It may seem counter-intuitive to be talking about taking time off in a blog that’s largely focused on professional development, but bear with us. We fully believe in being dedicated professionals and serving our clients as well as we can, but we also believe that that’s only possible when we’re properly taking care of ourselves.
It’s important to remember that we all need to care for ourselves and our colleagues. This is especially true for people who are working in high pressure professions at particularly intense times. After all, humans are not automatons and we don’t think they should ever be expected to act as so – no matter how dedicated they are to their careers!
The run up to Christmas can be particularly fraught in conveyancing. It can feel like everyone and their mother wants to complete before the end of the year, whether or not there is any real likelihood of them being able to do so. Conveyancers are often balancing this pressure alongside significantly increased responsibilities outside of work, including balancing their personal festive to-do list and attending school Christmas events.
With this in mind, it’s little wonder that conveyancers can feel particularly run down once December comes around. Thankfully, there is something that can make a real difference here: making sure that you and your colleagues are all able to enjoy a break once the festive week comes around.
The benefits of proper time off is well documented. Not only has it been shown to reduce stress and improve physical health, time off also increases productivity overall. It’s impossible to argue with results such as these. The better rested you and your colleagues are, the better service you’ll be able to provide overall.
If you’re making plans for handling time off over the festive season, we’ve shared our good practices for doing so below.
Communicate your plans clearly
When you have clients relying on you, it’s important to let them know your holiday plans as soon as possible. Ideally, this will mean deciding the dates of any time off you are taking at least a month ahead of time, then ensuring you have made your plans clear. For example, it may be beneficial to display the dates of your upcoming holiday on your website, on your social media accounts, and in your email signature.
We’d also recommend ensuring you have drawn the dates to the attention of any clients who might be affected by the time frame. This includes anyone who is hoping to complete on their transaction during that time period. You’ll want to be able to reassure those clients about the impact your time off may have on their transaction.
Be realistic about what you will be able to finish before switching off
It’s always tempting to try to complete as many tasks as possible before you sign off for annual leave. However, sometimes it just won’t be possible for you to cross off everything on your to do list. If you’ve been particularly busy, we suggest looking critically at your workload and determining which tasks are absolute priorities, and which can wait until you come back in the new year. Realistically, it’s likely that many tasks will be perfectly able to wait until January. We believe it’s better to postpone some tasks than to run the risk of rushing through and missing something important.
Be mindful of other people’s time off
Of course, you will not be the only person planning to take time off at this time of year! We’d recommend keeping this in mind by trying to not add unnecessarily to other people’s pre-holiday task lists. For example, sending a long list of documents to other conveyancers five days before Christmas is unlikely to be particularly productive, and may just add to everyone’s stress level.
Once again, do think seriously about what should be prioritised and what shouldn’t: it’s perfectly reasonable to table certain matters until everyone is back, refreshed and ready to go in the new year.
Make the most of your break
Our final piece of advice is to make sure you make the most of your time off while you’re in it. Whether you decide to spend it enjoying relaxing downtime with family or by bouncing between parties and festive events: we recommend turning off from work as much as possible.
Though it may be necessary to keep half an eye on your phone to ensure no work emergencies crop up, we suggest being strict with yourself about what constitutes an emergency. It can be very easy to get sucked back into dealing with paperwork when you should be soaking up the spirit of the season instead.
Remember: the more thorough a break you take, the more refreshed and rejuvenated you’ll be when you return to the office in January.
Whatever your plans are for the festive season, we hope you have a wonderful break. The Inspired Progress team will be shutting up shop for Christmas on the 19th December 2025. We’ll be back in the office and raring to go on the 5th January 2026.