Featured Post from University of Mary Washington

A vacation free of emails, obligations and answering to the boss – let our expert columnist explain!

Jun 4, 2019

2 min

UMW’s resident writer for the Lynne Richardson is back with another great piece in The Free Lance-Star – just in time for summer.  It’s a call to action for bosses and employers to let their people be free when they’re relaxing away from work on that cherished summer vacation.  It’s about taking a time out when they’ve booked that time off.


“So, you leave for the big trip. It’s a long flight and when you take your smartphone off of airplane mode, you realize you’re getting emails from your office. A co-worker needs information. Somebody wants to know where you left the file he needs for a meeting tomorrow. Your boss needs you to call him as soon as possible as he’s meeting with his boss tomorrow and needs a refresher on a project you are working on.
So, you take a deep breath and respond to each of the requests. After all, you haven’t really disengaged yet from work.
But the next day is the same. You continue to receive "emergency" emails. It’s like you cannot leave the office, because folks are tethered to you in some way.
So, this is a cautionary tale for supervisors. Your folks need time away. They need to be away in every sense of the word. Please give them permission to not respond to emails while on vacation. There are very few emergencies that would require you to reach out to them. If it means that you, Mr. Supervisor, must wait a few days for some information, so be it.” 


If you like this – read the rest of the article attached below.


  • So, do you have a plan in place to ‘un-plug’ while off?
  • Should workplaces have mandatory policies about contacting people when they are away?


Worry not – our experts can help.


Dr. Lynne Richardson is a columnist, mentor and her expertise focuses on leadership management and higher education administration. She is available to speak with media about leadership…and even bad bosses. Simply click on her icon to talk with her and arrange an interview.



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