A Lot Work, A Little Vacation

Tips for Getting Your Work Done While on Vacation

Advice Seeker: Dear April,

My family is finally forcing me to leave the office and go on a week-long vacation. While the idea of lying on the beach for 7 days straight sounds absolutely amazing, I'm freaking out about being away from work. Just because I'm not in the office, doesn't mean stuff doesn't have to get done. Do you have any advice for how I can have a nice vacation with my family and still get work done and make sure I stay involved with all of my employees?

Sincerely,

Work Vacation Combo

April Masini's advice:

Dear Work Vacation Combo,

Chronic vacation skippers CAN vacation and keep up with the office.

Here's how to enjoy your vacation and get your work done, too:

Keeping communication channels open is the best way to keep up whether you're on site or away. In fact, an employee can be on site and be more out of the loop than an employee who's off site and is working to stay in the loop by employing these tips, below:

*Keep your cell phone on.

*Check into your machine(s) hourly or regularly.

*Check in with your secretary regularly.

*Check in with anyone else you normally check in with when you're on site, regularly.

*Read the trades and the paper that you normally read when you're on site, online.

*Have a fax machine and an overnight mail service address available where you can send out of and receive into.

*Have an assistant pick up your mail and open it for you, letting you know what's important and what needs immediate response while you're away.

How do you keep up on water-cooler conversation?

Check in, check in, check in! There's no substitute for communicating. IM, E-mail, snail mail, telephone, fax -- whatever method works for you, use it!