Summer’s around the corner, and you probably already have your vacation planned out. As a team manager, you surely always go on vacation thinking about what’s going to happen while you’re out of the office. There’s nothing wrong with thinking if your team will get any work done while you’re away. But it can affect your vacation.
If you keep worrying about what you’re employees are doing, you’ll never get any rest. Soon enough going on vacation will turn out to be way more stressful than actually going to work. Luckily, there are a few things you must do, if you want to enjoy your vacation.
In this article, we’ll present to you steps you should take before, during and after your annual leave. These should help you keep your business running as smoothly as possible.
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Prepare Business and Employees
Source: Bob the BA
Before you even go on vacation get everyone up to speed with your plan. Send an email with the exact dates of your absence, as well as who will be handling which parts of your work. Additionally, email all your clients to introduce them with new points of contact.
Divide your workload to other team members. If necessary, you can even provide them with more training. Create checklists to make sure all sections of your work will get handled properly.
Let it Go
Source: Pixabay
It sounds like a cliche, but it’s the first step towards spending your vacation stress-free. If you employed capable people, there’s nothing for you to worry about – the office will be right where you left it.
Understand that your vacation days are the only time during the year when you can unwind. Remove apps you’re using to keep in touch with the team from your mobile and leave your laptop at home. Stop thinking about work, tasks, and projects – there’ll be plenty of time to think about that when you get back.
Use vacation days to enjoy the beach, and spend quality time with your friends and family. Otherwise, the vacation could have a  counter-effect on your closest people.
Install Employee Monitoring Software
Source: PCMag
If you’re worried your employees won’t do any work while you’re gone, you can install Workpuls before you go on vacation. This way, you’ll have an overview of what your employees were doing once you come back.
People tend to work better when they know they’re being observed, so a computer tracking system should definitely do the trick. You can expect your employees to be productive and perform well during those days.
Such software will collect data on the app and website usage, as well as working time and productivity levels. You can easily determine what got done in your absence, and who decided to slack.
Debrief the Team
Source: Pixabay
Once you get back, have a debriefing with your team. Point out anything that was great, but also things that didn’t go as expected. Ask for explanations, everyone’s impressions and perform a work evaluation.
Debriefings can help everyone understand what the areas for improvement within your business or team are. Additionally, they will help your team members work more efficiently next time you go on annual leave.
With each vacation you take, your team will get better at keeping everything in order. So, you should stop stressing that the sky will fall down if you’re offline for 2 weeks. Have some trust in your employees.
Wrap Up
Source: Snagajob
It’s hard taking a vacation and going completely off the grid when you’re a manager or a business owner. It can be nerve-wracking, overwhelming and stressful. However, the fact it can be this way doesn’t mean it should.
Look at it this way – while you’re getting some much-needed rest, your employees will get a chance to learn more about the business. What is more, they’ll be able to overcome new challenges. You need to put yourself first in this scenario and think about business as little as possible if you’re looking to get rest. The people working for you got hired for a reason – they are good, responsible employees. Therefore, you have nothing to worry about.
