August, sweet August. Ripe tomatoes. Days by the pool or, better yet, the beach. Not a care in the world. Until, that is, you return from vacation and face a deluge of emails, meetings, and phone calls. It’s enough to make you want to return to the beach pronto, even if your bank account is screaming “Impossible!” But there are ways to ease back into the nine-to-five-drill without losing your hard-earned relaxation the second you enter the door.
The trick to a stress-free return to the workplace is three-fold, and includes strategies for before, during, and after your trip.
1. Choose your return date with care.
Many experienced travelers like to get home on a Friday or Saturday, allowing them selves the weekend to reacclimatize. If you give yourself a few days to get your personal life in order, then whatever awaits you at the office might not seem so overwhelming. Similarly, consider returning toward the end of the week and slipping into work for a day or two to get your feet wet. Enjoy a weekend at home and then really plunge in on Monday.
2. Set up voice and email notifications.
Let people know that you’re away and will not be checking email or voicemail until a specific date. In your absence, provide someone else they can contact. You might give your return date as a day later than it really is in order to buy yourself a day to get organized upon returning.
3. Tidy up.
Clean your desk before you leave town. We all know that it’s so much nicer to return to a clean house, so why not a clean desk, too?
4. Be in the moment.
While you’re on vacation, try to put work out of your mind. The more quickly you’re able to sink into vacation mode—something that takes many people a few days to do—the more you’ll gain from your time away. If you’re traveling with family or friends, they’ll appreciate not hearing about work, too!
5.Get in—or out—of touch.
Decide in advance whether you’ll have any contact with the office while you’re away. If you tell people that you’re cutting all ties for a week, then there will be no expectations of you. On the other hand, if you say you’ll call in, be sure to follow through.
