The relaxation after a day off often disappears on the first day of work. But if you prepare well for your vacation, you’ll be more relaxed when you start again – but be careful with the out-of-office message.
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The low mood after a holiday has a name: “Post-holiday syndrome” describes the phenomenon that people do not feel rested after their holidays, but rather exhausted and listless. If you think you are pretty much alone in this, you are wrong. According to studies, up to two thirds of employees could be affected, reports psychologist Jürgen Walter. The low mood after a holiday often cannot be completely avoided. However, good preparation can prevent the stress from coming back immediately.
The gentle return to work should ideally be initiated weeks before the vacation. “Urgent work should be done before the vacation,” recommends Walter. Extra strict deadlines can provide the necessary motivation. Even if a project could actually be done right after the vacation, the self-imposed time pressure is worth it. Because it often takes twice as long to get back into the swing of things after the vacation. And in the worst case, the “looming” work remains subconsciously present during the vacation.
Back from vacation stress-free
But Walter warns against unnecessary perfectionism. Getting everything off the table can lead to unnecessary stress, which then has to be relieved at the start of the vacation, warns the coach. His recommendation: Prioritize the really important tasks early on and plan in time buffers to ease the sprint before the vacation.
The colleagues who cover for you during your vacation also benefit from good planning. For Walter, the replacement is actually the most important factor when it comes to stress during and immediately after vacation. “You can save yourself a lot of work and hassle by communicating well with your colleagues,” he has found. For him, this includes informing the replacement in a timely and comprehensive manner about important tasks, appointments and deadlines. Such a discussion with your supervisor is also advisable.
A good out-of-office message is also one of the key factors that determine whether you will be happy or not after your vacation. It is often unavoidable that hundreds of unread emails will be waiting for you when you return. In the best case scenario, however, colleagues and customers with important concerns will have contacted the representative named in the out-of-office message in the meantime and the matter will already be resolved for the person returning.
However, if you are tempted to automatically forward incoming emails directly to your representative while on vacation, be careful. If an email is forwarded, this is usually considered to be the processing of personal data, warns lawyer Jan Aufterbeck. And there are strict regulations for this, above all the General Data Protection Regulation. According to the lawyer, anyone who wants to forward emails therefore needs the consent of the sender.
Clean desk after the break
Some companies actually allow vacationers to have a clean slate in their inbox. Daimler introduced the “Mail on Holiday” program in 2014. This allows employees to have emails deleted from the system while they are away. “Senders receive an automatic notification that they should contact a representative,” explains a spokeswoman for Mercedes-Benz. “When employees return from vacation, they start with a clean desk.”
According to the company spokesperson, whether an employee uses the service is not recorded centrally. According to Aufterbeck, however, companies that do not offer such a program should not delete unread emails under any circumstances. According to the lawyer, this also applies if the volume of messages means a significant additional workload. There is no “reasonable limit” when it comes to processing the digital mountains of letters.
Prevent worry about missing something
Walter therefore believes that a middle ground is entirely justifiable. Many psychologists and lawyers alike are urging that vacation and work should be kept as strictly separate as possible. After all, the right to rest is enshrined in law. “Yes, on vacation you should switch off and not be available to your boss and colleagues,” emphasises Walter. But some people could simply recover better if they kept in touch in a relaxed manner.
According to the management consultant, this should not mean being constantly available by phone. But it can be worthwhile to spend a few minutes looking through messages every day. “That way you don’t have to worry about missing anything and you won’t be overwhelmed by the number of emails at the end of your vacation,” he says.
However, this preparatory work is a balancing act. If unforeseen problems arise, this can quickly destroy the relaxing effect of the vacation. “Above all, you should listen to your gut feeling about whether and, if so, how much contact with the office is still good for me during my vacation,” says Walter.
One option, also for self-employed people: the most important customers receive a separate email address for the vacation, which is forwarded to the private mailbox. According to Walter, sleep is often overlooked when it comes to returning to work without stress. His advice: get back to the sleep rhythm of the work week a few days beforehand at the latest.
Source: Stern
