LEAVE DAYS

An entitlement and definitely a NEED. A few days ago on my instagram page @corporate.millennial (don’t be afraid to follow), I engaged my followers to tell me about the leave culture in their workplaces. The responses were a bit alarming.

Do we really have a good leave culture in in our corporate world?…. Think about it for a moment. If you have to approve a leave application what are your first thoughts? or if you have to apply for leave are you worried about the way the conversation will go? (take a moment and think about it…..).

We all need some time off from the work place. It gives us time to ourselves, to rest and to work on other things that fuel our energy. Time away from work brings you back to work feeling less fatigued (not always but, you get the jist). So after reading and sharing some of the responses I got from insta, I thought I would share with you some of these pointers:

How to cultivate a working LEAVE relationship with your manager

• Plan your leave early – at the beginning of the year, have a tentative plan on when you wish to take time off from work. Schedule days when you are less likely to be busy, or when no projects are due or being started.
• Communicate your plan, let them know which dates are fixed and which ones are flexible (not all leave is fixed come on 🙂 a few changes never hurt nobody).
• When your leave days approach, have a discussion with your manager to remind them. A month prior and a week before. This helps them know what sort of timelines to give you for any key tasks that need to be completed before you go, and for them to plan for your absence.
• Have a proper handover/ update prepared in writing for whoever will be holding the forte for you. This helps minimise the regular calls you can get while you are OOO (Out Of Office). Give updates regarding all actions you know are going to be required in your absence and email it to all relevant stakeholders.
• Be flexible. Sometimes, its okay to postpone your leave, especially if you don’t have anything planned for your time off. This gives your manager a lasting impression that says, when I’m needed I will avail myself. This also allows your manager to be flexible on those days you just feel like you need some time off but hadn’t planned for it. The flexibility becomes mutual.

The office phone calls while you’re on leave

The most dreaded calls are those you get from work when you thought you are free from “thinking” or having to sound smart.

Unfortunately, sometimes we all work in silos at the workplace. We all have different roles to play that will result in no one knowing what to do in your absence. They are going to call you! Yep. Sucks but it’s true.

In your OOO message (the internal one), let your colleagues know the following:

• A contact person-Give a name to contact regarding the different things you do (the person you handed over an exercise to/ whoever you work on the activity with/closely with)- their direct contacts
• Provide available times they can contact you– have them liaise with one person who can put together all the information requested so you get one phone call for all the information needed- (that way if two people want the same thing, you don’t have them calling you one after another). This is necessary if you are responsible for multiple things and often work alone because of the nature of your role.
• Send an SMS reminding them you’re on leave and direct them to your contact person in the office.
• When you really cannot take their calls, just don’t answer. Terrible? maybe. But sometimes it has to be done. Answering a work call feeling frustrated will have you sound hostile and unwilling to assist others. This is worse than them assuming you simply cannot get to the phone at that moment.

Time off from work has many benefits that we all know about. But the key thing is to be responsible about your time away from the office. Never use it as an excuse to get away from projects, meetings or presentations. Finish all your tasks, prepare an update that others can refer to in your absence. Learn to work with others. Being an island in the workplace will make it hard for you to take time off if you have daily and weekly standardised deliverables.

Be responsible!