Out of the Office . . . Kind Of
The one about checking email on vacation
Confession: I check my work email when I’m on vacation. I realize that on a surface level, this isn’t a shocking admission, as this is probably something lots of people do. But in the context of the topics I explore in my writing here, it feels a bit subversive. Like someone will find out and be like: Wait just a minute, I thought you were all about NOT burning out, about protecting your creativity, about REST. What is this nonsense?!!
I was thinking about this on a recent beach vacation, as I spent a few minutes checking in on the work I was taking a break from. Is it disingenuous to be someone who actively pushes back against toxic productivity and always-on-call culture while checking email on vacation?
The answer I’ve come up with is a resounding maybe alongside a resounding maybe not.
I used to be solidly team No Work Email on Vacation. For years I didn’t even add my university email to my phone (it still lives in a separate app and all it’s notifications are off— but that’s another story for another time). There are some obvious positives to this. No worrying about that complicated question someone asked waiting for an answer when I get back. No wondering if my out of office worked and that other person actually reached out to a colleague to get an answer to their semi-urgent question. No Work Email on Vacation = Total Separation.
Except was it really? Can I honestly say I never thought about work? Nope. And did I ever leave things so buttoned up that I felt great about totally stepping away? Also nope. And was the email dread the size of Mt. Everest on the night before going back to work? One hundred and two percent— yes.
I can’t pinpoint exactly when the shift happened, but sometime in the last four years I started to take a little bit more integrated approach to things. I added the app for my email client to my phone. I check in occasionally on weekends. I actively try not to look at it first thing in the morning, but do often peek before my workday officially starts. I think the slide into vacation checking was just a natural extension of all this.
Mostly these vacation check-ins are just me deleting all the general listserv-y type emails. Sometimes I’ll answer a quick question that doesn’t require full blown logging in and researching things. I’ll definitely forward along things that need to go to someone else so as not to halt progress while I’m out.
How much of this I do, definitely depends on the type of vacation I’m on. This most recent trip was a quiet week at the beach, where my spouse was working remotely some of the time. I checked in a little more than I would on a different type of trip. Back in 2019 (i.e., eons ago), I took a 10 day trip to England to connect with friends and barely checked in at all.
Taking this more integrated, less all on or all off, approach has actually felt really healthy to me. Back when I didn’t check work email during time off it was still running like a low hum in the background. Checking in occasionally takes away some of the what if that almost always makes things bigger, hairier, and more complicated than they really are. Knowing specifically what I’m walking back into instead of running worst case scenarios through my head also vanquishes a lot of the last night of vacation dread.
However, as I reflect on this integrated approach and why it has been working well for me, I keep coming back to one thing: I check in while I’m on vacation because I choose to do so. No one on my team is expecting this. In fact, every now and then a response to a forwarded email or quickly answered question is: wait, why are you checking email on vacation😀 . I have the support to disconnect however much or little I want to, to make a personal decision about what is best for my time.
I would resent checking in at work while on vacation if it was what was expected of me. That’s where the toxicity of always-on-call comes in— not in the simple act of checking in on vacation but in the expectation, whether implicit or explicit, from your leadership to be available 24/7. I’m so very grateful to not work in that environment, while acknowledging that isn’t the case for so many.
This is precisely what we’re seeing a push back against in the Great Reorganization— employees seeking more control over their own schedules. The ability to choose if and when they want to work outside scheduled hours. To choose what feels healthiest for them when they are off the clock (or perhaps simply to make the choice to be off the clock).
I hope from the bottom of my heart that folks are finding supportive places to land*. Places that allow them the autonomy to make the productivity choices that feel the most helpful and authentic- whether that’s checking in on vacation to quiet the what ifs, completely disconnecting, or some combination of both.
Things of Beauty
Just a few things that felt particularly soul-nourishing recently (or maybe just made me smile).
📙 I caught up on lots of reading on vacation and absolutely loved this post from Murphy at We Can Do This With Love & Our Medicine: Consistency is an Act of Love.
🥘 This recipe for Seared Tuna with Lemony Potatoes is a beach vacation favorite! (Also good when not on vacation.)
📷 The complete random-ness of things in found in the kitchen of vacation rental houses always makes me smile:
🐿️ ICYMI: More Things of Beauty coming your way next week!
What’s your personal email on vacation philosophy? Are there benefits to checking in or completely checking out? Would really love to know your thoughts on this!
*PostScript: I also hope if you are your own boss and you are the one putting pressure on yourself to always be on call that you are able to step back and re-evaluate how to best support yourself in taking a pause.