Can You Get Away From Work When On Holiday?

by Peter Cosgrove, MD of Futurewise Ltd.

With a hybrid working life, the huge flexibility has added extra complications with creating boundaries between work and leisure. Many of us regularly check email in the evening as a trade-off for having time with kids or time to ourselves during the day. Where this can be more problematic is when we go on holiday and we continue interacting with the office and we do not get the break we need. Holidays are there to disconnect, recharge and we can only do that if we deliberately step away from the job. However, the advice like: putting your phone in the safe for the 2 weeks is just not viable….most people would prefer to put their right severed hand in the safe than their phone for two weeks! Here are a few ideas I have heard for those going on holiday which takes into account the connected world we live in:

• Tell people you are on holiday not on “annual leave”. We often struggle to even mention the word “holiday” and use that meaningless work term instead, own the fact that you are going on holiday.
• Have an out of office message that says you will not be checking email, but that they can call you if its urgent. You will be amazed how few people will call when they have to define what is urgent, especially if they do call, and your opening line is, “what’s the crisis?”
• We also know that our workplaces are not always the evil places depicted and that we are the problem, and if email is there, we will glance at it. Therefore, accept that you are weak! Have your email password changed (without letting you know the new password) for the time that you are away to avoid temptation.
• For some, the panic is now rising as there is always this idea that you may be missing out (we rarely are!) however, to combat this have a trusted work ally while you are away. Their job is to ensure you do not miss out on anything. For example, if Taylor Swift tickets are offered to your whole team but you miss out because you did not check an email, then they will let you know! Obviously, this won’t happen, but it is good to know that you have a work ally just to keep you apprised of the things they know you would want to know and they can download it all to you on your first day back.
• When people talk about work email, they forget that work messages may come via Teams, Slack etc, so the same rules apply to these. The trickier area is WhatsApp, where there is often a blend of work and fun in work WhatsApp groups. The general advice is to mute WhatsApp groups or temporarily leave them (nobody bar the administrator sees this anymore) and again have an ally ensure you miss out on nothing important. Re-join on your return.
• If you feel like you are a workaholic and need to be busy, then lean into this and make the holiday your 2 week project so put your heart and soul into planning the best holiday and executing while you are there. Even give yourself holiday KPIs if that’s what you are into!
• Pre-empt issues with any work you have, let key people know that you will be away and call them on your last work day before you leave, just to ensure they remember you are going away and have everything they need.
• If you do not mind the odd white lie, let certain colleagues know where you are going has poor wifi, especially those who seem to totally ignore the fact that you are on holiday.
• Finally, the phone is often picked up because we are bored, so plan to have the best activities, experiences and even in your downtime the best books and podcasts so you have no time for anything other than having a great break. If you have kids and you want them to be entertained, you could always buy one of my books which will keep them engaged (hopefully for a few hours)!

Best of luck and let me know any good tips or hacks you have for ensuring you switch off on annual leave……I mean holiday.

About the author

Peter Cosgrove leads Futurewise and is an expert on future trends and a much sought-after speaker on talks related to the future of work. He has over 25 years business experience on executive teams as well as on not for profit boards as board member and Chairman. He has been Chair of Junior Achievement Ireland, the National Recruitment Federation and currently serves on the 30% Club Steering Committee tackling gender balance and is Vice Chairman of Aware, a leading mental health charity. Peter has served as a Board adviser for a number of Staffing organisations and has been a contributor to the Expert Group on Future Skills.