TM - May 2008 - (Page 29) To Work or Not to Work on Vacation Daniel Margolis Taking your work home with you is sometimes unavoidable. Now, with all the tools available to facilitate working from anywhere at anytime, work can easily follow an employee on vacation — and often does. “Without a doubt, it’s become a lot more prevalent,” said Rosemary Haefner, vice president, human resources for CareerBuilder.com. “People are staying connected when they’re supposed to be taking time off. Toys facilitate that. You’ve got your BlackBerry, your cell phone. And how great, you can be on the beach and have your laptop up and running.” For talent managers, this is a sticky issue — as sticky as the issue of how to get employees to take a vacation in the first place. The biggest mistake employers often make, and may want to consider avoiding, is telling employees they must remain in contact during a vacation. “As a manager, you don’t want to send the message that says, ‘I want you to take a vacation, but oh, by the way, I want you to return my calls,’ or ‘I want your BlackBerry with you the whole time,’” said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health. Further, employers may want to avoid indicating they’re pleased when an employee works while on vacation. “Don’t send the message that you’re going to be more complimentary of somebody because they’ve done that,” Darling said. This might seem counterintuitive for a talent manager who would understandably respond favorably to an employee going above and beyond the call of duty. But it’s important to send the right message about what a vacation is supposed to achieve. “I’m adamant that your vacation time is your vacation time,” said Mark Thomas, president of recruiting firm Thomas Executive Resources. “Unless there’s a dire emergency, like the company’s going under, I don’t want to hear from you, and you’re not going to hear from us because I feel that it’s important you completely get away and then come back. Myself, once or twice a year, I take an exotic trip somewhere in the middle of nowhere where no one can reach me because I come back more refreshed and able to work harder than I have the previous three months.” For some, though, being completely cut off from work can cause stress and detract from vacation pleasures. For this type of employee, working on vacation is necessary and acceptable, but it’s important talent managers take steps to make sure this doesn’t get out of hand. Darling, for example, does take a BlackBerry with her on vacation. “I only check it once a day, and I do it at a particular time. And here’s a big difference: I only respond to those things that I need to respond to, which usually is like 1 percent,” she said. “I tell other people: Frankly, if you can manage your life so you don’t even have to do that, that’s what your vacation is for.’” Another important step is for employees to have their e-mail and voice mail set up to notify anyone who contacts them that they’re out. “The main thing is to send the message that you’re not checking so that people are only grateful if [you respond], but they don’t expect it,” Darling said. “People aren’t wondering where you are; they’ve already got an e-mail saying you’re on vacation and won’t be back for two weeks so, ‘Goodbye, have a nice life, and I’ll get back to you when I’m ready.’” T uesday, May 13, 2008 11AM PT/2PM ET Behaviors and the Bottom Line: Quick and Innovative Ways to Identify High-Value Leadership Behaviors In this interactive Talent Management magazine Webinar, sponsored by Lore International Institute, you’ll learn about new methods to measure leadership behaviors that will improve leadership teams and create bottom-line impact. The panel will review newly available simulations that immerse your executives in real-life scenarios to develop new leadership behaviors and will explore audits of your top leadership teams with direct ROI correlation. Whether you are part of a small, midsized or global organization — or you need to assess new leaders or your top senior executives — you don’t want to miss the opportunity to hear about these scaleable tools. Join leaders from Lore, Enspire and Mannaz to hear how their clients have successfully used these new interventions to improve their businesses. T register, go to o www.T alentMgt.com/ events Now featuring “Quick Register” for returning attendees. http://www.TalentMgt.com/events http://www.TalentMgt.com/events http://CareerBuilder.com http://www.TalentMgt.com/events
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of TM - May 2008 Talent Management - May 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Human Performance Leading Edge Learning Connections Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take The Four Pillars of Managing Performance Transform Talent With Deeper Skill Specialization Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning Graybar: Supporting a Long-Term View of Talent Management American Diabetes Association: On a Mission to Improve Employee Health Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? American Systems Employees Earn a Piece of the Pie Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources Full Potential TM - May 2008 TM - May 2008 - (Page Intro) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page Cover1) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page Cover2) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page 1) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page 2) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page 3) TM - May 2008 - Editor's Letter (Page 4) TM - May 2008 - Editor's Letter (Page 5) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 6) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 7) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 8) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 9) TM - May 2008 - Human Performance (Page 10) TM - May 2008 - Human Performance (Page 11) TM - May 2008 - Leading Edge (Page 12) TM - May 2008 - Leading Edge (Page 13) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 14) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 15) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 16) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 17) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 18) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 19) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 20) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 21) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 22) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 23) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 24) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 25) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 26) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 27) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 28) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 29) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 30) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 31) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 32) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 33) TM - May 2008 - Transform Talent With Deeper Skill Specialization (Page 34) TM - May 2008 - Transform Talent With Deeper Skill Specialization (Page 35) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 36) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 37) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 38) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 39) TM - May 2008 - Graybar: Supporting a Long-Term View of Talent Management (Page 40) TM - May 2008 - Graybar: Supporting a Long-Term View of Talent Management (Page 41) TM - May 2008 - American Diabetes Association: On a Mission to Improve Employee Health (Page 42) TM - May 2008 - American Diabetes Association: On a Mission to Improve Employee Health (Page 43) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 44) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 45) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 46) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 47) TM - May 2008 - American Systems Employees Earn a Piece of the Pie (Page 48) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 49) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 50) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 51) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 52) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page Cover3) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page Cover4)
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