The Work Clinic

Ten years ago, I would have fretted about work while on holiday. These days, I prefer to make sure everything is ship-shape before I leave, then close the door on it until the end of the holidays. But it's no longer that simple.

Modern technology means that few of us are ever really incommunicado. There are two issues here - the rights and wrongs of contacting staff while on holiday, and the temptation of said staff to continue blogging and tweeting about work outside office hours.

I once got a call from a colleague while I was about to board a holiday flight to New York. I was bemused rather than annoyed - she felt it was preferable to call me than to bother someone more senior who was in the office. But it was about something very minor and I really feel that holidays are holidays - anything less than a matter of life and death should be dealt with by other staff.

As for tweeting and even checking e-mails, while I do occasionally succumb at the weekend, I make a point of avoiding this when on holiday. Even reading work e-mails renders a holiday null and void.

So, after 4 days free of work-related thoughts, you would assume that I am at my desk today fresh-faced and full of enthusiasm. Which I would be had the clanking of milk bottles at my front door not woken me at 4 am ...... Grrr.