Getting Ready to Take Time Away from Work

Even when your time away from work isn’t planned, there are still some planning steps that should take as soon as you know that you will be out of the office for a while. Ask for help getting ready, covering your job duties, and letting people know that you’ll be unavailable. Here’s a quick checklist of what you need to do to take time off the right way.

Change Your Voicemail

Voicemail greetings should let people know that the person who they’re trying to reach is not going to be in the office to return their call. Change your voicemail in advance of taking time off whenever possible. Ideally, you should be able to call your voicemail and change your greeting rather than having to be physically present in the office to change your greeting. Your message should let people know when you plan to return to the office and who they should contact in your department if they need assistance immediately.

Set an Email Auto Reply

If you plan to be taking more than a day away from the office, you should generate an auto reply to emails to let the people who are emailing you for help. You can send an auto reply in outlook in the settings section near the top right corner. People will appreciate that you took the time to let them know that you won’t be at your office until a later date.

Let Your Coworkers Know in Advance

Everyone remembers to tell their supervisor when they will be away for an extended period of time, but not everyone remembers to tell coworkers who rely on them at work. When you have planned time-off coming up, let your coworkers know that you plan to be away as much notice as possible, and remind them again as the date draws nearer. If you are taking time away without a lot of advance notice and you’re not sure if you should let your coworkers know or ask them for help with deadline-sensitive job duties, you should ask your supervisor.

When you take time off of work, the key to maintaining a professional and responsible image is communication. Nobody likes to call attention to an absence but giving people a heads up about being away is always going to be the best course of action. It demonstrates that you take your team’s work seriously and you’re conscientious about being responsive to people who are trying to reach you, even when you’re away.

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