Checklist: 10 Things To Do At Work Before Your Holiday

Yippee! It’s holiday time. But before you say sayonara and see you next year to your colleagues, there are few things you need to do in the office. In fact, planning it out means you’ll be able to enjoy your holiday, and not field phone calls from colleagues asking for so and so file and so and so contact.

What to do? Here’s our pre-holiday checklist.

• PLAN YOUR HOLIDAY. Apply for your leave well in advance. Make sure your boss and your colleagues know when you’re off. Plan your holidays well so that it doesn’t clash with an important deadline or project.

• GET THAT TO-DO LIST. Once your leave is approved, start listing what you need to complete before you leave. This way, you won’t go on holiday only to realise that you forgot to send that important file to a client. It’s also a good idea to look ahead at your calendar, to see if there’s anything important coming up a month after your holiday. By doing so, you can anticipate the things you will immediately need to work on upon return.

• SCHEDULE YOUR WORKLOAD. Is there something that needs to be completed before your holiday? If so, make sure you give yourself adequate time to complete it and complete it well. Be realistic though – you won’t be able to finish them all so set a priority list on what needs to be done first.

• DELEGATE TO YOUR TEAMMATES. Create a to-do list for your colleagues so that your team knows what needs to be done if necessary while you’re away. Consider writing a quick “how-to” list to detail it all. This way, your colleagues – and boss! – won’t have to call you on your time off.

• HANDOVER. Arrange a meeting with your boss and colleagues to go over the tasks that need to be done while you’re away. This is the perfect time to make sure everyone’s on the same page. Go over every item to be sure they understand what’s expected. Bring food or coffee to the meeting as a way of saying thanks in advance!

• TELL CLIENTS. If you are the go-to for a client, inform them that you’ll be on holiday and let them know which colleague will cover you while you’re away. Also, ask if there’s anything they need before you leave. Plus point – it’s a great way to show initiative.

• WRITE YOUR OUT-OF-OFFICE MESSAGE AND VOICEMAIL. Set up an autoreply email and an outgoing voicemail that state how long you’ll be away for and who to contact in your absence. You don’t want to come back from to angry emails and calls from clients wondering where you are.

• CLEAN UP. Don’t leave that dirty cup on your table. Stack the important files and documents so that it is easy for your colleagues to find them if need to. Keep everything organised for everyone’s sake.

• QUICK UPDATE. A day before you leave, check in with everyone to make sure all is good and clear.

• ENJOY YOURSELF! This is most importantly! If you’ve done all of the above, you’ll definitely enjoy your well-deserved break.

Photo by Arnel Hasanovic on Unsplash