Taking a Vacation From Your Technology While On Vacation Can Actually Make Things Worse

Everyone loves a good vacation, especially if you have the good fortune of having a reliable staff on-hand that can handle the administration of your office while you’re away. Although, it might be tempting to just cut yourself off from technology and enjoy your time off, doing so might cause problems down the line that could easily be prevented by simply checking your email or calling home-base once in a while.

The reasoning for this is simple: you want to make sure that operations are proceeding as intended, even if you’re not there. If you completely check out from the workplace every time you leave, you could return from your vacation to a complete and total disaster that may have been prevented with your intervention or insight. In order to keep this from happening, here are three tips that will help you enjoy your vacation, without completely forgetting about the life’s blood of your existence: your business.

• Check your email once a day. While you’re in the office, how many times do you check your email every day? While it’s recommended that you check your email once every couple of hours while you’re at the office, you shouldn’t be doing it this often while on vacation. The problem with this practice is that your inbox will quickly fill up and be overwhelming upon your return. Instead, you should check your email as often as you might check your personal email inbox-- maybe once a day. Address major questions or problems, and leave the less important inquiries for later. Doing so can make your return to the office easier and less stressful.
• Set boundaries for your availability. You can’t have your employees calling you left and right with supposed emergencies. Instead of having uncontrolled chaos, you should implement a time where you will be available to discuss issues. It shouldn’t be very long; maybe an hour in the morning or afternoon, depending on how large your role is within your organization. Use this time to check in with the office and see how operations are running. If everything is fine, you can go back to your vacation without a care in the world.
• Establish a clear chain of command in your absence. People need leadership, and as the business owner, it’s your responsibility to ensure that they have someone they can turn to while you’re out of the office. In general, it’s a good idea to have a clear chain of command even when you are in the office. This helps your team understand who is in charge, and where they need to bring issues to. Doing so can alleviate some of the pressure that you might feel when out of the office; plus, you’ll have more time to relax if you’re certain that your office is in good hands during your absence.

By taking advantage of these three tips, you can make it easier than ever to come back from an extended vacation, without leaving your office grasping for straws. For more great tips, tricks, and technology management best practices, give us a call at (217) 428-6449.