How did we all manage?

[Ray Scully]

Much of my working life was in middle management for a national organisation. Like my colleague and many on this forum I suspect, i would take a two week vacation mainly to continental Europe.
During that holiday period I would make no attempt to contact the office and they would not have had a clue as to how to contact me, assuming that were possible.
Chatting to a young neighbor this evening regarding his forthcoming holiday and arranging to water his greenhouse plants, it transpired in conversation that he and his office would be in contact through his 'apple 6?' and he would also be taking his laptop.
I began to wonder how was it that the world did not fall apart when me and my contemporaries took our holidays.

Ray

[Ranchi]

I remember a few years ago there was a report in the papers about the stress caused by companies phoning/ emailing staff when they were on holiday. Someone wrote in the next day that the stress could be much greater if the office didn't attempt to contact you ( especially serious for middle managers!).

[GillD46]

Neither of us has needed to be contacted regarding work, even though for 30 years my husband was responsible for his patients 24 hours a day, 365 days a year regardless of holidays or where in the world he may have been.

Nowadays, without communication by email or mobile, we wouldn't be able to go away at all, ever! We have very sick close relatives, some of whom will never recover, that often NEED to contact us at very short notice. We remain contactable, or we can't go. Simple as that.

[Quizzical Bob]

That's bad management and bad organisation. The system should operate smoothly with one or more members absent, be it holiday or sickness. I have a strict rule that we don't contact staff members who are on holiday.

[ITWA Travel Writer]

I always had to be in contact with my local government office, even when on an 80 day Seabourn cruise or they would have stopped my "Giro"

[Silver_Shiney]

I love what I do so much I choose to check my emails etc when on holiday

Sad, innit!

[screwy]

I don't even look in the rear mirror when I leave the car park.!!

[Suekersh]

The managing partner insists on being contacted by email whilst away. He then says if I don't hear from him do what I consider best. If he feels strongly about anything that occurs then he e mails back with instructions. He also feels it takes pressure off knowing he is not coming back to any major problems he is not aware of.
He once contacted me to let me know a colleague had died whilst I was away. I think I could have done without that news until I got back but it did allow me to send a bereavement card.

[barney]

I run my own small business but rarely, if ever, contact home while on holiday.

Unless it was a matter of absolute life & death, there is nothing that I could do from that distance.

The office phone goes on answerphone and my son calls in daily to check messages.
He then calls back to the enquiry and tells them that we are away and we'll return their call when we get back.
To the best of my knowledge, I don't think we've lost any business by doing this.

Besides that, my mobile phone goes in the safe.

I know I'm in a very small minority but do not allow technology to dictate how I live.

We even have a no discussing work rule on holiday. Never stick to it, but try

Like GillD above, I have a very sick mother but fortunately have other family members who can share the load while we are away so it's not an issue.

[Quizzical Bob]

I run my own small business but rarely, if ever, contact home while on holiday.

Unless it was a matter of absolute life & death, there is nothing that I could do from that distance.

The office phone goes on answerphone and my son calls in daily to check messages.
He then calls back to the enquiry and tells them that we are away and we'll return their call when we get back.
To the best of my knowledge, I don't think we've lost any business by doing this.

Besides that, my mobile phone goes in the safe.

I know I'm in a very small minority but do not allow technology to dictate how I live.

We even have a no discussing work rule on holiday. Never stick to it, but try

Like GillD above, I have a very sick mother but fortunately have other family members who can share the load while we are away so it's not an issue.

Perhaps more should follow the Daimler example and delete emails during holidays?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28786117

[Whynd1]

Our daughter recently mentioned that before she went away for a week to Ischia she had to leave details of where she could be contacted at all times. She is a director of a finance company. She always goes through her e mails when she is away. Some holiday .

Lindsey

[Stephen]

Perhaps more should follow the Daimler example and delete emails during holidays?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28786117

My wife has the same problem. Even though she sets her 'out of office' when away it obviously doesn't get through to the plebs as there is always a mountain of emails waiting for her on return to work.

I say to her, 'just highlight the lot and hit the delete button'. If it's anything that important they'll soon get back to you. She never does.

[Silver_Shiney]

Outlook's "out of office" just sends an automated reply saying that we're not around until whatever date, it doesn't delete anything.

[Meg 50]

my OH is a business owner and has never worked out how to access his work emails when away and has no intention ever to do so!

If his assistant is in she tells callers he is on holiday and has wonderful arguments with them when they refuse to understand that away is AWAY!

He sets his 'out of office' email, but the assistant checks them over each day, dumps the dross and deals with the urgent

[Frank Manning]

It is crazy the way organisations expect their people to live the job even when out of the office. I fell into that trap on a couple of cruises while teaching at Uni. I used to put up an out of office note on Outlook, but still in the Cyb study check to see if there was a student desperate for dissertation help. We had a lovely Bulgarian Team Leader who used to answer stuff from her lap top on the beach in the Black Sea.

I reckoned it took two days away to forget the things which I had previously thought very important.

[gfwgfw]

Being a non person obviously has it's advantages

[Silver_Shiney]

Being a non person obviously has it's advantages

How would you know that, valued sir?

[Dark Knight]

luckily I am not important enough to be contacted on holiday, Lady D did once say if I ever took my work phone on holiday, she would throw it overboard

[Raybosailor]

When I worked for local government we were on call out 24/7 and were only paid for the out of hours time that we did plus milage and meals if more than 10 miles from home. What really annoyed me was that departmental heads were paid £35.00 per night for receiving phone calls and then passing the work on to us minions.
While on holiday in Florida I did not take my company phone with me as I thought they know I'm on holiday abroad surely they won't phone me. Half way through the holiday I returned to the hotel to find I had eight answerphone messages on my personal phone all from our office asking me to attend an emergency evacuation from a flooded village in Notts. Now Richard Branson could probably get me to Newark, New York but Newark, Nottinghamshire might be a problem for Virgin Atlantic.

On my return I was summoned to the office to explain why I did not answer their calls, my answer was the messages were sent over an hour and twenty minute period in which time he could have jumped in his car and attended himself. His answer was that he had been out for a drink so could not drive, my next out of hours call I said sorry I have had a drink so you will have to phone someone else. You won't believe it but I actually felt guilty for doing that but I'll bet you he didn't when he pulled that one.

Retired now but still governed by the mobile phone, these days it's from relatives and friends that think I have too much time on my hands. Cheryl says no time for the wicked, "but I don't have time to be wicked" i say.

[The Tinker]

I do think all this modern technology has made us lazy. When on a long journey recently our sat nav broke. My husband panicked saying we will never find our destination. I replied - we managed years ago with an atlas and roadsigns and, yes, we reached the place we wanted to visit easily.

Also mobiles and email are an easy way for people to 'pass the buck'. I never respond to any work stuff when on holiday and also do not ring my director either with problems - they pay me to sort them out!

I have interviewed many 'burnt' out colleagues who think the organisation cannot cope without them 24/7 and always gently remind them the company existed before they worked for it and will exist when they have gone.

[Silver_Shiney]

Modern technology has certainly made me lazy - I used to have very neat handwriting and could add up a column of numbers no problem. Since the introduction of pocket calculators and word processors, my handwriting is a scrawl and my powers of mental arithmetic are greatly reduced.

[barney]

'always gently remind them the company existed before they worked for it and will exist when they have gone'.

My old Dad used say that 'you are just someone who works there, and when you're gone, you are someone who used to work there'

How very true

[Meg 50]

no one is indispensable - and any organisation /person who think they are needs a long hard look at themselves.

I recall a number of people who were suddenly were unavailable ( one r.i.p. and another in a coma for 6 weeks) and their orgs nearly fell apart while new set ups were sorted

[Quizzical Bob]

no one is indispensable - and any organisation /person who think they are needs a long hard look at themselves.

I recall a number of people who were suddenly were unavailable ( one r.i.p. and another in a coma for 6 weeks) and their orgs nearly fell apart while new set ups were sorted

It's a rule of management; if someone's indispensable get rid of them. At least, get rid of the problem.

[Meg 50]

precisely - don't let any one person know everything and not back it up/share it.

Contacts were lost, various bits of equipment were non functioning, all sorts

Barmy!