Americans left a whopping and record-setting 658 million vacation days on the table last year. Why? In part, experts say, it’s because we’re afraid of missing out on work once we leave—which means even when we do take off, we’re often unable to truly unplug and enjoy those few-and-far between vacation days.
Taking a vacation from work can create extra stress, says Hallie Crawford, career coach and founder of career coaching agency Hallie Crawford. There’s the scrambling to get work done before we leave—and then a pile of tasks when we return. And unless you work at Netflix—the land of unlimited vacation days—our workplaces often don’t exactly encourage employees to take time off.
But just because it’s tough to unplug when you do use those precious vacation days doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Our experts are here with 10 tips to help you get ready to leave without a single work worry—as well as how to keep it that way while you’re away.
1. Time your vacation to your advantage. Some vacations—say, holiday trips home—simply can’t be rescheduled. But if you just want to escape during the summer, take a look at your company calendar and select a week in which little is happening, suggests James Craft, professor of business administration at the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Graduate School of Business. “In a slower period, fewer issues and requirements are likely to arise,” he explains. Plus, you can calm your work FOMO when you know little is going on.
2. Make checklists—and check them off. In the days and weeks leading up to your departure, make two checklists: The items you’ve got to accomplish before you leave, and the projects you will tackle when you return, advises Crawford. Check off your pre-vacation items before you pack up, and leave your other list for your first day back. “It’s better to create the after-vacation checklist before you leave, instead of when you get back, because you are still in work-mode and it will be easier to create your list,” Crawford explains.
3. Delegate your work. Some work can’t be postponed until you return. If that’s the case, Crawford says, appoint point-people to handle your projects while you’re away. “If you need ideas about who should handle what, ask your boss for suggestions on who could stay on top of ongoing projects while you are gone,” she suggests. Be sure to explain exactly what needs done—with checklists and visuals, where needed—and highlight any deadlines that must be met. “Make sure they have contact information for you in case of any emergency,” Crawford advises, “but then trust them to take care of the work.”
4. Set the right away message. When it comes to setting up your automated email replies and your out-of-office voicemail, don’t be vague, Craft encourages. Those outside your office will need to know when they can reach you once again. “Indicate that you will return to the office at a specific date,” he says, “and note that he or she can leave a message and you will return it upon your return or, if an emergency, which of your team members or colleagues can be contacted immediately.”
5. Set up an email label system. If you do choose to check emails while you’re away, Crawford suggests coming up with an email code system you can share with your fellow coworkers and even your boss. Each email they send or forward should be labeled based on its urgency. Have fun, and be creative—say, “code red” for a document that just can’t wait, “code blue” for anything that’s not an emergency but that might make good beachside reading, and “code green” for anything you’ll want to save for when you return.
6. Establish times to check in. You shouldn’t skip the spa because you’re buried in work emails. Instead, schedule set times when you’ll check in on email or by phone, suggest Michelle Merritt, business coach and CEO of Merrfeld. Let your colleagues know that you will be available during those hours—and those hours only—before you leave. There’s one caveat to this plan, however. “Do not call them to check in,” she says. “Let them know they can reach you during a set period of time if absolutely necessary, but don’t call them. Calling them shows you don’t trust them to manage everything in your absence.”
7. Remove your work email accounts and apps from your devices. If you’ve opted to leave the office behind, there’s one guaranteed way to keep your worried mitts away from your work emails: Delete your work email accounts and work-related apps from all your mobile devices. “It’s almost impossible for us to shut off our devices completely,” explains Merritt. “They contain our cameras, books, music, and the resources to communicate with others on our vacation—but they don’t have to always have our work on them.” Remove ‘em, and don’t add them back until you’ve returned to the office. “There’s nothing worse than opening your email for the first time the night before returning to work,” Merritt warns. “Just live in the bliss of vacation until the work day actually starts.”
8. Don’t pack up work to take with you. If you haven’t quite wrapped up the work you’d like to complete before you set off for your cruise, it can be tempting to take it with you. But try not to, encourages Kristin S. Vickers Douglas, Ph.D., psychology medical director of the Mayo Clinic’s Healthy Living Wellness Coaching. “It’s common in the rush to get out the door to grab work and push it forward—e.g., I can do this on the plane or when the kids are asleep,” she commiserates. “But just as research has shown that long to-do lists are often unhelpful, unrealistic expectations about what can be done during vacation can hinder pleasure, rest, and recreating and lead to guilt and frustration with work left undone or missing out on the fun.”
9. Tolerate that uncomfortable feeling of loose ends. Let’s face it: It’s about as likely that all your work will be wrapped up before you leave as it is that your house will be completely and totally sparkling clean when you step out the door. You must teach yourself to be A-OK with the fact that some pre-vacation things didn’t tie up in a perfect bow, Douglas says. And instead of telling yourself everything must get done, “focus on what needs to happen before you leave and tackle work in order of importance and feasibility,” she says. “Although the idea of coming back to having everything wrapped up and waiting, work and life happens while you are away, and expect that some clean up time will be necessary.”
10. Remind yourself why you took the vacation in the first place. It’s likely you took a vacation because you need a vacation from work. After all, if you didn’t need a work-related reprieve, you might have simply hung a picture of Turks and Caicos in your cubicle instead. Or perhaps you needed QT with your long-distance BFF, or to work on your sunscreen-slathered tan. “No matter what your reason, it probably wasn’t so you could worry about work,” says Merritt. “While FOMO at work can be scary, what’s worse is actually having had time to enjoy those you love or a destination you’ve wanted to see and instead you missed out on the opportunity because your nose was in your laptop.”
