By Juliet Soh

It’s that time of the year again when you cave in to your wanderlust. After working hard for almost half a year, you feel you deserve a break to rest and recharge.

But you’re hesitating because you know you can’t just leave your work behind.

A survey has shown that 30% of workers bring their work along even while travelling.

We’re not going to dissuade you from doing so. Instead, we’re offering you tips on how you can catch up with work, while at the same time have minimal disruption to your holidays.

#1 Book a hotel with free wi-fi access
Not being able to check your emails or use your text messaging app will be quite a pain if you intend to get some work done. Make sure your hotel provides complimentary wi-fi. If not, research and see if you could get free access easily at any nearby cafes.

#2 Set aside a “work” time
Set aside one to two hours a day as “work” time. This is preferably before the rest of your travel mates wake up, or just before you go to bed. Be disciplined enough to stick to the stipulated duration so you can get enough rest during your vacation, as well as not annoy everyone else.

#3 Only attend to the most urgent requests
Before you go, you should attempt to bring all pending projects to a close and set an out-of-office auto-responder (even though you know you’ll be checking your emails). Respond only to emergencies and urgent requests. For issues that can wait, handle them when you’re back in the office.

#4 Don’t tell anyone you’ll be working
Although you plan to work while on vacation, there’s no need to tell anyone that. By letting them assume that you’d rather not be disturbed, you can still have the option of changing your mind about working while holidaying. It’s also going to be stressful if people are expecting you to return calls and reply emails promptly even though you’re on the go.

#5 Just relax
Don’t obsess over getting internet access all the time or ask your travel mates to wait “one more minute” while you finish typing a document. It’s a vacation after all and you really don’t have to feel guilty about not responding “ASAP” as you normally would.

Do you work while you're on vacation? How do you cope without disrupting the holiday? Share with us in the comment box!

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