As 39% of business owners regularly work more than 60 hours per week, finding time to take annual leave is often low on your priority list — even over Christmas. But research shows that on average, workers who take their annual leave are 40% more productive and less irritable, making it even more essential that you earmark some time to step away, rest up and spend some treasured time with your loved ones this festive season. Here are a few steps to keeping your business running smoothly while you’re away.
Plan for your time off work
Your first step to protect your business — and your mental health— is to plan your annual leave. Start by identifying any concerns you have about your business in your absence, list them out and then look to develop strategies to tackle these. Some of your concerns might be:
- Losing clients
- Missing out on new business
- Leaving important tasks unfinished
- Tasks being performed to a lower standard in your absence
Seeing these concerns written down on paper will help you to see that most, if not all of them, are easy to manage. For example, “tasks being performed to a lower standard” could be solved simply by providing additional training to the team member who’ll be in charge of handling these key tasks when you’re away.
In addition, it’s essential that you:
- Prioritise – Pin down what needs to be done and at what point. Cut any tasks that can wait until the new year, then add all remaining high-priority tasks to a calendar. That way, you’ll know nothing gets missed.
- Delegate – Assign duties that you would usually perform to other staff members who will be in the office during your time off work.
- Communicate – Make sure your team members know exactly what’s expected of them during this period. Check they’re comfortable performing these tasks, and provide training if they’re not.
Finally, you should also consider exactly how much time you want to take off. A two-week break filled with disruption and stress will leave you feeling less rested than a peaceful five-day break, so give yourself as much time as you think is actually feasible.
Learn how to switch off
Remember why you’re taking the time off in the first place — it’s about giving yourself the time to rest and recharge. Start by trying these simple steps to keep your mind off work and firmly in the Christmas spirit:
- Keep your phone out of reach to avoid checking emails and messages
- Set an “out of office” autoresponder
- Schedule activities that’ll help to keep your mind off work
- Uninstall or mute work-related apps
- Ask team members only to contact you if it’s urgent
If you need to check emails or messages, set times during the day to do this. Limit yourself to once or twice a day at most.
Make the most of it
Your Christmas break is the perfect time to reconnect with friends and family who you don’t get to see as much of during the rest of the year. Plan ahead to make sure you can catch up with as many of your loved ones as possible.
Try to remember that your Christmas annual leave is exactly that – your annual leave. Leave time to have lazy mornings, pursue hobbies, and do whatever it is you really want to do during your time off.
It’s likely that during your break some work-related tasks won’t get done, so remind yourself that this will happen and that it isn’t the end of the world. These tasks can easily be picked up when you return to work.