Ok, I lied. It’s Tuesday, it obviously cannot be that exciting. However, I do have two new articles for you, see below:

• See today’s Tip of the Day if you plan on requesting time off for vacation this summer.
• The Microsoft Excel bug bit me again, and this time we explore the basics of using the AutoFilter.

Ah summer, one of my favorite times of the year. The weather is usually nice (unless you live in one of those extreme places, but I digress) and everybody’s thoughts turn to vacation. However, before you take a vacation, you need to let your work know. Not only do you have to let them know, you have to let them know WELL in advance.

Does this sound simple? I think you would be surprised at how many people suddenly come into work one day and say “Oh yeah, I’m going on vacation next week, is that ok?”. Obviously, this is not enough heads up time for your job. What is enough time? If I can, I like to give at least a month notice. It may seem like a lot, but I’m of the opinion that you can never give too much notice, only too little.

One last note, make sure you send your notification in writing as opposed to just word of mouth, just in case you are questioned about it later. Also, a few weeks before your time off is to occur, make sure to drop your boss a reminder note about which days you will be gone.

How do you enjoy your time off? Do you go to the beach? Lounge around all day? Sleep in (if you don’t, you should start)? There are many ways to spend your time off, but are you actually enjoying it? This may seem like a no-brainer, however take a step back and really think about it. How many times have you been on vacation, having a great time, except for one thing: You just can’t get rid of that nagging voice in the back of your head worrying about something at work. While you may be enjoying your vacation 99% of the time, it’s that little 1% that stops you from both physically AND mentally taking the entire time off.

To this end, there are three things that you can do to fully maximize your time off.

• Leave effective points of contact - This is very important and will go a long way to keeping your mind at ease while at the beach. Before you leave, you need to make sure that if any questions come up about what you’re in charge of, there is somebody available to answer those questions. Even more importantly, you need to make sure they are familiar enough with what you’re doing to intelligently answer these questions. In other words, don’t leave the new guy as the main point of contact for the CEO of your client company.

• Clearly define tasks to be accomplished - Even with the best people covering for you while you’re gone, they’re not going to know what needs to be done if you don’t tell them. First, you need to lay out what needs to be accomplished for you while you’re gone. Once you have this in place, divide the tasks among the people covering for you. Then, brief each person individually. Make sure they fully understand what they need to do and how they need to do it before you go. This might take a bit of time, but it will save you tons of heartburn in the long run.

• Let your clients know you’re gone - This goes for people internal to your company as well. You have the right people, they know what they need to do, but not everybody knows you’re gone. That’s when you get a call on your cell phone at 6:00 AM. “Oh, you’re not in the office? I didn’t know, I’ll just make this quick….” (read: 2 hour question). Make sure your main clients know the exact time period you’ll be off and who’s covering for you. A great way to do this is to leave an auto-message with an Out of Office Assistant. Beyond that, try to let people know in person or with individual email messages, so they have a reminder that you won’t be there.

There might be other things you can do specific to your job, however the above three tips will go a long way in helping you make the most of your time off.

One of the latest trends in the workplace today seems to be the use of a Flex Time Schedule. This kind of schedule entails working extra hours on certain days of a pay period in order to get a scheduled day off during that pay period. There are usually two flavors of this:

• One day off every two weeks - This is where you would work nine hours a day for eight days during the two weeks, and eight hours on one day. This leaves a free day that becomes your regular day off.

• One day off every week - In this schedule, you would work ten hours a day for four days a week, taking the 5th day as your regular day off.

For most businesses, having a scheduled day off every week is not feasible because (hopefully) you are too valuable to be taking one day off every week. This leaves the first option, which is what I’ve seen implemented the most in my experience. However, even if you decide that you want to try this schedule (and you’ve cleared it with your boss), there are three major points you should be aware of.

• You will occasionally need to work on your day off - An important point about working a Flex Time Schedule is understanding that working an extra one or two hours every day does not always equate to the work you would get done on the day you’re taking off. I can guarantee that you will need to work your day off at least once. If you have an important meeting or need to hit a deadline, they take precedence over your day off. These kinds of tasks cannot always be accomplished in the extra hours you have worked. You should be fully aware of this before you decide on this schedule.

• Your scheduled day off can change - This is somewhat in line with the first point. Although you will have a scheduled day off, this can and will change on occasion. The reason once again is business need. As stated above, meetings, deadlines, these all come before your day off.

• You may not get the day off you want - Everybody wants Friday off. It would be nice if your office could be empty on Friday, but this is obviously not the case. You’ll need to coordinate your scheduled day off with your co-workers and boss so that your project does not suffer. You can switch your day off occasionally, but make sure to clear it with your boss first so that no conflicts are created.

A Flex Time Schedule can be a great experience. It provides an opportunity to schedule appointments, vacations, etc, without having to dip into your precious paid time off bank. However, make sure you understand all of the implications involved in working this kind of schedule before you jump in.

Yes, the title of this tip is in English. “Comp” refers to Comp Time, which is when you work extra hours but instead of charging in Overtime (”OT” above) you take time off. I find this to be a great thing to have if you can work it out with your supervisor. For example, say you work 34 hours Mon.-Thurs. Assuming you have a 40 hr work week, technically on Friday you only have to work 6 hours. Some people would work the full 8 hours and get paid 2 hours of OT. For me, I have it worked out so I can bank this time and use it at a later date. I still work the 8 hours, but the extra 2 hours goes into my Comp Time bank. That way, I can use it for doctor’s appointments, car repair, etc. without having to hit my leave time.

This is dependent on your work situation, but I find that most bosses are willing to work something out, as it costs them less money in the end. Sure the money could be nice (and if you get paid a ridiculous overtime rate I would take it), but having that extra leave time has proved invaluable for me on many occasions.