The holidays are upon us! We could all use a little time off, right? Whether you’re going on a two-week vacation, taking a long leave, or are just taking off for a long weekend, there is always a way to prepare for your PTO. It’s not just kind to set your team up for success, but you’re also helping out future you when you get back! How you prepare depends on the duration of your absence, so let’s get into the etiquette of taking time off from work.
The Long Leave (AKA A Month Or Longer)
You may think you'll never need to take a truly long leave. And you may not ever take two months off for a vacation but let's not forget some common scenarios: Parental Leave, Care Giving Leave, FMLA or another long-term injury, or even a mental health sabbatical.
- Announce your leave around two months before your leave date. Begin with your manager and HR, get their approval, and then give a heads-up to your colleagues. You don’t need to disclose personal details to everyone—just the dates you’ll be away.
- Help hire your freelance sub. This can look like helping to conduct interviews, or simply helping to write the job description and let your manager take care of the rest. Only offer the type of help that’s manageable for you—if you are dealing with a difficult situation, it’s fine to skip this step.
- Organize for your incoming contractor by rounding up or creating educational materials (if they don’t already exist). Provide your replacement with tools like brand guidelines, a company org chart, CMS instructions, software how-to’s, and an outline of important processes all in this one resources folder on your company’s drive.
- Create a master document or email that links to all of these educational materials, like a handy table of contents. When you send out this email, be sure to CC everyone on your team so they can help your replacement if needed.
While most public sector employees don't have access to long-term paid leave, situations that ask for time off work are real and very common. Wondering if you have the right to long-term paid leave? Learn more here.
Continue on to follow the rules for (more common) shorter-term PTO…
The Two-Week(ish) Leave
- Get approval from your manager for your two-week leave. You should do this a month or more from the date you plan on leaving.
- Put your PTO dates on your team’s calendar so that everyone knows how many team members will be available. This step also helps others organize their PTO to help the team run smoothly.
- Work ahead on your projects so that your leave does not impact your team too much. Help your manager in any way you can. Complete what’s possible and back up all your work on your company’s public drive.
- Organize your work according to company naming conventions so it’s intuitive for team members to find what they need easily.
- Inform every one of your progress before you leave—especially your project manager. This will help them know what to reassign if a project needs more attention while you’re out.
- Send out a master email or document the day before you leave so that everyone is on the same page (pun intended).
The Long Weekend (AKA A Few Days)
This process looks a lot like the two-week vacation but can be done in two-to-three days’ time.
- Get approval for your time off.
- Put your PTO on the team’s calendar.
- Work ahead on anything that may come up in the time you’re away.
- Touch base with your project manager so they’re aware of your progress and can adjust any timelines.
- Send out your master email or document for anything that may need attention while you’re out.
On The Last Day Before You Leave:
- Set up an automatic PTO email that provides recipients with the dates you’ll be away, along with team members that they should contact instead. This will help especially with any external client communication.
TLDR; The fact is all PTO needs a bit of preparation. You never want to leave your team or managers in a tough spot, but this preparation is just as much for you! You will be able to enjoy your time off much easier if you know you did everything you could to organize and streamline work for everyone at the office. It might also make everyone miss you more, too.
Looking for freelance help while you’re away? Here at Artisan, we specialize in helping teams hire top talent, whether you need a short or long-term contractor. Let’s work together to help your team keep running smoothly!