度假让工作走开

    你正在整理度假要带的行李，但家人看到你把电子设备也放进行李箱，挨着潜水通气管和防晒霜，不由白了你一眼，心想，“不是吧，难道你又要把整个度假时间花在工作上吗？”当然，家人感到不悦无可厚非，因为这也是他们的假期，他们盼望着你跟他们一起开开心心地玩。（你是不是还记得开心的感觉？）但如果公司同事希望能在你度假期间每天与你联络，你该怎么办？以下几点供你参考。

1. 要绝对信任团队，不要总是放心不下，问长问短。

    金融和会计招聘机构罗伯特哈弗管理资源公司（Robert Half Management Resources）新近进行的调查显示，超过半数（51%）的首席财务官表示，他们在度假时能够完全放下工作事务，根本不打算过问。而在两年前的一项类似调查中，这么说的高管只占到26%，大约是现在的一半。

    罗伯特哈弗公司高级行政总监保罗•麦克唐纳德说：“我们观察到了一个持续性的趋势，越来越多的高管在度假时能够完全抛开工作。”这意味着经理人对自己团队和工作流程的信心更强，因此也能更加放心让其他人接手工作。

    他表示，彻底抛下工作休假带来的一个附加好处是，“短期内赋予团队信任，让他们在没有你参与的情况下自行运转，这能帮你甄别能力突出的员工，为接班人计划和提拔工作找到候选人。”

2. 彻底放松后重返工作岗位会充满活力，效率也更高。

    看到你树立的榜样后，周围的同事们也会这么去做。麦克唐纳德称：“经理人去度假会释放出一个正面信号，员工们也可能会照着做。”

    位于帕萨迪纳市的公司培训国际机构（Corporate Coaching International）的总裁罗伊斯•弗兰克尔说：“度假对获得上佳的工作业绩来说很重要。”该公司的重量级客户包括航空航天公司洛克希德马丁（Lockheed Martin）、华纳兄弟公司（Warner Brothers）、迪士尼（Disney）和天合汽车集团（TRW）。他说，“只有度假回来后感觉心旷神怡、精神振作才会对工作业绩有好处。”但如果回来后还是像之前那样埋头于琐碎的日常工作，度假就完全没有作用。

    彻底放下工作也会对健康大有裨益。弗兰克尔引用学术研究结果表示，如果女性每年拥有两次或者更多无工作休假，罹患心脏病的风险仅有不休假女性的一半；而休假充分的男性死于心脏病的风险将降低32%。

    弗兰克尔补充说，如果你认为放弃休假能够证明你对公司来说不可或缺，那么请三思，因为“从不休假对职业生涯并不会起到助推或破坏的作用。职业生涯是一场马拉松而不是冲刺。我们得为此保持一个健康的体魄。”

3. 海滨别墅、高尔夫球场或者其他任何公共场所的无线网络都不可靠。

    So you're packing to go away for a few days, and your loved ones are giving you the stink eye as you slip electronic devices into your suitcase right next to the snorkel and sunscreen.Oh no, you're going to spend the whole vacation working — again — aren't you?Understandable, of course: It's their vacation too, and they'd really like to have some fun (remember fun?) with you. But what if people at work expect to hear from you daily while you're away? A few points you could drop into the conversation at the office:

1. You trust your team implicitly, so constant check-ins are unnecessary.

    More than half (51%) of chief financial officers say they'll make a clean break from the office while on vacation, with no plans to check in at all, according to a new poll by finance and accounting recruiters Robert Half Management Resources. That's nearly double the percentage (26%) who said so in a similar survey two years ago.

    "We're seeing a continuing trend of executives unplugging completely while on vacation," says Paul McDonald, a Robert Half senior executive director. "It may indicate that managers have a stronger level of confidence in their teams and processes and, as a result, feel more comfortable leaving others in charge."

    A side benefit to a hands-off getaway, he adds: "Placing trust in a solid team to carry on without you for a little while can help you identify strong candidates for succession planning and promotion."

2. You'll come back energized — and more productive — if you take a real vacation.

    So will colleagues, inspired by your example, who get away completely. "Managers send a positive message when they disconnect, since employees may be inclined to follow suit," McDonald notes.

    "Vacations play a big role in superior job performance," says Lois Frankel, president of Pasadena-based Corporate Coaching International, whose clients include heavy hitters like Lockheed Martin (LMT), Warner Brothers, Disney (DIS), and TRW. "But you only get that benefit if you return relaxed and refreshed" — not if you come back as preoccupied with the daily grind as you were when you took off.

    Getting away from it all is good for your health as well: Frankel points to academic research showing that women who take two or more non-working vacations annually cut their risk of heart disease in half, compared to women who take no vacations; and men who take real time off are 32% less likely to die of a heart attack.

    If you think skipping a real break will help you prove how indispensable you are, Frankel adds, think again: "Unused vacation time never makes or breaks a career." This is a marathon, not a sprint. Stay fit for it.

3. The WiFi at that beach house (or on the golf course, or in any other public place) is not secure.

    One reason why so many bosses these days feel okay about not checking in, Paul McDonald observes, is that, "with the prevalence of wireless networks and mobile devices now, they know they can be reached easily in an emergency." Great, but public WiFi connections and cloud-based file-sharing systems are a picnic for hackers and other cybercrooks, and a nightmare for your IT department.

    "Often, managers away from the office do not follow the same security procedures that are required of the rank and file. They'll use a password like 'password 123' or they'll send and receive unencrypted documents from a coffee shop or an airport," observes Chip Tsantes, a principal at Ernst & Young. "It's ironic, when you consider that executives usually deal with the most confidential information."

    Tsantes worked on an eye-opening new Ernst & Young study about the security risks of mobile technologies. He's also seen a fair number of disasters, including one where a client's "confidential information was not only mined [by hackers] from a public file-sharing system, it was indexed on search engines." Oops.

    To prevent that, he says, "Check in with your IT department before you go on vacation to find out what the rules are, and then follow them. Often, companies have good procedures in place, but people go around them because it's easier or quicker. Don't do that." Or better yet, just to be 100% safe, you could avoid working on vacation altogether. You're welcome.