delete as needed.  I am big on telling my team to disengage while on vacation, so I try to set an example.  

 

[-OZ-]

I no longer even take my laptop on all my trips - makes it easy to ignore when you don’t have access to it.  

I never did. But we had blackberries back when those were the thing. I'm no longer in a position where the management expects me to answer unless I'm on the clock.

 

[kardplayer]

My out of office says "if this is urgent, call my cell.  Otherwise if you still need my attention when I get back after X date, please resend this email when I return."

When I get back, I skim emails, but mostly move everything to the "done" folder so I can search for it if someone references it.  Otherwise, I'd spend 3 days just answering emails - and if I'm going to do that, why go on vacation at all.

Been doing that the last few vacations and have had 0 issues.

I also coach everyone who will listen to me to do the same - hoping to change the culture one person at a time.

 

[kardplayer]

I also have someone I'm traveling with change the password to my email account so I can't idly check it without having to tell them that that's what I'm doing.

 

[Judge Smails]

I'm going to be in Hawaii for a week + 2 weekends starting on 8/20.  I've always checked email because I would just get anxious about the mountain to dig out of when I returned.  It usually worked OK.  I'd check early in the am before the kids started waking up, or late at night before bed.  That's it.  Once we were off on our activities for the day I never checked.  I lead Sales for the company so it's hard to completely check out.  But I've given this company a lot, including working through unpaid furloughs.  I need to get off the grid.

 

[shuke]

My out of office says "if this is urgent, call my cell.  Otherwise if you still need my attention when I get back after X date, please resend this email when I return."

LOL are you for real?

 

[Capella]

LOL are you for real?

Absolutely jaw dropping shtick. I would be amazed if I got that out of office. 

 

[MAC_32]

Absolutely jaw dropping shtick. I would be amazed if I got that out of office. 

I've thought about it, but haven't had the balls to do it...yet.

 

[kardplayer]

Absolutely no shtick.

When I get back, I ask my boss and my team if there is anything I should look for in my email.  Like I said, I also skim them to see if there is anything that they might not have been copied on that I might need to weigh in on.

 

[AAABatteries]

Absolutely no shtick.

When I get back, I ask my boss and my team if there is anything I should look for in my email.  Like I said, I also skim them to see if there is anything that they might not have been copied on that I might need to weigh in on.

I could maybe see doing this at a smaller company but I see no way I would ever try it where I’m at and in the role I have.  Kind of jealous but honestly it’s like I said earlier in the thread - the work will always be there.  Whether you get the email while you are gone or once you are back kind of doesn’t matter - and even if they never resend there will always be the next thing.  

 

[snogger]

Absolutely no work on vacation..
I responded once to a email from my manager during one of my vacations and his response was: " that was meant for you to reply to when you returned... You are on vacation, so be on vacation" .. 

The way I look at it ... Work can wait, life cannot. 

My favorite vacations, pre-covid, were to a cabin in Northern Ontario for a week twice a year.

There are no roads to the cabin( have to travel by boat), no T.V., no internet, no cell service.. Completely Off the grid.
The only way for someone to contact me is to call a lodge about 45 minutes away who have to boat up to us.. Or rent a helicopter  

Thanks to Canada reopening their borders, two weeks from today I'll be sitting on the waters and relaxing!! 

 

[snogger]

Over the course of a week, depending on the vacation, I will look at emails maybe 2 or 3 nights if we don't have something going on, just so I don't have to wade through 1000 my first day back.  I do my best not to reply or send any, just catch up on what is going and organize/delete as needed.  I am big on telling my team to disengage while on vacation, so I try to set an example.  

 - My Manager is the same way.

If I am on vacation, and not off the grid, then since I still wake up around 5am even on vacation, and the wife sleeps till 8 or 9am, I will do the same i.e. go through and delete any "crap" emails.
The only way I would reply is if it came from my Manager, or Team mate with a "Emergency" please contact me if you can, Otherwise absolutely no replies till I get back.

 

[belljr]

My favorite thing is the back from vacation, I've been online for 10 minutes, so now will be the perfect time to get hit with questions

 

[Da Guru]

Vacation started yesterday. I put my boss as the contact in my out of office message for anything that comes in. I blocked email notifications and removed the app from my home screen. 

Work to live, don't live to work. I'm living now. I'll work later.

Good advice here.

 

[avoiding injuries]

Airplane mode during the day with an out of office response loaded in my email. Catch up later in the day. 

 

[nirad3]

One thing that helped me years ago was a colleague told me to turn off all the notifications on my phone. I'm one of those guys that if I see the number pop up on any of my apps I have to check it. That includes emails, text messages, app updates, settings...whatever.

So I just turned off all notifications that pertained to my job. Emails and texts. Changed my life. I could then go check them when I was ready to and handle it all at once instead of checking it 100 times a day.

I turn off notifications for a text group I'm in with 10 buddies from college.  I'll literally wake up to 125 texts every morning.  Some days I'll ignore my phone for an hour and come back to 150.  Drives me nuts.  But yeah, turning notifications off helps.  I still see the "number" on my text message icon so I know my buddies have been at it for awhile.  I open up the messages app just to make sure another text didn't get buried.

As for emails, I let them come in... even on vacation.  I set an "out of office" and my boss knows I'm gone, obviously.  I note that I'm out for x-amount of time and will respond to or forward critical emails and get back to the rest upon my return.  I was gone for 3-4 days last month and just checked a couple times during the day when I had some down time.