Be a PTO Hero

?“Show others the respect you wish to receive.”? HR says it, your boss says it, your mother says it, even last night’s fortune cookie says it.? Putting it into practice can get lost and covered up by the daily tasks that we all get focused on.? When we want to get away from those tasks with some PTO, one huge, but unintended act of disrespect in the workplace can occur.? “Scientifically” known as Vacationus Interruptus, it generally occurs at the exact moment in your break when work isn’t the first thing on your mind.? That Zen-like moment when your mind unfurls and your body relaxes… and then the phone rings, the text or email notification comes through, and you are shocked right back into your regular Monday morning tension.

Unique situations can happen, emergencies can occur, but in reality, the interruption is likely to be something that could either wait or be handled by other team members.? Most often, the call is one of habit, as going to the source for the solution is just human nature.? Given a choice, most people will take the quickest, easiest route to an answer, and when you add stress to the situation it is nearly inevitable.?

As the one in the office, if you encounter a situation where your first reaction is to call someone that is on PTO, take a moment to evaluate and attempt to find another resolution, or other team member who might help.? If no resolution is apparent, go to the stakeholder responsible and inform them of the delay and the reason.? A lot of time and space is taken up giving lip service to the idea of employees needing to use their PTO.? It is a good time to see if the hype is backed up with action.?

Only after exhausting other possibilities should the option of calling PTO staff be used.? Make sure to inform the person of the steps you took to avoid calling them.? The person still may not be happy they are being interrupted but will appreciate the effort made to avoid it.

As the one on vacation or planning on it; you can reduce the possibility of suffering Vacationus Interruptus in a few ways:

-Communicate your PTO plans as early as possible.

-Coordinate with others for mutual support, cross-train enough so everyone has a basic understanding of each other’s role.

-Make project plans WITH the expectation that staff will take PTO.?

-Anticipate as many gaps or roadblocks as possible and formulate reaction plans for them.? Make sure to publish or store these somewhere accessible.

-Good project planning practices in the office can have the unintended consequence of providing a peaceful vacation.

-Understand that while it may feel right, offering “Just call me if there are any problems.”, guarantees that becomes everyone’s first option.

All these practices are essentially universal and unidirectional. Respecting others’ time away from the office is a good way of showing how much you value them as a co-worker and as a person, not just as a mechanism within the workplace.