When your people are on vacation, do you respect their time off?

Our reader poll today asks: When your team members are on vacation, how good are you about respecting their time off?

– I don’t contact them unless there’s an emergency: 88.36%
– I contact them when I need important things from them: 9.28%
– I contact them frequently and leave it to them to respond: 1.55%
– I contact them constantly and expect timely responses: 0.81%

Gone fishin’. Time off is just that, and bravo to the overwhelming majority of you for recognizing the fact that your people need their R&R. We operate under enough stress as it is. Robbing people of the little peace they’re afforded on the occasional vacation borders on criminal. Not only does doing so deprive them of time to recharge their batteries, but it also adds stress because you’re likely causing conflict between the demands of their work and their desire to spend time with friends, family or just enjoying some quiet. Before you send that “urgent” e-mail to someone on vacation, ask whether it’s really all that important.

Do you agree with these poll results?  Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post?  If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog.  It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!).  SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 190,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.