40% of working Dutch people suffer from stress in the period before going on holiday. On average, holiday stress plays an even more important role among young parents with children living at home. This is apparent from the Holiday Stress survey by the Dutch Association of Professional Organizers (NBPO). Nearly a third of those surveyed have a chaotic handover or no one at all to whom the work can be handed over. As a result, they still take phone calls or check their email regularly while on holiday. In particular, people over the age of 35 and workers with children living at home (49%), consciously build in time before departure to prepare for their holiday and to pack their bags.
60% of the respondents always have someone to whom the work can be transferred smoothly before they go on holiday. Holiday stress is significantly more common among professionals whose work cannot be handed over or where the work transfer is chaotic. In order to be able to leave work calmly and to ensure that the work continues during a holiday, the 'to-do' list and thorough planning are especially popular. A quarter of those surveyed provide a handover document that is shared with colleagues or do not schedule last day appointments so that there is enough time to complete the work. 60% (sometimes) work overtime before going on holiday. This is even more the case for people who experience holiday stress (73%) or professionals who are unable to transfer their work or not smoothly (74%).
More than half of the working professionals are able to switch well during the holidays and are therefore really free on holiday. Two-thirds of the respondents turn on the absentee assistant when they leave and refer questions to colleagues and the date on which they will be back. Others also mention their telephone number (14%) in the assistant for urgent cases or do not set the assistant (16%). More than half (55%) turn off their e-mails during their holidays, 25% now and then look for a WiFi spot to check their e-mails and 21% simply check their e-mails regularly. Respondents who experience holiday stress and respondents who cannot or cannot transfer their work smoothly can switch the button much less often and are also more often engaged in work during the holiday.
Seven practical tips to prevent holiday stress and retain that holiday feeling
1. Don't schedule any more appointments on the last day before your vacation
2. Draw a line (literally) on your to-do list to determine what to do before your vacation and what to pick up after your vacation
3. Turn on your out-of-office reply a day before and turn it off a day after you actually come back
4. In your out-of-office reply, clearly indicate whether the e-mail has been read and who people can turn to for questions that cannot wait
5. Make clear agreements with your colleagues, but also with your family and partner about your accessibility and work during your holiday
6. Make sure that colleagues text you first if something really needs to be discussed by phone
7. If you really enjoyed certain things on holiday, try to stick to these for at least two weeks after the holiday (for example:eating with family or taking a walk after dinner)
