On vacation? Don't apologise in your out-of-office reply

IN an age where work-life balance is placed at the altar, there's one thing that I must confess: I am one of those uncool people who check their work e-mails several times a day, even while on vacation. While this is mostly out of habit and I don't respond unless absolutely necessary, not having access to my e-mails leaves me feeling a tad uneasy. From what I hear from my colleagues and peers, this seems to be a common sentiment in workaholic Singapore. Most people I know check their work e-mails mainly to clear their inboxes so that they won't get a heart attack when they return to the office.

Recently, media mogul Arianna Huffington, co-founder of wellness company Thrive Global, has taken things one step further by introducing a new e-mail tool to allow workers to truly switch off when on vacation. It works like this: When people e-mail you during vacation, they will get an automated message letting them know when you will be back. Then comes the crucial bit: The tool deletes the e-mail so you won't even be tempted to read it.

The idea is that if it is important enough, the sender will contact you again when you are back. Otherwise, it was probably not a big deal in the first place. While it sounds like a simple concept, it is a subtle but significant shift in dynamics. The onus is no longer on the worker to keep up with an inbox that has exploded, but on the sender to follow up after.