Tired of returning to work after vacations to see an inbox overflowing with messages? You can avoid this. You’ll just need a willing helper at work and some advance planning.
Helper
Jonathan Feldman, a contributing editor at InformationWeek, recommends that you find a friend at work that will be willing to sort through your e-mails while you’re away. It is a big job, so you’ll probably have to promise to do the same while that co-worker is on vacation. Nothing, after all, is free.
Before your trip
Before your trip, inform your colleagues and friends that you’re going on vacation. Make clear that a co-worker will be handling your e-mails while you’re gone. And, yes, explain that this means someone else other than you will be reading your e-mail. Make sure to set up your e-mail rules so your messages go directly to your helper.
A happy return
When you come back, your helper should leave you with a well organized set of e-mail folders, folders containing urgent messages and the ones containing purely informational ones. This way, you won’t have to spend a whole workday slogging through a packed e-mail inbox.