Our answer is don’t! Do everything you can to allow them to take a much needed break. Even though during summer it can feel like a third of your team is always on vacation, you can still be productive – perhaps even more so. Between long weekends, holidays, shorter shifts to accommodate scheduling around children who are out of school and the vacations that New Englanders cram into our few short months of warm weather, it can be difficult to keep momentum going on projects when key players are out of the office.
Here are some ways to keep things running smoothly WITHOUT having to call your staff during their much-needed vacation time:
1) Train multiple people on key projects and be sure that they never take vacation at the same time as each other.
2) Ensure that multiple people have logins for all password-protected systems and store them in a safe and encrypted central location, such as TeamPassword.com.
3) Require all employees to document their ongoing projects well in advance of their vacations. In addition, they should notify their clients or customers that they will be away and who to contact during this time.
4) Give team members permission to make necessary decisions to move projects forward. Be sure to give the guidelines but after that be ready to let it go.
5) Institute a “No-Interruptions Vacation Policy” so that once these steps are taken prior to the vacation, employees can feel comfortable relaxing away from the office and not feel like they need to constantly check in from the beach.
We know this summer is going to be productive and rejuvenating – go enjoy!