Eight hours a day, three hundred days a year, for a total of over 2000 working hours from January to December. There is no doubt, at this point of the year we all deserve a nice holiday.
Even our iconic product, the Gianduiotto, takes a period of vacation to leave room for more summer delicacies and return in September.
So, let's all give our warmest welcome to the summer, coming to save us with the hard-earned annual holidays!
No matter where you go on holiday or how long it lasts, the fact remains that it's not that easy to get off, even when we really need it. Work is part of our lives and somehow, we miss (or persecute) it, even when we are on vacation.
Therefore, the number one rule is: learn to detach. For real, with no ifs or buts. Then, just follow some simple instructions to make our "out of office" less traumatic and more effective:
- Delegate: Find a trusted person to take care of the small nuisances that may occur when you leave. Your desk neighbour, your colleague from the office next door, your most trusted employee. The important thing is to find someone who can deal with the unexpected phone call or the last-minute problem that needs to be solved in mid-August. And, of course, reward those who will remove the chestnuts from the fire, returning the favour when the time comes.
- Communicating clearly: building the perfect out of office message is essential. Don't underestimate the importance of the automatic reply mail to be pre-set when you're about to leave, it can avoid more than one problem while you're on vacation. Above all, be clear and precise: indicate the exact period when you will be absent, write the person to contact on your behalf and explain that on holiday you are not sure you can take care of what you are asked, because you have limited access to your PC. An example to copy/paste from? "Good morning, thanks for the communication. I will be away from work for a period of time from...to...with limited access to email and phone. I will respond to you on my return. For emergencies you can contact..."
- Do not make any exceptions: you are on holiday. You have waited a long time for them, you have deserved them, and now you certainly do not want to ruin them. The advice is not to make exceptions for any reason because it could be the beginning of the end. Responding to an email will force you to respond to all the others as well, in a spiral that could take much longer than expected. What they are asking of you is unlikely to wait a few days. If that's not the case, take care of it, but put on poles: when you've closed one thing, you don't start another.
- Set rules: If you cannot do without working on holiday, set clear rules. For example, you work an hour a day, perhaps back from the sea. At that time, open your email, take care of all the issues and then go back to your holidays.
And now, good holidays, we meet again in September: with you and with our Gianduiotto!