If you’re off does your job get covered?

[WhatIsBooba]

After a conversation with DH we realised that when we are off (sick/holiday) from our jobs mostly aren’t covered and we come back to a back log.

Mine is covered a little bit more than DHs but I still come back to work that hasn’t been done, whereas his isn’t touched and he has to catch up on it all (he’s higher up the food chain than me though so maybe that is a factor?)

It just got me wondering is this the norm? What happens when your off?

Only urgent emails from clients are covered. Everything else is left for when I return.

As I work in a sole position, when I'm off the work just builds up until my return. It can lead to some pressure aka when I have extended periods of time off (1-2 weeks) I often check my emails and forward on urgent things, delete the junk, categorise things etc. This just means that when I return I don't open my inbox to 200 unread emails and get overwhelmed.
When I first started the role, I done actual work while on holiday but it was not appreciated so I have never done that again. Arranging my inbox is as much as I do and that is because it reassures my anxiety and I can relax while I'm off more easily.

If I was to ever have a period of illness, I think it would be chaos. But, hopefully it never happens so I don't worry about it!

BTW; I have a colleague who upon his return from 2 weeks off, simply deletes every unread email in his inbox. His theory being "if its important, they'll email again". At first I was horrified but actually...I think he's a bit of a genius.

Sort of- they do the bits they really need doing and muddle through the bits that help them out

In my old job mine did not get covered.

A day off frequently resulted in over 150 unread emails for me to wade through on my return.

The last time I took two weeks off my inbox topped 1000 unread - no one looking or dealing with the problems.

It was one of the (many) factors that started me looking for a new job to be honest, you couldn’t reliably take an actual break because even if you didn’t get contacted by work you knew that everything was piling up in your absence.

I'm a PA for a high profile person and when I took summer leave, despite two people covering my role (ha!) I still got back to 1200+ emails. Not all to action but enough to wade through which takes the time.

A class of 30 children would be running riot if no one covered me. They teach them for the day and maybe mark the work they taught but they don’t do all of the other stuff I have to do so that becomes a back log for me to try to clear.

Deadline induced stuff yes, anything else no. Depends entirely on what you do though.

Generally only urgent stuff or things we passed to other people in advance. But that's because we have specific workloads assigned to us that we manage, and those workloads are based on the hours we work (ie allowing for holidays) and we can plan what needs doing before going on leave and what can wait for our return. We also wouldn't generally take annual leave when important work was falling due unless we were going to be able to clear everything in advance.

More work will be waiting when we come back but it won't be the case of having to work double the hours to basically erase having been on leave by working those hours as unpaid overtime afterwards.

Essentially we have appropriate workloads and enough autonomy to plan and schedule to ensure things are manageable. Plus a good team who don't leave each other to drown.

Sickness leave is different. A few days - only urgent work would be dealt with and we'd deal with the rest when we return. Long term sick leave - work would be shared out so the person wasn't coming back to an unmanageable situation, but some non-urgent work might be left depending on duration of sick leave.

Our emails are monitored if we're off so we know anything urgent will be dealt with. We don't have to worry about returning to a crisis.

No, not at all

Not one tiny bit. No one would have the first clue. I would get back to a massive backlog.
I don't effectively even get sick leave because I work part time and flexible hours - if I feel ill on Monday and Tuesday I'd just do my hours on Wed and Thu instead.

Nothing touched, all piles up for my return. I actually think though that if it was all done I’d be worried they might make me redundant because they’d realised they didn’t me

We work to statutory deadlines so stuff that effects that, yes. But I have to spend an awful lot of late nights prepping briefings and tasks before I go on leave so people can pick it up.
Other stuff, no not at all. And agree with PPs, the email traffic is horrific.

My individual work isn't covered unless I disappear for longer than planned e.g. long term sick.

There's a team of us with the same skill set and we're allocated our own projects to manage, we're all capable of handling whatever is in the work stack but only ever do crossovers for unforeseen issues. We're expected to cover off projects before annual leave or have the timeline adjusted for absence. The only thing that builds up with an absence is emails - but that's an uncontrollable metric and the out of office clearly signposts what folk need to do if I'm not there.

Nope. In an organisation of 1400 I’m the only person doing my job. This is why I take my work phone on holiday as I often need to troubleshoot when I’m away

It depends. Things with deadlines (reviewing a report, preparing a proposal, responding to a Client query) will be covered and someone will step in to support junior staff if they have questions but less urgent ongoing stuff will wait till I get back. No one has enough spare capacity to cover everything.

If someone was off longer term (e.g. signed off for 6 weeks for recovery from an op) then their work would be fully covered.

The balance has always felt ok to me.

It’s really quite a ridiculous concept that people take leave and come back to 1000+ emails when you think about it, what’s the point in the leave if you’re going to spend the first 2 weeks back burning yourself out catching up!

Some of it does but not all. There are parts of it that need doing as I work in manufacturing and we deliver products daily to customers. Other bits like filing and paperwork can wait until I'm back.

Expected to meet all upcoming deadlines before going on leave, there is some cover but honestly feels worse going on holiday as you’re so exhausted by the time you do get time off.

Urgent stuff or meetings would be covered but no, the rest just has to wait for me to get back. It makes holidays stressful because you have a rush on to get as much as possible done before going on leave, and then come back to a pile of stuff.

Have always thought this when people talk about pulling a sickie, it would be pointless for me because I’d still have all the work still to do when I came back, just with less time to do it in.

Some parts of it do, others don’t. I delegate to someone more senior who decides whether to deal with an arising issue themselves or wait for me to return, or further delegate it to someone.

I do sometimes miss a job you could forget about when you’re on leave.

Bits do. Most doesn't.

No, it all just waits. I don't get that many emails though, maybe 10 a day, most of my work is generated by systems I either control or take an active part in so I just know what needs doing and when.

No nothing is done. I have to plan my leave for quieter times.

No, been the same in every job I've had. To go on holiday you have to prepare ahead then catch up. Unscheduled time off is a nightmare which is partly why I've not taken sick in 15 years, not even when I had covid. I've had my own office for the last 12 years so when I have a cold I just tell people to stay out.