Consider these tips before heading out on vacation so that you can manage your email well when you get back
Congratulations! You’ve decided to take a much-needed vacation! But you’re already starting to sweat just thinking about all the emails you’ll have to go through when you get back. While it’s true that you’ll likely have communications waiting for you when you get back, you can follow these tips to help you manage it.
Set your away message for the day BEFORE you leave and the day AFTER you get back. Turning the away message on the day before you leave will allow you to wrap things up on that last day instead of frantically responding to emails as they come in. Those who write you that day will automatically receive a message notifying them when you’ll be back and giving them instructions about what to do in the meantime. And turning the away message off one day after you get back will allow you to spend that first day catching up on tasks, reading through emails, and planning out your work week instead of feeling pressure to respond right away.
Designate someone else to read and respond to your emails while you’re gone. Vacations are a great opportunity to build capacity on your team! Your staff will be able to take on new responsibilities and support you if you allow them, wisely and carefully, to support you while you’re gone. Provide instructions to your staff about what emails they can respond to and what emails should be left for you to respond to when you return.
Create a system to read and respond to emails when you return. You might be tempted to immediately start replying to all of your emails when you get back. Instead, read through everything first to get a full sense of all that happened when you were gone, and then prioritize your responses based on level of urgency and ease of response (if you can respond within 5 minutes, respond right then!).
And if email is a constant source of stress for you, check out this article about Inbox Zero.
Do you have other considerations for managing your email while you’re away?
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*smallbiztrends.com content was used for this article.