Holidays are essential for our health and wellbeing. Taking a vacation provides a relaxing escape from your often hectic work life and allows you to spend quality time with the important people in your life. Holidays reduce stress, prevent burnout, nurture creativity and improve your workplace wellbeing.
Even if you love your job, coming back to work after a holiday can be challenging and stressful. But it doesn’t have to be!
If you’re well organised before your trip, you can enjoy your holiday without worrying about work. Getting organised beforehand means its unlikely that you’ll return to a mountain of work and missed deadlines. So, here are our tips for preparing for annual leave and improving your workplace wellbeing:
Manage Your Time
Time management is an important skill and can really improve your workplace wellbeing. In the weeks leading up to your holiday, you should be managing your time very carefully.
Take any important meetings before your holiday and let colleagues and clients know that you will be away on annual leave shortly. Notify your clients of your holiday date and give them the contact details of a colleague in case they need something whilst you’re away.
Don’t book any meetings on the day before or after your holiday. This will only add to your stress. Instead, spend the final day tying up any loose ends.
Whilst planning out your days leading up to your holiday, don’t forget to set time aside to brief your colleagues about your work.
Prioritise Your Workload
As your holiday gets closer, you might want to think about prioritising your workload for when you are out of the office. Some of your work projects may not need completing until after your vacation, so push them back and leave them until you return.
There is no need to give your colleagues tasks and projects that aren’t essential as it will only waste time that they could be spending on your key projects (not to mention their own work). Then, prioritise the tasks and projects that need working on or completing during your holiday.
Look Ahead On Your Calendar And Plan Accordingly
Check your calendar to see what you have coming up in the weeks after your holiday. This way you can anticipate the needs of your clients or colleagues and potentially highlight any problems that may arise whilst you’re away.
Your fellow employees will certainly appreciate it if a problem arises and you have already given them a heads up on how to solve it.
Tie Up Loose Ends
Although it may be time-consuming, finishing half-complete projects will be a great help for your team, and a weight of your shoulders. Also, completing small, individual jobs yourself will be quicker and easier than briefing someone else on them.
Delegate Your Workload
Before assigning your projects to other staff members, have a chat with your manager and/or colleagues. After all, communication is key. Check who is available to help with your workload and ensure that your colleagues are experienced in your area of work and have the time to take on your projects.
As you delegate your work, ensure you provide a detailed brief on each project/task and check if your colleagues have any questions regarding the tasks.
Don’t Forget To Set Up Your Out Of Office Email
The day before you leave for your holiday, set up an out of office email explaining that you are on annual leave. Include your date of return and the contact details of a colleague in case of an emergency.
The last thing you want is for a client email to go unread. An out of office email will give you the peace of mind that any important queries will be taken care of and not be left for you to deal with upon your return.
Also, don’t forget to set up an out of office voicemail or perhaps redirect your work phone number to someone else.
Improve Your Workplace Wellbeing By Trusting In Your Team
When you’re heading off on vacation, it’s important to have faith in your team. Once you have organised your workload and briefed your colleagues, you should relax and try not to think about work.
If you follow our tips, you should have a stress-free holiday without worrying about what’s going on back at the office.
Get In Touch
Organising your workload before your holiday will allow you to enjoy your break and come back to work feeling refreshed and stress-free.
If you want to find out more about ways you can improve your workplace wellbeing, then simply get in touch with Wellspace today.
Wellspace are the leading experts in workplace wellness, so we can help you improve your workplace wellbeing.
