In this article, we share our top tips for anyone planning to take paid time off. We cover best practices for making your initial request and offer strategies to ensure you fully enjoy your vacation.
How to Effectively Request Paid Time Off and Ensure You Enjoy Your Vacation
We’ve all read the studies. Taking paid time off is a crucial part of maintaining a healthy work-life balance and ensuring you show up as your best self at work. Burnout is real, and it’s important that we all take time to step away from work, so we can recharge and come back with a clear head and ready to get to work.
In fact, the tech industry has been one of the few industries leading the charge around the importance of time off. Many companies within this sector have publicly come out and emphasized the value of stepping away from work, and many offer unlimited or extremely flexible time off policies. They understand that giving employees the freedom to step away from time to time ensures they stay sharp, don’t burnout, and maintain high job satisfaction.
At ReysUp, we couldn’t agree more with this sentiment. In this article, we are sharing our best tips and tricks to effectively request paid time off and ensure you make the most of your vacation.
The Ripple Effects of NOT Requesting Paid Time Off
As discussed, taking regular breaks from work is essential for maintaining mental and physical health. Employees who work continuously without adequate rest will likely experience stress, fatigue, or a general lack of motivation, which in turn will affect the rest of the team. For instance, let’s say there is an employee on a team that is responsible for a big deliverable. If the individual employee is too fatigued, they could drop the ball on their contribution and jeopardize the entire project and the team’s reputation. This is why teams at large should focus on the well-being of every single individual on the team, especially the leaders and managers who directly oversee everyone. Everyone has something to lose.
Instead of mandating a specific number of working hours, the smartest companies are those that empower their employees to manage their own schedules. Now of course the work still needs to be completed and goals must be achieved. With this flexibility comes responsibility, and employees that abuse these policies should face the appropriate consequences. That said, taking time off is totally possible if it’s planned correctly.
How to Request Paid Time Off
Requesting paid time off is pretty straightforward. There are just a few guiding principles you need to abide by.
1. Give ample heads up
Notify your boss as early as possible about your vacation. Providing this advance notice allows your manager to plan for your absence and ensures that your time off does not clash with critical deadlines or team schedules. A good rule of thumb is to request paid time off at least a month in advance for longer vacations and at least two weeks ahead of time for shorter breaks.
2. Craft a strong out-of-office coverage plan
Before submitting your request, make sure you prepare a comprehensive coverage plan that details how your responsibilities will be handled in your absence. More on this in the next section.
3. Align with internal stakeholders
Communicate with your team and other stakeholders about your upcoming time off. Make sure everyone is aware of your absence and understands how to proceed with any projects you are involved in. By over-communicating, you proactively prevent any disruptions and ensure continuity in your work deliverables and projects.
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5 Simple Steps to Build a Strong Out-of-Office Coverage Plan
1. Create a list of all ongoing projects and initiatives that you own or are involved in.
The more comprehensive you are, the better. That means even if you have a tiny task that you do on Monday mornings, add it as a separate line item. This way, you have a comprehensive list of all the activities that need to be assigned out and you ensure nothing gets missed.
2. Provide context around each project or initiative
This is a really important step. If you are going to assign someone on your team to cover your work, you need to give them context behind the work itself. Take the time to outline the purpose and goals of the project and any historical context that would be helpful to this person.
3. Specify tasks and deadlines for each project during your absence
It’s really important not to leave anything up for interpretation. Instead, provide tactical simple steps that you need this person to do while you are out. The more clear you are about what needs to be done, the less chance the person will mess something up or misinterpret what you need done.
As a general rule of thumb (and as a courtesy), try to make each task as straightforward and time-efficient as possible. For example, if you’re asking someone to send out a report that you usually handle on Monday morning, pull the data in advance to minimize the amount of work they have to do.
4. Assign coverage owners for each project or initiative
Ensure each task on your list is assigned to a specific person. If you have multiple tasks, consider distributing them among several colleagues to avoid overburdening one individual. When assigning tasks to multiple people, try to group similar tasks together so each person can manage them with minimal additional context.
5. Confirm coverage owners’ buy-in and address any questions before you leave
This is also a really important step! Before you depart, make sure you get a verbal or written confirmation from each individual that they will cover for you. If the tasks that they are covering are particularly confusing, it may be a good idea to set up 15 minutes before your departure to walk them through it. Investing 15 minutes upfront will be well worth your time, ensuring you can relax by the pool without interruptions!
Strategies to Unplug While on Vacation
To ensure that you fully enjoy your vacation after you request paid time off and avoid the temptation to work, we wanted to share a few helpful tips and tricks you can adopt. After all, if you are going to take the time and effort to enjoy your paid time off, you should make sure you aren’t working during it!
Remove Work Apps from Your Phone
Temporarily delete email and calendar apps from your phone to reduce the temptation to check work messages. You can always re-download them when you return.
Set Up an Out-of-Office Email Message
Set up an automatic email reply to inform colleagues and clients that you are on vacation and not available to respond. Here’s an example of an effective out-of-office message:
Set Up an Out-of-Office Message on Your Messenger Platform
Similar to your email, set up an away message on your company’s messenger platform (such as Slack). Here’s an example:
Proactively Inform Co-Workers
Let the colleagues that you work closely with (your immediate team, key cross-functional team members) know in advance that you will not be available during your vacation. This proactive communication sets clear expectations and reduces the likelihood of them contacting you during your time off.
Staying Loosely in the Loop (if you must)
If you prefer to stay somewhat connected while on vacation, consider setting aside a specific time each day to check your email and respond to urgent messages. Time-box this activity to prevent getting sucked into work for too long.
For example, you could allocate 30 minutes in the morning or evening to quickly scan through your inbox to make sure nothing urgently needs your reply. This way, you feel good about being on top of emergencies, but it doesn’t completely disrupt your time off.
Planning Your Return After You Request Paid Time Off
There’s honestly nothing worse than returning from vacation to find yourself overwhelmed with a mountain of catch-up work. To ease the transition back, it’s important to plan for your return. Here are some tips to help you catch up and get organized:
- Add a Buffer Day: Schedule a buffer day when you return to work without any meetings. Use this day to go through missed emails, catch up on updates, and plan your tasks for the week ahead.
- Organize Your Tasks: Prioritize your tasks for the first few days back at work. Focus on urgent and high-priority items first, and gradually work your way through less critical tasks.
- Communicate with Your Team: Once you’re back, reconnect with your team to get updates on any developments or changes that occurred during your absence.
Conclusion
Stepping away from work is essential for maintaining a healthy work-life balance and preventing burnout. However, there is a right and wrong way to request paid time off. If you take the time to correctly request the time off, craft a strong out-of-office plan, and over-communicate with internal stakeholders, you will ensure a great time away as well as a smooth return. Safe travels!
If you enjoyed this article, be sure to check out our other articles around asking for what you deserve at work, like this article on how to negotiate a higher salary.
