The vision of returning to the office after vacation and the reality usually have very little in common. In this article you will find some tips to avoid the post-vacation crush:

  1. Actively plan for your return.

When planning time away from work, most people focus on getting organized for departure. Avoid undoing all that restoration by treating your return as something that needs to be managed in advance as well.

While many of us try to maximize vacation time by coming home Sunday night experts suggest considering an earlier-than-last-minute return.

2. Factor in some triage.

Don’t just walk back into the office after a vacation without a plan of attack, unless you want to be steamrolled. Experts suggest you protect the time you’ve set aside to get caught up the way you would a meeting or a presentation.

3. Your out-of-office response is your first line of defense: wield it to your advantage.

Your out-of -office autoreply needs to be straightforward, helpful, and honest, but not that honest.

 

Learn to plan ahead, rely on your coworkers, and understand that sometimes, it’s inevitable that you’ll miss out on that last-minute request, and you’ll be that much more productive when you return.

 

Image: Holiday – yourdoku .com  (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)