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Faced with increasing difficulty disconnecting from work while on vacation, three business leaders propose effective strategies.
Interview published by El Mundo
The sound of the waves, the sea breeze, that ice-cold beer… And that damn cell phone with all the stress inside the office, like a black hole at your fingertips. The latest InfoJobs report on digital disconnection warns that 63% of workers report not disconnecting during their vacations, four points higher than last year. It notes that, “even though the right to digital disconnection has been regulated in Spain since 2018 by Organic Law 3/2018 on personal data protection and was reinforced in 2021 by Law 10/2021 on remote working,” the reality is that “many people continue to respond to work emails, calls, or messages during their vacations.” . It adds that two out of three respondents say their companies do not implement measures to promote digital disconnection.
Self-management is therefore essential. Here, we launch an appeal through the experiences of three executives, who reveal their concerns about the matter and, above all, their strategies for fighting the digital dictatorship.
Let’s start without exaggeration. Javier Llosa, CEO of Odigo Iberia and Global Co-CEO, points out that “work is part of our lives for most of the year,” so “pretending that we can isolate it from our lives for three weeks is utopian.” Although “on vacation, work takes a back seat or even a back-back seat,” he points out that digital hyperconnection is a year-round problem: “I always have all notifications muted, whether I’m working or not, except for phone calls and four people for messaging.” He decided this during lockdown: “That was absolute hyperconnection.”
Llosa emphasizes the value of reading, “books that have nothing to do with current events.” In addition, on weekends or vacations, he finds “manual work, such as DIY, gardening, or cooking a good paella over a wood fire with friends” very relaxing. He concludes: “Very important, never read your email before going to sleep.” The greatest threat to this ecosystem is “urgency,” that highly malleable concept. “It’s about your teams knowing your habits, just as I know theirs. I’m always available by phone, so if no one calls me, it means there’s nothing urgent.” Furthermore, during vacations, “knowing who each person’s backup is, or who their backups are, is key to not disturbing them during their vacations.”
Javier Jover, CEO of Dojo in Spain, believes that it is key to “set an example. If you don’t allow yourself to stop, your team won’t dare to either. I organize myself well before I leave to make all decisions in advance, automate everything I can, and delegate to the team to avoid the temptation of responding when I’m offline.” Although he accepts that “at senior levels, you always have one eye open in case the team needs you at a specific moment.” The cell phone is the big challenge: “In a single device, you have email, Slack, and WhatsApp, which makes it relatively easy to check in for ‘just a moment’ and end up immersed in several issues at once.” It helps a lot to set limits: “For example, leaving your cell phone outside the bedroom or not opening your email before breakfast,” or “turning off email notifications and checking it only once a day, at the same time.” Another weapon of mass destruction for connection is sport: “Running and swimming are activities that help me clear my mind. I also try to sleep at least seven hours, reduce my use of screens at night, and do simple but rewarding things, such as going for a walk at sunset with my wife and son, if possible on the beach, or going out for dinner.”
Miriam Cordero, CRO at Odilo, illustrates the problem with this scenario: “Someone on my team joined a meeting while waiting at the pediatrician’s office with their child. I suggested they disconnect and we would catch them up later.” She finds WhatsApp “the most difficult channel to tame. Even if you have a company cell phone, it’s so accessible that it ends up creeping into your personal life. It gives you a permanent connection, at any time, creating a false impression that everything is urgent.“ Her best way to disconnect from screens is to spend time with her daughters, who ask her to put down her phone and play with them. ”Knowing how to delegate” is her key. “Sometimes we feel guilty for ‘bothering’ others or letting go of control, but I’ve learned that trusting your team is the only way to rest truly. During my vacations, I make sure to leave everything well organized and define in advance who can take over my duties. In day-to-day life, I think it’s key to learn to discern when we are truly indispensable and when we can delegate or take a break.”