Sorry this is a bit ranty:
I wish when we were away from work / on vacation etc we could normalize actually being away from work.
When I am 'out of office' and my auto reply email is on, when I come back I come back to double the work – catch up on the old emails and then keep up with the new ones. It negates and even devalues any vacation relaxation I had.
I wish it wouldn't be considered workplace/career suicide to put something like:
“I am away from the office from X until Y. As I am away from the office, your email has been automatically deleted and will not be responded to. Please re-send your email on Y date and it will be responded to in the order recieved.”
Am I crazy for thinking this is reasonable? I get laughed at at the office when I suggest this, people think I am joking. Obviously there can be stuff added to include emergencies or urgent requests and what not, im not suggesting a big middle finger to everyone just because I'm away. But I find I don't want to be away from the office on my time off because it means double, even triple the work when I come back.
My time off is more of a punishment than any kind of reward. I hate it.