3 Tips for Maintaining Work-Life Balance During Your Vacation
With the biggest holidays right around the corner, this time of year can definitely be stressful and hectic. After you’ve dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s of your travel itinerary, the next step is often thinking of how you will leave your workload at the office while you’re away. Sometimes the days before taking a vacation can be more stressful than usual. The leadup to my vacation is often spent obsessing over everything I need to handle before it’s time to hop on the plane — and these feelings are quite common. In fact, the U.S. Travel Association concluded that 768 million vacation days were unused in 2018. The three main reasons behind this colossal number are fear of being replaced, a high workload, and limited resources for coverage.
Since its first introduction to the business world in the 1970s, the concept of work-life balance has become a fundamental cultural component for tech companies — a concept that is continuously being redefined to fit our needs. There’s no right way to take time off. There are benefits to completely unplugging from your job as much there are advantages to staying connected. What’s important is to alleviate some of the primary fears associated with going on vacation.
At Hopper, we have a flexible vacation policy and a culture that accommodates taking time off. Here are 3 easy tips for taking your work-life balance with you on vacation:
1. Take 5 minutes every morning to filter through your emails — and time it.
The idea is to get rid of (junk) messages that you don’t need while giving you the opportunity to handle any emails that are urgent. Taking those 5 minutes every morning will help you maintain your emails without falling into the rabbit hole of clearing your inbox. You’ll also have peace of mind knowing that you won’t be returning to 400+ unread emails.
2. Turn off your notifications but don’t remove your messaging app.
Putting your out of office status and turning off your alerts is probably the most common “must-do” when you’re on vacation. One of my colleagues even suggested that I delete Slack to make sure that I stayed disconnected. Turning off your notifications is key to not get spammed by incoming pings that may or may not apply to you. By keeping your messaging app on your phone or laptop, you can jump in if there’s anything that needs your immediate attention.
3. Don’t be afraid to check-in on your backup.
A quick message to touch base with the colleague who is covering for you can help ease your mind to accept that everything is under control — because it most likely is! Remember that there’s not much you can do while you’re vacationing and you shouldn’t take care of any work. Checking-in is not for you to tackle things while you’re on holiday. Instead, it’s a way for you to make a shortlist of things to cover when you’re back at the office. It can also help you better plan for the next time you’re going on vacation.
By taking time off to relax and get out of your daily routine, you return to the office recharged — and that’s when you deliver better results. Data has shown that putting work aside for a week or two to vacation leads to happier and more productive employees.
After all, at Hopper, we’re a travel company! We aim to support both our customers and our employees in seeing more of the world. Do it on your own terms — completely disconnect or give yourself a short period of time to tune into what’s going on at work while you’re gone. Whatever helps you come back with a clear mind, ready to deliver results.
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