Business Solutions for Summer 2019

6 S U MM E R 2 0 1 9 The relaxed state you bring to the office after your vacation can quickly disappear the minute you see your over- flowing email inbox. Try these strategies before, during, and after your time away to reduce your email stress. There are ways to keep email from souring your sweet getaways Dealing with the Dreaded Post-Vacation Inbox Be Proactive Before You Leave About a week before you leave for your vacation, let your most important business contacts—clients and team members with whom you interact on a daily or weekly basis—know your vacation schedule. Include the dates you'll be out as well as your availability by email or phone. If you’ll be out of reach and someone else will be handling projects for you, let these con- tacts know and pass along the colleague’s contact information. This proactive step will not only help reduce the number of emails waiting for you upon your return, it will also reassure clients their business is being taken care of in your absence. In addition, it tells your contacts that if they have a pressing need, they should mention it now. Set Boundaries While You're Away In order to carve out time to actually enjoy your vacation, you need a way to manage incoming emails. There are a couple of options here. You can set up an “out of office” message that includes: • The date you will return to work • What people can expect regarding a reply from you—if you’ll be checking emails and replying occasionally, for example, or only replying when you return • The name and contact information for the colleague who will be covering your essential job responsibilities • Words like “personal vacation” or “out of town with family” to reinforce that you’re on a true vacation and not a business trip Another option is to have all your email messages automatically forwarded to the colleague who will be handling your work while you're away. This alternative saves your correspondents the extra step of having to send a separate email to that person. Be Discerning When You Get Back If your schedule permits, create a “buffer day” by telling business contacts you’ll be back in the office one or two days after you’re actually back. This will give you some time to get caught up on email and other tasks. When you finally do go through those hundreds of messages in your inbox, sort by sender instead of by date, which will help you find and tackle the most important messages first, and easily delete those that are no longer relevant. With a little forethought, you can successfully tame the technology beast and truly enjoy your time off.