Setting Up Out Of Office Replies Without Guilt

Sometimes I have work travel heavy weeks. I used to struggle with feeling like I needed to function as though I was at my desk. Frankly this was unrealistic and I found a better approach. Here are a few strategies that help me focus on doing the best work whether at my desk or on the road. ♦️ Communicate availability: I set expectations and communicate with partners and colleagues when I’ll check email and how to reach me in the event of urgent issues. ♦️ Manage email: I make sure to set an email Out-of-Office message to start the day before I depart and end the day after I return. This gives me a buffer on the front end to deal with any pressing issues and a full day when I return to review non-urgent email. ♦️ Travel routine: I check email and slack at the general time I’ve committed to doing so (usually in the morning), scan email for urgent issues, add new contacts on LinkedIn, and do any follow up relevant to travel-specific meetings. ♦️ Post travel: My first day back at my desk, I reserve time to do any post-travel follow up. This usually includes recording and submitting travel expenses, completing trip reports, and updating my calendar. Now when I travel, I try to focus fully on the reason for the work travel. I embrace the opportunity to work differently while on work travel. Do you have any tips to share?

Time off matters. Everyone needs a break. A chance to reset, recharge, and come back clear-headed. I make time for it, and I want the people I work with to do the same. But stepping away doesn’t mean disappearing. When I’m out, I’ll put up an out-of-office reply. It says I’m on vacation. It also says I’ll be checking email once or twice a day. If something’s truly urgent, I ask people to text me. I don’t post my number. If it’s urgent, they already have it. Or they know someone who does. That small detail makes a difference. It sets expectations. It keeps things moving without turning time off into radio silence. And it filters out the noise. I’ve had cold calls come through during vacation just because someone saw a phone number and thought it was an open door. That’s not the point of an out-of-office message. We all deserve a break. But if you're in a role with responsibility, it helps to think ahead. Make it easy for your team to reach you the right way, for the right reasons.

Yes, I'm on vacation, but I scheduled some previously posted gems for you! [Originally posted on May 31, 2022] What's even better than a short week because of Monday holiday? An even shorter week because vacation starts Friday! ☀️🕶🌴 I'm a very firm believer in the importance of taking time away from work. Are you? I've seen some people who seem to believe that Time Off simply means responding to emails and messages from a different location than normal. Some people must think that vacation means you attend Zoom meetings from the airport terminal. ✈️ I'm not one of those people! When I'm taking time off, I take time off. I don't look at email. 📪 I don't pull up Slack. 📧 I don't think about all the things I need to do when I get back to my office. 🗒 Those things don't do anything to help me relax or to recharge. I know that my team will take care of business while I'm away. They have everything they need to get the job done. I don't worry about that in the least. And if I were worried about that, it would mean one of two things; 1️⃣ - I don't truly trust my team to get the work done. 2️⃣ - I don't have confidence that I've done a good enough job of leading them. If my company is investing for me to take the time away, it's my obligation to honor that investment by doing what's necessary for me to relax, recharge and refocus. Yes. There will be a LOT of emails to follow up on (and delete) when I return. Yes. There's a chance that someone sent something that needed follow up before my return. Yes. There will be meeting invites that went unacknowledged. That's the reason for a very cool feature labeled "Out of Office Message". I have a pretty good routine I follow in prepping for being away from work. It's worked out well for me so far! Set your Out of Office message Be clear about your return date and if you are not going to respond to messages until your return, let the receiver know. Also, let people know who they should reach out to in your absence. Be sure that person knows you are doing this! Consider setting your Slack status as "Vacationing" with your return date. Have an Emergency Contact Method My team knows that if something comes up and they really need me, they can text or call me. The good thing is that in several years now, there hasn't been anything bad enough that the team had to text me. Clear and Block your Calendar I make sure to decline all meeting invites for vacation week and to have the entire day set to PTO. Some people won't even ask before sending an invite, so I want to make sure they get some notice that I'm not around. And that's about it, friends. I'm going to use our LiveSocial tool to schedule some more content for the rest of the week for your scrolling pleasure, but right now, I need to decide which sunglasses will be joining me on vacation this year. Not that you asked, but this year's destination is Amelia Island in Florida. I would love any recommendations you may have!