Meanwhile… We put not only a laptop to the bag, but also a smartphone (or even two), we make sure the Internet is available where we’re going or take a mobile broadband, we pack chargers, check the memory cards… Phew! Plus we document all that packing on Facebook or Instagram.
Are we addicted to social media and technology? Can we forget about them on vacation? We should, because as we can read on the website of the Health Psychology Institute: rest is only effective when we do something different than usually. It can be both passive or active. If your job requires you to sit by the desk, you can rest by moving, if you work physically, sit down and relax. It may be obvious, but we tend to forget about… our head. You close the door to the office and jump onto the bike, but you keep thinking about how to complete the latest project and whether you put the right picture on page 17 of your presentation, and that’s not resting. If we also answer the phone and talk about the project – all the regeneration is gone. To take an effective rest you need to unplug both your body and mind.

Still not convinced? You feel it’s better to take a short look at your job email box or company phone from time to time? What a sense of responsibility! Consider this: if you go back to work tired, will you be better at what you do? Exactly. Your boss also would rather see you in great form. Whenever a tired employee goes on vacation, the employer expects him or her to hit the rest button. American company FullContact has been paying USD 7,500 its staff for a few years now for cutting off from technology and leaving their work in the office when on vacation. Employees who decide to do so do not take their company laptop with them, don’t check emails or any other media. It was the decision of the CEO and co-founder of the company, Bart Lorang, who believes that being online permanently is unhealthy, and he’s also against the so called hero syndrome and thinking: only I can do this job right.

What is your way to rest? Our customer, Agnieszka Zyśk-Pożoga, Internal Relations Manager at Provident Polska, who is getting ready for her vacation says: I don’t take the laptop, but I do take my company phone, but I only answer calls from chosen people – when I know it can be something important, e.g. colleagues I work with on a current project. The rest can wait.

I guess we all have the experience of taking part in a super-important project, when leaving it aside for two weeks was as impossible as postponing the vacation term. What then? It’s better to enjoy the holidays for a few hours a day, enjoy the sun and do pleasant things, and spend a few hours on working, than to give up your leave completely or to miss a job opportunity. It’s important that it doesn’t become a habit. So before you go on vacation, ask yourself if you really need all those devices connecting you with your work. If you don’t, leave them behind and enjoy your time. Aloha!