Avoiding the e-mail crush following a vacation

Tired of returning to work after a vacation to see an inbox packed with messages? It is possible to avoid this. You’ll simply need a willing helper at work and some planning.

Helper

Jonathan Feldman, a contributing editor at InformationWeek, recommends you get a friend where you work that will be willing to read through your e-mails while you’re out. It is a big job, so you’ll probably have to agree to do the same when they are on vacation. Nothing, after all, is free of charge.

Before your trip

Before you go on vacation, inform your most frequent e-mailers that you’re going and that your helper will be managing your e-mail while you’re gone. Feldman emphasizes you’ll want to make sure these senders understand that another person will be reading their messages.

An organized inbox

Next, create e-mail rules so that your messages go straight to your helper when you are gone. Also send the e-mails to a new folder called “vacation.” When you return, your helper should have placed your e-mails into specific categories. And if you require further explanation, you can just find e-mail messages in your “vacation” folder.