Vacation Over? Seven Expert Tips to Avoid Back-to-Work Stress

Philosopher and political economist John Stuart Mill once wrote about why he did not take holidays“No holidays,” he explained, “lest I break the habit of work and acquire a taste for laziness.”

It’s certainly true that when people take a vacation and then return to work, they tend to experience “instant stress.” All the R&R they got from a laid-back lifestyle of lounging by the pool can disappear within hours of returning to the office.

Whether we work primarily in an office or at home, our work environment can be hectic, busy, fast-paced, unrelenting, and exhausting for many people—especially after some time off. Two leading American cardiologists in the 1970s, Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman, defined the consequences of most work environments as “the disease of rushing”.

The latest in the UK Report of the Executive Committee on Health and Safety The sickness absence study found that ‘stress, depression or anxiety’ accounted for 51% of all work-related ill health and 55% of all working days lost due to work-related ill health.

In compact, most jobs are stressful and require moments of respite, deep relaxation and regeneration.

So how can we learn to manage the stress of returning to our desks so that we can retain some of the benefits of breaks and avoid the trap of post-holiday stress? As a professor of organizational psychology and health, I offer seven suggestions.

1. Reconnect with your coworkers

On your first morning at work, utilize the first hour(s) to reconnect with coworkers by sharing your vacation and other experiences. Work can provide positive and meaningful relationships, and socializing is imperative to maintaining our health and well-being.

2. Control your workload

Avoid responding to emails immediately. A vast inbox will trigger an immediate stress response, and the urge to read all of your emails on your first day will not only overwhelm and exhaust you, but it can also lead to problematic responses that will create problems in the relationship later on.

For example, you may be more terse than usual, and the recipient may get offended. Look through all your emails casually, mark and reply only to the urgent ones, and leave the rest for another day.

3. Take compact breaks

Make sure you take a coffee or tea break and lunch every day during your first week back. If you work in an office, take these breaks with different coworkers, and during lunch time, try to leave the office to eat lunch in a park or other outdoor area.

4. Get home on time and avoid long working hours

When you get home, get dynamic. Don’t lie down in front of the TV, but go to the gym or for a run, or treat yourself to a meal out with family or friends. Let the holiday spirit carry over into your home environment.

5. Don’t organize many meetings

The pace of most jobs is fast-paced for many people. Cardiologists Friedman and Rosenman suggested in their 1974 book, Type A Behavior and Your Heartthat people become “time-obsessed” by the office environment. Don’t hold multiple meetings to show people you’re back and running. Basically, don’t try to get everything in your inbox done in 48 hours!

6. Be tolerant towards your colleagues

Colleagues who constantly complain and suggest that there is no solution to the problem can cause stress, especially when you have just returned from a wonderful and stress-free vacation. Try to be patient, tolerant and listen to their tirade without taking it seriously.

7. Set realistic work goals

Finally, avoid setting unrealistic deadlines at work and scheduling unnecessary meetings. Politely say “no” to things you won’t be able to accomplish in your first week back.

Studs Terkel, a social reformer, wrote in his acclaimed book Working“Work is the search for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as money, for surprise as well as for lethargy – in compact, for a kind of living as well as for dying from Monday to Friday.”

The holidays give us a chance to take a break from the stresses of the newfangled workplace, so let some of that stress rub off on your workplace when you return to the office.