If you have been lucky enough to have had a summer break or worked at a slower pace while others have been on leave, then returning to work or to a ‘normal’ pace can be difficult. This results in a lack of concentration, low productivity and the return of pre-holiday habits such as reactivity rather than proactivity, poor diet due to stress eating and little relaxation time. Here are some tips from ACEVO’s crisis and governance lead Jenny Berry to help you ease back into your working routine and ensure you don’t lose the benefits of your break.
If you think it will help, there are a few things you can do a couple of days before getting back to work to help avoid any surprises. But only if this is something that will help you rather than make you anxious.
Contact a colleague for an update: getting a heads-up on developments and issues that have surfaced while you’ve been away can help avoid surprises and make filtering through the backlog of communication quicker and easier.
Sort your email: schedule about an hour before going back to categorise your emails into folders and delete all spam and irrelevant items. This will allow you to get straight onto the real business issues back at work. A few ideas to categorise your emails:
- Actions: things you have to do
- Delegate: stuff you can forward to a team member/stakeholder to deal with
- Read: things that aren’t urgent but you need to read and could be done in your less active attention time, travelling to or from work, or while waiting for a meeting to start
Word of caution: the above is a sorting exercise, NOT a responding exercise. You are not back at work yet!
Reflection exercise
Before your holiday, or even while away from work you will have had new ideas, enjoyed new activities and might have come up with possible answers to the issues on your mind. How might you apply them now to work and /or your personal life?
Some of us think of September as the “New Year”. Think about the post-holiday you. What are the key priorities you should have between now and the festive period in December? What do you need to change that will make a big difference? Where have your energies been wasted in the past?
Why now? Because school is back and work is back to business after the summer holidays. It’s a time for new beginnings, new goals, new faces, and new commitments. In addition, as the leaves start falling off the trees, we can all start to think about what behaviours and actions we want to fall away from and those we want to refresh, revive or begin a new. You’re either getting a head start on New Year’s goals or a late start if you didn’t get to your January ones.
Write down your goals and how you plan to measure them. Place it somewhere visible as a continual reminder. Use ACEVO’s Leadership Development Planner to help you.
When back at work
Limit your access
- Keep your out of office on for a day or so and take the time to plan and get things done
- Only meet with people you had previously scheduled. Try a closed door/ Teams off policy for the first few days to have the time to catch up on things
Add some variety to your work and space
- Treat the return to work as an opportunity to start afresh. If possible take on a new project or create a new habit you have always wanted to. This will give you something new to work on and help reduce the monotony
- Add inspiration to your workspace: adding a photo or small memento of your holiday to your workspace will help you hold onto the positive energy that came from taking a break
Care for your wellbeing
- Try to have at least 20 minutes of sun a day to keep your serotonin levels boosted (if it’s sunny, of course!)
- Take a lunch break outside or exercise pre/post work outside
- Returning to work can induce stress and a return to unhealthy snacking at work. So prepare your own graze box, which could include:
- Nuts and sunflower seeds (contain vitamin E and folate to enhance your mood)
- Dried berries boost blood flow to the brain for alertness and productivity
- Herbal teas such as ginseng, lemon, peppermint and ginger
- Bring in fresh fruit and veg daily. Fruits and vegetables with orange and yellow pigments have vitamins A and C, as well as folate, which helps enhance mood and brain function
- Stay hydrated to keep performance and concentration levels up. Place a water bottle on your desk to sip throughout the day and refill as necessary
- Plan your next break/holiday: throwing yourself into a period of hard work is easier if you have something to look forward to!
