SHOULD YOU CHECK YOUR EMAIL ON VACATION?

SHOULD YOU CHECK YOUR EMAIL ON VACATION? 

It’s surprising what strong opinions there are about whether to check your emails when you’re on vacation. The truth is, that one’s inbox looms large, no matter your line of work nor how far you’ve strayed from your desk. It’s on your phone, you don’t necessarily need Wi-Fi to access it, and the line between work and play blurs easily with the rise of remote work.

What’s the difference between logging in on your couch at home and peeking from your hotel room? Ultimately, checking is the only way to quell that creeping suspicion that a fire only you can put out has erupted in the office. Is ignorance truly bliss?

 Check-in to unwind

A good way to unwind could be to resist replying but do a daily scroll to make sure nothing is on fire. This will help ease anxiety before leaving the hotel in the morning.

The universal compulsion to ‘check’ is at near-OCD status amongst the smart phone generation. We check our socials (Instagram, Facebook, twitter etc.). Check headlines. Check email, both personal and work. All The Time!  It’s just how we’re wired. When we don’t check, we get a very 21st-century version of anxiety that causes stress. Checking relieves that stress.

Whether I’m in Mauritius or Rome happily enjoying getting paid while technically off the clock, I check in on my work email constantly to get a handle on things back at work and carry on sipping my margarita. But respond? Well, unless it’s something that’s non-negotiably urgent and that only I can handle. My ‘out of office’ has done that for me. I’m on vacation, after all.

 Respond when you’re back

Some draw a hard line on checking email on vacation (or anytime outside set working hours. Many set boundaries between work and personal life. It feels like an important standard to set—if all of us are unreachable while on vacation, people will start respecting ‘out of office’ little more, right?

Is anyone writing in favour of checking their emails on vacation? I sincerely hope not, mainly because of this story written about how crucial detachment from work is to relaxation.

It details how a material rise in heart disease in recent years has been linked to long working hours, and how remote work have only made the average work week longer. Not to mention, doing your co-workers (and yourself) a favour by taking a true break and setting boundaries so you can come back well rested, and better at your job for it.

Contents per cntraveler.com