How to prepare for the summer vacations and organize the workload of your work teams during the vacations?

The months of July and August are usually times of reduced teams. As a result, it is not always easy to collaborate efficiently during the summer period. To compensate for the absence of employees during the vacations is not easy. It is therefore necessary to organize in advance and to prepare as much as possible the periods of prolonged absences so that the teams which remain in function can work at ease and as normal. Being proactive in order to manage the summer vacations as well as possible is the key to success!

💡 We therefore give you 5 tips to best prepare for your team's vacation.

1 | Prepare your meetings in advance

If you manage the minutes of your meetings, make sure to prepare the agendas of your meetings in advance so that your deputies can simply feed the items on the agenda and manage the meeting on the day. They will be able to add the files to discuss during the meeting as well as various comments or private notes. The people who will be absent during the summer time, will also be able to complete the topics for which they are responsible in advance and in order to better communicate with the whole team.

2 | Communicate upstream on the tasks in progress

Very often, the fulfillment of a task can impact several members of the team, that's why it is important to share the information useful to the tasks with the different people involved. But communication goes both ways. In fact, don't forget to keep your absent colleagues informed of the latest news regarding your work by leaving them a comment about the tasks concerned.

3 | Send meeting minutes to those who are absent

To keep everyone on the same page, it is important to keep clear and complete meeting minutes. This will ensure that those who are not present, will be able to read them when they are back. Even though your colleagues are on vacation, don't forget to send them the minutes of missed meetings, asking them to acknowledge receipt and read them. This will ensure that your objectives are met while maintaining optimal collaboration despite the absence of certain team members.

4 | Prepare the work to be done during your absence

In a team, we are not all working on the same project or on the same tasks. This is why you must prepare your deputies by informing them of your work responsibilities. Not only in terms of how to carry them out, but also with regards to the essential information they will need to have in their hands to meet the objectives : contacts of the partners concerned, files, e-mails, quotes, minutes attached to the tasks or meetings, etc. In return, and once you have prepared your personal work, ask your colleagues to foresee any delays due to vacations and to update their task deadlines before they leave.

5 | Delegate tasks to be done during your absence

For any task that cannot wait until a collaborator returns from vacation, ask to delegate the task to a deputy colleague, by defining clearly the process for carrying out the task in the description of the task or by creating a checklist for more complex jobs. The idea is really to prepare the team for your absence and above all to distribute the workload fairly so that all the tasks to be done are carried out. Don't forget to attach files or emails related to the tasks, as well as useful contacts. An efficient handover will allow the whole team to spend the summer in complete serenity.

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💡 By applying these 5 very simple tips, you'll guarantee an efficient collaboration during the summer season, despite the absence of many colleagues. All it takes is a little forecasting and preparation to achieve this essential goal! 😃

WEDO helps you to anticipate the best collaboration in summer

WEDO allows you to ensure traceability of information communicated during meetings and progress of projects during the absence of your colleagues or/and employees. Our collaborative platform provides you with a few tips to prepare for this summer period and ensure a smooth return to work.

• You can prepare your agenda in advance and complete your topics with paragraphs, decisions, tasks, files, private notes and images.
• You can comment on the different tasks to exchange relevant information with the different observers.
• You have the possibility to send the reports by email directly from the platform or export them in PDF format.
• You are able to update the deadlines of the tasks in progress to anticipate the different deadlines.
• You can delegate tasks to your colleagues in one click to reorganize the work of your team. It is also possible to attach files to tasks in progress. Finally, the Templates & Checklists feature allows you to modeling a workflow to inform your replacements of the process to be followed.

WEDO is the ideal tool that allows you to collaborate efficiently in any situation!

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