Unplugging On Summer Vacation: How Metro Detroit Ranks

Summer is on, unofficially with the Memorial Day weekend, and American workers are busy planning their vacations. But are they truly unplugging? No, according to a new report that shows more than half of professional workers will check in with their offices while they take leave. In metro Detroit, 58 percent of workers say they’ll check in at least occasionally.

Not only that, professionals are leaving more vacation days on the table than they have in the past, according to a survey of workers in the nation’s largest markets from the staffing firm Accountemps. It found that professionals plan to take nine vacation days this summer, down from 10 in 2017. In metro Detroit, professionals plan to take an average of nine days off to enjoy the season.

Checking into the office defeats the purpose of a vacation, said Accountemps Executive Director Michael Steinitz.

“Employees need time away from work to rest, relax and recharge,” Steinitz said in a statement accompanying the survey findings. “Yet for an increasing number of people, totally disconnecting from the office can have the reverse effect and add stress.”

Checking in a few times during a vacation can offer peace of mind as long as they don’t overdo it, Steinitz said.

“Doing so confirms that all is well, which allows them to stop worrying and focus on relaxing instead,” he said.

The survey developed by Accountemps, a Robert Half company, and conducted by an independent research firm includes responses from more than 2,800 workers in 28 U.S. markets.

It found that 44 percent of workers don’t check in at all when they’re on vacation. The majority of workers 55 and older, 60 percent, fully disconnect from the office when they’re on vacation, but seven in 10 millennials check into the office during their time off.

Checking in the most are professionals in New York, New York; Charlotte, North, Carolina; Miami, Florida; and Seattle, Washington.

Those checking in the least work in Cleveland, Ohio; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Denver, Colorado; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Those least likely to take any vacation in the summer are in Nashville, Tennesee; Dallas, Texas; and Los Angeles, California.

There were gender differences as well. Men were more likely than women to check in to find out how things are going while they’re on vacation. The biggest disparity — 52 percent of women versus 34 percent of men — was among professionals who completely unplug.

Here are some tips from Robert Half to help you disconnect while on vacation:

• Plan well ahead of your vacation and put the tasks someone else needs to handle and issues that may arise during your absence on a list. Don’t overload your calendar with back-to-back appointments when you return.
• If you’re a manager, delegate effectively by spreading your responsibilities evenly across the team to avoid heaping too much on one employee and causing burnout. If you’re a staff member, get a reciprocal agreement with your peers to handle your tasks while you’re gone and offer to do the same for them. Make sure they know about important deadlines, and explain processes and procedures.
• Consider hiring temporary staff, especially if your workload is too heavy to spread across the team.
• Make sure your team, clients and other key players know you’re taking time off, and who they can contact in your absence. Before you leave, ask if there’s anything you can do for them.
• If you feel you must check in while you’re on vacation or be available by phone, designate some specific times you can be reached. Avoid making calls or checking email outside of those times. If you answer a select few emails and avoid the rest, you’re sending a confusing and possibly insulting message to colleagues, employees and clients.
• Clarify the exceptions to the rule and make sure everyone knows what you consider a crisis or emergency. If you have an idea of an emergency that might arise, let your backups know about it and leave a list of ways to resolve it.
• Clean out your email and voicemail, then set an auto-reply message on email and outgoing voicemail message. Most email programs allow you to send daily IT updates and other emails with dated content to a deleted mail folder. You may be able to direct emails from some contacts to the people covering for you.
• Organize your desk before you leave so you won’t be met with a mess when you return. It’ll help you shift out of work mode before you leave for vacation, too.

Related: U.S. Workers Leave Vacation On The Table

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