Planning to take some leave?  What’s the key to a good holiday away from your small business without letting your business suffer?  

The answer.  Be prepared.

It’s a scenario we see every day. You need a holiday or maybe it is the festive season. You have been working 24/7 to build your business for several years, you have one or more trusted, long-term employees, and you are in a position where you could take a couple of weeks off with planned leave.

Before I jump into our top tips for taking a successful break from the business, I want to highlight the benefits your leave has on the business.

By you taking regular breaks from work, you are not only benefiting yourself by relaxing and recharging, but you are:

• Promoting Work-Life Balance: When leaders take leave, it sets an example to the rest of the business and normalises the importance of rest and personal time for everyone.
• Strengthening Workplace Culture: Role modelling leave fosters a supportive and positive environment where employees feel encouraged to prioritise their health and their personal lives.
• Reducing Leave Liability: Employees will be open to taking their leave too, which will proactively manage leave balances and this helps minimise financial risks associated with accrued leave.
• Preventing Burnout: Taking time off ensures both leaders and employees remain energised and productive to perform their role and be a valued member of the business.

I get it though, you are worried about what could happen while you are away.  You don’t want to spend your entire holiday hunched over your laptop responding to client emails, fixing a problem, all while your family fume about your inability to switch off and enjoy the holiday without you.

The best advice is an old one, but a good one.   Be prepared.   Take that well earned break. 

Here are our top tips for planning for a successful break:

Manage your stakeholders.

Let your customers and your employees know ahead of time when you will be away. If you personally manage certain clients, inform them early of any periods when you will be unavailable. Make sure you give yourself a few days’ grace before your actual date of departure to cover any last-minute work. Where possible give them details of who else they can contact while you are away if something does come up.

Manage your workload

Plan the time when you will be away by considering your workload. Don’t schedule any big projects, such as website ‘go-live’ dates close to your holiday either – you don’t want to be frantically dealing with problems or bugs as you are trying to leave for your holiday. Or commence a recruitment process when you are planning on being away.

Where possible, consider delaying projects or ideally have them completed before you leave.  

Manage your supervisors, managers and leaders

Let your supervisors, managers and leaders know ahead of time when you will be absent.  A month out from being away, run through with your people leaders and teams the tasks and projects that will be occurring while you are on leave.  

Be sure that you are comfortable that they are progressing as required and have contingencies in place for while you are away.  

Where possible, consider delaying projects or have them completed before you leave to minimise the impact on staff who are taking on extra duties in your absence.  

Make sure you do a proper handover document and train others in advance on any processes they may need when you are not there.  This includes leaving detailed instructions on who to go to in the event of non-urgent issues, for example how to contact the facilities manager of your office space, or who to report an IT issue to.

Prepare your employees

‘Be prepared’ also extends to your employees. Get them ready for your time away on planned leave.  While you may not be responsible for the day to day management of all of your employees, they may be indirectly impacted due to other employees having to take on extra duties down the chain of command.   

It is important to provide positive communication and thank your staff in advance for their assistance in your absence.  Sufficiently preparing your staff and your customers for your absence should take care of most of your potential problems.

Manage yourself and your family

There is no point taking these steps however, without preparing the most important person. Yourself.

You need to set yourself clear ground rules for while on leave as to when and how much holiday time you must devote to your business – because we both know no matter what you intend, even though you are on planned leave, you will still cheat on your holiday and look at your work emails.

Set yourself some firm rules.

Set a time of day and a time limit for checking in on your business. Choose a time of day when you are likely to be hanging around the hotel room anyway – say a half-hour early in the morning, and perhaps another 45 minutes in the evening when you return from dinner or evening activities. Avoid your businesses social media accounts, and turn off your work email notifications.

And remember, the less you can work while you are on holiday, the better it will ultimately be for your business.  You will return refreshed and re-energised to take it to the next level.

For more tips and to discuss your business needs, chat to us at Small Business Society.

The information provided in this document is for your guidance only and is general in nature. It does not constitute as legal advice. It is the responsibility of the individual to seek legal advice where required.

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About Kate Tongue

Kate Tongue is the Founder of Small Business Society.

She is a qualified and experienced Human Resources professional with more than 20 years of experience across the private and public sectors.

Her particular interest and experience is in managing the employee life cycle, delivering process improvements, and supporting business to have a proactive approach with a Human Resource strategy.