How to Prepare Your Office for Your Departure

By Paula Farris

The whole idea of taking a vacation is to get away from your normal routine and relax a little, but if you leave your office (or your desk or your cubicle or where ever you do your work) in disarray with projects half finished and phone calls that need to be returned your mind may be too occupied to focus on enjoyment. Here are a few tips to help you to bring order to your work surroundings so that your vacation surroundings will be much more pleasant.

Remind your boss a few weeks before your scheduled time off that the weeks of such and such you will be on vacation. If any new projects come up perhaps you can participate in them in some small way while leaving the bulk of the work to a colleague. This will give you time to finish up on the projects you are currently working on or at least to bring them to a logical stopping point.

If you are self-employed let your clients know when you will be on vacation. If you usually experience a lull in your work schedule in the days or weeks following your return consider offering customers a discount if they will wait a few weeks for your services.

Clear your desk before you leave. File what needs to be filed, answer what needs to be answered, return what needs to be returned and finish what needs to be finished. Coming back to a desk with piles of papers and files everywhere along with a fresh slate of phone messages, email messages and mail will slow down your return to full productivity.

Try to schedule at least the first half of your first day back for nothing more than catch up time. This will give you a chance to go through all the phone messages, email messages and mail and either deal with the items right away or add them to your calendar to be dealt with as necessary.

If possible, hand your work load over to a colleague while you are gone. While not everything you do can be handled by someone else, a few things can and those things will make a difference in the load you carry when you return to work. Be willing to return the favor when your coworker goes on vacation.

A little advanced planning will go a long way in helping you to enjoy your journeys and return to your daily responsibilities refreshed, renewed and ready to return to work.

So, now you have your home and your office ready so that you you can make a smooth transition when your vaction is over. This article will tell you about a few things should NOT do right before you leave on a trip.

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