Lingering presence:
Can occasional check-in save your vacation? Should it?
It’s easy to say that you’ll ignore all phone calls and emails from work when you’re on vacation but that can be hard to do, especially if you’re concerned about keeping your job or moving up within your company. But instead of waiting for things to happen, the best way to save your sanity during your time off is to schedule some time with others to make sure everything is OK back at the office. Or at least that’s what Tom Livingston thinks. Livingston, a corporate coach in Boston, says that no one would be bothered on vacation in a perfect world. “But we know the world isn’t perfect, far from it, and that includes work,” he says. “Although we like to say we want to be completely separate from the office when we take time off, having a rigid philosophy like that can make things more difficult.”
Livingston says you need to have complete confidence in someone on your team who can handle any possible conflict while you are gone. If not, even a minor issue at work can sabotage your vacation. “And that one small issue then turns into three issues, and then those three issues turn into four hours each day on your laptop while you get the death stare from your kids for making them wait to go to the beach,” says Livingston. “If you’re proactive, you can keep things from falling off track.”
Instead of dealing with potential drama as it happens, Livingston suggests checking in with others on your team at pre-scheduled times. “Maybe one call during a week or every two or three days. And nothing longer than 15 minutes,” Livingston says. “The trick is finding out what’s happening to stop a potential fire before it starts.”
A few years ago, Carrie Sanders, a 42-year-old attorney from Evanston, Illinois, who has since moved to Toronto’s Agincourt neighborhood, says she frequently dealt with clients while on vacation but understood the need for people to hear from their attorneys in person, especially during times of crisis. “I could have had our clerk or assistant deal with things but to be honest, a five-minute phone call to talk someone down if they received a threatening letter in the mail or are worried about getting sued or losing a copyright that’s reflective of their life’s work — I’m fine with that,” says Sanders, who specialized in licensing agreements “in her prior life” in the United States. “The problem was that sometimes, people leave these messages that make them sound like their clothes are on fire and they’re freaking out, then you get them on the phone, and they’re like, ‘Hey, Carrie, just wondering if you had an update for me.’ I’d get a lot of those calls.”
Sanders says she decided to allow a slight blending of her work and family life so she could spend more, not less, time with her kids. “If a 10-minute phone call can solve five problems, that’s better than checking email all day,” she says. “I started to schedule a call at 11 each morning on vacation. Half the time, I was off the phone in five minutes or less.”
Not everyone agrees with Sanders and Livingston, though, including Charles Naef, a former accountant in Charlotte, North Carolina, who currently works in corporate recruiting. “Vacations are sacred, especially when you’re spending time with other people,” Naef says. “If you’re doing a solo cross-country drive or you’re heading to Europe on a tour, fine. Take a few minutes every day to see what’s going on at work, but if you’re with your family, if you have a partner who has been looking forward to spending time alone with you for months, or if you have small children who are in bed most days when you get home from work, you’re doing a real disservice to them.”
Livingston says he understands that perspective but thinks a compromise can help vacationers enjoy their time away from the workplace without worrying about work. “It’s just a matter of how you want to spend your time,” he says. “Five minutes on the phone, even once a day, can save you a lot of hassle when you return to the office.”
Naef isn’t buying it. “Tell your coworkers that you don’t want to be bothered. They will not only understand, they’ll completely agree,” he says. “And what could happen that needs your attention — and only your attention — when you’re gone? Don’t worry. The company won’t crumble without you.”