Holidays: you’re reclining on a sun-drenched beach, the horizon stretching endlessly before you, a cool drink in hand. You’re about to dive into your favorite novel or maybe just the sweet sound of silence, when ping! Your phone lights up with a message: “Quick question about the report you submitted last week…”
Let’s make one thing clear: holidays are holy-days. Yes, holy, as in sacred. When you receive work-related messages during your time off, you’re not just being interrupted, you’re being dragged into what can only be described as a breach of the modern Commandments of work. It is, quite frankly, a "work Sin". So managers, think about it, you don't want to be the office heretic ruining someone’s holy-days, do you?.
Holy-Days, Not Holy-Hours
Here’s the problem. The moment you answer a work email or take a call, your holidays are downgraded to holy-hours. And let’s be clear, holy-hours don’t count. True rest isn’t measured in stolen moments between Zoom calls and Slack pings; it’s measured in uninterrupted days of disconnection. That’s where the magic happens: creativity is rekindled, energy is restored, and sanity makes its triumphant return.
So, managers, bosses, team leaders, whatever title you go by, here’s your wake-up call: messaging employees during their holidays is nothing short of sacrilegious. And for employees, allowing it without resistance? That’s also a no-no, it's time to fight back!
The Commandments of Holy-Days
As custodians of modern work culture, we need to rewrite the rules, or perhaps carve them into virtual stone tablets. Thou shalt not text, call, email, or carrier pigeon an employee on their holidays, and I'm tempted to say even if it’s an emergency. Exceptions have to be on the scale of the Great Flood. So forgetting where the quarterly report is saved, doesn’t qualify. Thou shalt respect the sacred duration of the “days” in holy-days, and never desecrate them into mere holi-hours.
How Employees Should Defend Their Holy-Days
When work sins occur, and the pings come rolling in, employees, you have every right to protect the sanctity of your time off. Here’s how:
The Holy Auto-Reply: Set your out-of-office email to something divine, like: “I am currently observing the sacred tradition of holidays. Work inquiries will be addressed upon my return to the mortal realm (a.k.a. the office).”
The Silent Monk Approach: Ignore. Don’t read the message, don’t reply. Messages sent during holy-days cease to exist. Treat them like spam or phishing, they are not to be engaged with.
The Holi-Hours Converter: Reply the next day with this simple note: “Thank you for your message. However, as this inquiry has interrupted my holidays, I’ll need to add another day of leave to ensure they remain unbroken. I’ll follow up when I’m back.”
The Divine Reminder: Politely but firmly remind your boss of the holiness of your time off: “I’m currently on holiday by the grace of God. Let’s reconnect when I turn my gaze back to mortal affairs.”
The Sacred Alliance: If the whole team is being messaged, unite in solidarity. Send a joint reply: “The holidays are in session. We’ll gladly assist after we’ve fulfilled our divine mandate to rest.”
The Prayer to Higher Powers: Craft a response that redirects your boss to someone above their pay grade, their own boss (Superior Power!) or HR (the Inquisition!), remindings them that meddling in holidays may summon powers beyond their control. For instance: “Thank you for your message. As I am observing my holidays and am unavailable to respond. For urgent matters, please contact [Your Boss’s Boss] at [email address], or HR at [HR email]. May the wisdom of the higher powers guide this inquiry until my return.”
Managers, Avoid the Wrath of the Overworked
Bosses, it’s simple: respect the holidays, or prepare for the wrath of burnout. Employees who can’t disconnect will never fully recharge, leaving you with a team that’s sluggish, uncreative, and resentful. That’s not leadership; that’s workplace purgatory. If you’re genuinely worried about emergencies, set up a plan before holidays begin. Delegate. Designate a point of contact. Do anything but drag someone out of their sacred R&R.
For everyone involved, protecting the sanctity of holidays is about smart business. Teams that are rested and respected perform better. Leaders who honor boundaries inspire loyalty. And employees who disconnect fully return as their best selves, ready to tackle challenges head-on.
So, the next time your phone buzzes during your holiday, remember: you are not defying your boss by ignoring it. You are honoring the higher commandment of modern work. And for bosses: resist the urge to sin. Give your team their holidays, not holy-hours. Trust me, it’s divine wisdom.
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