When deciding to go out of the office (OOO), aside from booking your flight or your seat on the sofa, there are often many “rituals” to take care of before you get to enjoy your time away. Employees have to go through the administrative tasks of telling their team, setting up an OOO message, delegating their priority items and tying up any loose ends.
However, in an increasingly hybrid world, businesses need to rethink the way that they approach their OOO strategy for their employees – one that can provide greater benefits, not just for those taking a holiday, but also for those who take up work in the absence of other staff.
So, how can businesses approach this strategy?
Clear actions, not just conversation
At the core of this shift is the way that we communicate. More specifically, in moving away from the ad-hoc nature of purely spoken handovers and instructions, to comprehensive written guidance with documents, links and correspondences that can help fill in the gaps for those taking on your work whilst you are out.
Grammarly’s “The State of Business Communication” report highlighted just how tangible the effects of poor communication are, with 1 in 5 business leaders admitting that they had experienced a loss in business or sales as a result of poor communication at work.
So, knowing how to communicate effectively cannot be overstated. First, businesses need to normalise the setting of clear actions, timelines and instructions, transparent to all. This needs to take advantage of the tech tools that are going to make this easier – this means collaboration documents, recorded instructions and more.
Businesses also need to prevent unnecessary mistakes in handovers like including documents without access for others to edit and review. Leaders need to ensure that their employees are using the right permissions.
These actions can help employees change those rituals and routines to make it easier for their colleagues and themselves. That way, going OOO doesn’t have to mean that some processes grind to a halt or that you have this nagging feeling in the back of your head when on holiday – you know the team have all the actions written down.
Going all out: The importance of disconnecting completely
But what comes after the employee has left the office? For too long, businesses have become accustomed to “leavism”, a phrase describing employees that use their annual leave to catch up on their work, instead of taking a break. This has become an increasing issue due to the rise of flexible and hybrid working since the pandemic.
Although flexible working has made it easier for leavism to exist, the idea that employees are gone but never truly disconnected from work when on holiday is a long-engrained trope – in movies and work culture.
Over time though, this lack of time away can have a negative effect on employee mental health. In the digital age of constant connection, it can feel impossible to take a step back – with emails on our phones or using the same computer for work and pleasure.
Businesses need to combat this by implementing technology that disconnects workers completely from access to their work whilst they’re away, whilst seamlessly reconnecting when they get back. This ability to truly be offline will help OOO employees to fully relax, and also sends a clear message to remaining employees not to contact them with work requests.
This move to bolstering a clear and consistent OOO strategy is what will not only help increase the happiness of workers, but also the productivity of businesses that have the added benefit of refreshed and relaxed teams.
