It’s summertime and that means summer vacations are in full swing. Yet many Americans are choosing not to use all of their vacation time and the No. 1 reason why is because they would return to a mountain of work, according to a survey by Project: Time Off conducted in January 2016. Here are five strategies to help you conquer that mountain of work quickly and reclaim your unused vacation days.
1. Plan ahead for your return to work. Most Americans prepare to take a vacation by planning ahead. You make a to-do list for all the work projects that need to get done before you leave, set up a contact person for any emergencies while you are away and alert clients and co-workers that you will be on vacation. It is just as important to plan ahead for your return to the office.
Build in a vacation day at home. Rather than getting home at 10 p.m. on Sunday night and heading to work Monday morning, plan on arriving home on Saturday so that you have all day Sunday to buy groceries, wash laundry and get back into your daily routine. You may even want to get a head start on sorting—and deleting—emails. Giving yourself this transitional day will allow you to tackle your first day back in the office head on.
2. Schedule time to catch up on work. The worst thing that you can do is to show up back at work without a plan in place, sit down at your desk as if it’s a normal day and haphazardly start working. Instead you should block out your morning so that you have time to catch up with staff, sort through your inbox, listen to voice mail messages, make a to-do list and respond to urgent work matters. If you don’t block out that time, you will start getting questions and work thrown your way immediately without any way of knowing what is or isn’t a priority. You also shouldn’t schedule meetings the first—or even second day—back in the office. Give yourself time to find out what has been happening while you were away before jumping into a meeting with clients or your boss.
3. Delegate job duties to coworkers and employees. One way to avoid coming back to a mountain of work after a vacation is to empower your employees and delegate some of your responsibilities to co-workers. People avoid delegating work while they are away for a number of reasons. Some want the job security of being viewed as irreplaceable so they don’t want anyone else learning and doing their job. Others may have a Type A personality and just don’t want to give up control. Whatever the reason, you are not helping yourself by refusing to delegate work while you are away. Think about it. You can come back from vacation and have only 10 items on your to-do list instead of 20 items. That will make a huge difference in how quickly you get caught up at work. No one is suggesting you delegate your entire job or pass off sensitive business matters. Instead choose a few straightforward job duties that don’t require your specific attention. Delegating work while you are away is also a great way to boost employee confidence by helping staff members expand their skill sets and build loyalty by trusting your co-workers and staff members to handle the work while you are gone.
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4. Check in with co-workers. Before heading straight to your desk to check messages, check in with your colleagues first. Take 10 minutes to find out what has happened while you were away and if there is anything pressing that needs your attention. This will save you time and help you be more efficient. Rather than reading every email to figure out what priorities you should focus on, you will already know what needs your attention and can address those issues right away. This quick check-in also gives you a chance to find out which employees really stepped up and did a great job covering the workload while you were away, so you can acknowledge and thank them for their effort.
5. Focus on priorities. Not every email in your inbox is a priority or even needs a response. Many leaders have found the quickest way to get caught up on email after a vacation is to do a mass purge. Quickly sort through your inbox by pulling out the important messages based on subject line and then delete the rest. It will give you a clean slate, fewer emails to read and respond to and, if you deleted something important by accident, odds are the person will follow up. If you are not comfortable with this approach, make sure that you sort and prioritize your emails. Don’t go down the list answering every email starting with the oldest.
Prioritizing your work projects is crucial, as well. Make a to-do list for your first week back. Focus first on what needs to be done immediately and simply go down the list. By the end of the week you will be back on track, all caught up and ready to enjoy your weekend
