Insights

We’ve all been there: You’re pumped to share your latest project notes, updates, and questions with a client, but after sending a perfectly formatted email, your inbox is hit just seconds later with the dreaded auto-reply: “Hello, I’m currently out of the office …” – and that’s when you know it’s “that time of year.”

Summer is packed with holidays, celebrations, family obligations, and squeezing in one last road trip before the season comes to an end. But we know that managing your business while coordinating around internal and client schedules (especially vacations) sometimes feels like a balancing act.

So how can you help keep production on track during these busy times? Here are just a few ways our team makes the process less painful than a bad sunburn:

Be Proactive
Every year, there’s sure to be someone in the office who stacks their vacation time, whether by carrying over time from the previous year or accumulating more in the process. If this is you, do your team a favor by planning ahead and plotting out any known absences as far in advance as possible.

Communicate
Connect with your team (and in turn, your clients) to provide a head’s up when you know you’ll be out of the office. Don’t find yourself in a situation where you return to work only to learn that your customer is now the one who’s unavailable! It only takes a small effort, but this step could mean the difference between delivering a project on time – or running behind schedule.

Purposely Pad Projects
If possible, build in a few extra hours or work days before and during a project when you know you might be short-handed. This is especially helpful if deadlines are known in advance.

And finally …

To Check Or Not To Check?
Do you constantly refresh your email app while you’re out of the office? This last point is up for debate, as some organizations may require or prefer that employees keep up with checking and/or responding to emails while on vacation (if not one hundred percent of the time, at least periodically). Just make sure to find out what your company policy is, and plan to act accordingly.

At the end of the day, vacation time is a hard-earned benefit meant to be enjoyed in the interest of maintaining work-life balance. Keeping these tips top of mind will just make it all the more sweet! (Speaking of which, who’s up for some ice cream …?)

Check out our blog to stay up to date with more productivity insights from the Webfitters team.