Work phone when on Annual Leave

[AndOnAndOn]

Can anyone share their experience/views with me please as they differ wildly in our house......

When on annual leave do you generally read/respond to work emails, What's App, text messages? Do you continue to keep an eye on work related social media, retweet, like posts etc?

Or when you are off you are off? Do you manage to put your out of office on and switch off from work completely?

I appreciate if you have one phone that is sued for both work and social it may be more tricky, how about if you have a separate work phone?

Thanks.

I have 2 jobs one of my jobs I am on call in evenings and weekends. Holiday or no holiday 😂 I get paid every time I get called so there is an incentive for me to pick the call up! I don’t do it because I feel super important though.

My other main job I end up drawn into things because only recently people take advantage of the fact I am not there and take the opportunity to make stupid decisions or allege things I haven’t said. Today I picked up one email and was like WTF that never happened so I replied 😂

I’m self employed with only one phone but I don’t get many calls and my number isn’t public. I don’t check email. I would let any calls go to voicemail but I would listen to any message when convenient. I do sometimes post relevant things on Twitter (I work in a field where certain holiday tweets/photos might be relevant).

I’m expected to hand over and put out of office on etc, but am also expected to check emails at least once daily while away. TBH it’s pretty shit. I become afraid of my work phone if I forget to check it.

I’m not important enough to have to check work emails, text or WhatsApp 😁

I don’t need to, it’s not expected, and I ignore my work phone,...but I do keep half an eye on my inbox. No more than once a day, I don’t answer anything, might hit forward or accept an invite.

A few colleagues have my other numbers and if it all kicks off, can message me.

I don't have a work phone and I refuse to have my emails on my phone or iPad. It's a job that pays for me to have a roof over my head and holidays, nothing more. I'm entitled to holiday without being bothered by work.

I wouldn't go out of my way to check emails or texts etc but if someone needed me that badly I would go in and help out, but that's just the kind of person I am (also the fact I do nothing on my time off so it gives me something to do)

I monitor my emails and work have my number if it's an emergency, but my clients don't have my number!

Dh does, no one cover his management decisions when he is not around. Not worth risking his job as everyone else at his level work more OTs than him.

I don't use my work phone unless I am on duty.

Used to but generally don't now. Fairly senior but I have bosses/responsible direct reports so I put on an ooo, team can WhatsApp me for emergencies etc. Tell clients so they know. Basically plan as much as possible.

We do stagger holidays though so me and the other senior person in the team are rarely off together so cover each other. Cover is just moving things forward and helping out on urgent rather than full on cover.

I also tend to have holiday at peak time (primary age kids) as do lots of my clients so tend to be off on quieter weeks anyway.

Life's too short tbh. My job isn't life or death.

I don't usually. DH tells his team to contact him in an emergency. He doesn't check in on IM or email and never seems to get called from work on holiday.

I normally holiday in this country so check emails once a day, but don t action, just delete the crap. When abroad I don’t look at all

I do check when on leave in UK so I don’t return to any nightmare situations or mountains of emails that can easily be deleted. I might send a few emails but that’s the limit, generally. My work phone doesn’t work abroad and I don’t take my work laptop, so can’t check emails unless one of my managers forwards something to my personal email account. Usually they are resistant to this but know if it’s a big issue, I’d rather be told.
My husband always has his phone and does emails. He has two work phones and one he responds to and one he doesn’t. His directors and PA field most emails but he still has an amount he needs to sort. If we’re somewhere without reception or wi fi, he’ll cycle or run to pick up messages.

Out of office on referring all urgent enquires to other team members. I don’t check work emails or take phone calls - in fact I try not to even think about work! What’s the point in going on holiday if you can’t escape work crap. There’s no benefits to be gained at all...

I refuse to do anything work related whilst on AL and don’t see why I should. Luckily my line manager shares the same viewpoint!

I have a work phone and it goes off when I leave work and on when I get back to the office. I only take it home so I can let people know what’s going on if I have an emergency or will be really late or am off sick or something. Everyone at my new job seems to do the same.

I had a hard time with my old job with my manager intruding on my personal time with work matters. WhatsApp was the killer. In the end I blocked him and refused to communicate with him except on my work phone, which I took home but switched off when I wasnt working. I didn’t have the kind of job that needed me to do anything that affected other people when I was off, he was just a rude fucker who did what he liked.

Away for annual leave phone is off. Home but on leave (or day off) phone remains on but I might not respond unless it is urgent /something I can quickly deal with.

Big company - leave it in the office.
Small company - take it with me.

Laptop and phone off - out of office and voicemail will refer to a colleague for anything that can't wait.

No. Anything which might be needing some work while I am out has been handed over. Anyone likely to want to speak to me has had fair warning that I'll be out. I moved a couple of meetings I lead. I have temporarily removed myself from a load of email distro. My OOO message gives alternative contacts for all the gongs I am involved with. Social media is blocked anyway, unless you're part of PR/external comms, and involved in putting out the "we're a great company" propaganda. And if anything really major happened, I will get a text from the company emergency notification system to my personal phone (they tested it recently) and my manager has my personal number.

I do get paid to be on-call when I am rota'ed for that. But when I am on leave, I am often places with poor/no signal anyway.

I am on personal social media with some colleagues, so we have had on-going conversation on the important matters of the day, such as rating hotel breakfasts.

I grew up on a farm, and my mother was always insistent we went away twice a year, because if the cattle get out or something, it's all hands on deck, but if he was away, they had to deal with things without him, and he got a proper break. It was the days before mobile phones then, though. I'm not sure Mum would have persuaded him to turn his mobile off.

In my last job I would have been contactable and checking daily..

In my new job it is the opposite. My work phone is at home and I will do nothing work related. Nothing in my job is remotely urgent as it’s all long term projects with a full team of management.

I am on my way to the airport now and it is blissful knowing I can switch off

Nope, everything off and out of office on, directing people to relevant members of the team including upwards to my line manager if necessary/appropriate. I give clear handover instructions and am good at prioritising what can wait for my return.

I'm not indispensable and I don't get paid enough to give up my precious holiday to my employer. I've suffered from work-related stress in the past and part of making sure I don't end up back there is having well defined periods of R&R and a good work-life balance.

Last job I was expected to be available 6am 10pm 7 days a week for advice/support of staff and was the only person in the company with my experience/role so I couldn’t refer people to others in my absence. I only refused to answer the phone (company provided) if I had specifically booked time off and would send a message to all employees with a date and time I would next be available and that, in my absence, they should contact the office who would, in turn, contact GP/pharmacy etc. I used to really annoy a colleague who demanded I ‘debrief’ her before every booked leave in case she had to stand in for me - I used to have everything organised in advance and have people arranged to do collections etc so she really had nothing to do for me and would tell her it was all under control. There were one or 2 people who could contact me via my personal phone/email if absolutely dire circumstances and I knew they would not abuse that contact!!

No one covers my role when I'm off. I'm the only person who does what I do. So normally I check daily when I'm on annual leave and deal with the urgent stuff, and set up meetings for when I get back.

It's definitely not ideal.

I turn mine off and put my out of office on. They get plenty of unpaid hours from me when I'm not on leave