Preparing Your Co-Workers for Your Vacation

You’ve booked the tickets and the hotel, mapped your road trip, or planned how you’re going to spend your staycation. Whatever you may be doing, one thing is certain: you’re going on vacation!

Ideally, things should proceed smoothly at work while you’re gone, with few, if any, interruptions to your time away. But if you leave tasks unfinished or if your colleagues are unclear what to do in your absence, you may find yourself fielding phone calls and answering emails when you want to be lounging poolside or hiking through the woods. Here are some simple things you can do to help everyone prepare for your time away:

• Call a team meeting to discuss the following:

- Outstanding tasks that you will complete before you leave.
- Outstanding tasks that your colleagues will need to complete in your absence (be sure to share relevant files and information).
- Tasks that will have to wait until you return.
- The person who will be listed to contact on your voicemail and out-of-office email replies.
- How and when you can be reached if necessary. In case of emergency, can your colleagues call your hotel? How often will you check email? Are there any days you will be completely unreachable?

• Try to wrap up projects. It may not always be possible, but if you can close out tasks and allow others to move forward on their own projects, no one will have to wait for your return.
• Manage your meetings. Cancel meetings you run or ask someone else to take over, and decline any standing meetings. Mark your calendar as “Out of Office.”
• Share your files. If you are working on a group project, move any files that others may need to a shared drive or give them to another person in the group.
• Share the password to your computer and voicemail, if your company permits. Provide this information to a trusted colleague so your colleagues can track down a missing file or periodically review your voicemails, if appropriate.
• Notify external customers. If you work with outside vendors or have people who depend on you outside of the office, let them know you’ll be gone and whom they should contact in your absence.
• Clean up. File all your papers, answer all voicemails, and clear your inbox.
• Make a list before you leave. Write down the things you’ll have to tackle when you return—after a week of lounging on the beach, you’ll be glad to have a list to get you back on track.
• Update your voicemail and out-of-office email messages. Include how long you will be gone and whom to contact in your absence.

Vacations are important to your well-being. They are a chance to relax and reconnect with the people you care about and the activities you enjoy. You shouldn’t feel guilty about being away, but you should take steps to ensure that your co-workers can carry on without you.

Tell us how you prepare when you’re planning to be out of the office for an extended period of time.

--by Krystal D’Costa, MA

Krystal D’Costa is an anthropologist who specializes in technology, relationships, and business trends. You can follow her on Twitter @krystaldcosta.