Part of striving towards a work life balance is to take a stress free holiday without feeling anxious or apprehensive about your workload. Sometimes you come back from a holiday needing a holiday – what can you do to ensure you are relaxed and free from stress and pressure? Here are five tips to go away on annual leave, avoid holiday stress and come back to work with a post holiday buzz that lasts longer than holiday romance. The chances of having a stress free holiday are enhanced by having the peace of mind that everything is under control at work. Depending on the length of your holiday, ask your boss if a trusted colleague can cover you at work. Update your manager on the status of your work, whether they need to follow up on any projects and ask them to nominate someone who can make decisions on your behalf while you are away.
Get organised
Before you leave for your holiday, allocate time to cleaning your desk, filing your paperwork and making your office free of clutter. In the last hour before you leave, set your out of office message on your email software and also put an out of office message on your telephone. In your email and phone messages, let the person know who they should contact in your absence to try and avoid a barrage of messages when you return.
Plan ahead
The earlier you book and plan your holiday, the more likely you are to get the best deals on hotels and travel and the best choice of quality accommodation and better travel times. It’s great to get a cheap flight for $59 but it might be false economy if you’re getting up at the crack of dawn to catch the plane and starting your holiday on a tense note. It may be better to pay more and get a more convenient flight time.
Set work boundaries
It can be tempting to check your work emails when you are away on holidays but the whole idea of getting away is to escape from the rigours and stresses of every day work. Leave your laptop at home or go to a region with limited Internet access so you will have no choice to enjoy your holiday in the way you intended. Alternatively, set work boundaries and only check your emails once every day for half an hour only.