Vacation Handover Template

Why a good vacation handover matters

A vacation handover is the short document (usually an email) you send before leaving that tells your team what you were working on, who's covering what, and where to look for context. Done well, it prevents interruptions during your leave and stops work from stalling. Done badly, it turns into hundreds of updates the day you get back which require your immediate attention.

The 6 things every vacation handover email needs

1. Dates out and date back; including the first working day back.
2. Who is covering you; one primary contact, plus topic-specific owners.
3. Projects in flight; status, next step, and where the files live.
4. Decisions waiting on you; either delegate them or park them with a date.
5. Known risks and deadlines; anything time-sensitive during your absence.
6. How to reach you; feel free to revert your colleagues to someone else.

Vacation handover email template

Copy this, adapt the bracketed parts, and send it the day before you leave. It might come across very micro-manage-y, but the more detailed you set up your handover, the better is can be picked up. Don't worry about trying to add too much, problems occur when you add too little.

Tips for writing it faster

• Write it as you go; keep a running note during the two weeks before you leave.
• Name one primary cover. A single named person beats a distribution list every time.
• Delegate decisions with explicit limits ("up to €X", "anything smaller than Y").
• Link, don't paste. Point to the doc rather than duplicating context.
• Send it the day before, not the morning you leave.

Come back to a recap, not chaos

The handover is only half the problem, the other half is catching up when you're back. HoldTheFort collects updates from your covers while you're away and generates an AI recap the moment you return, so you can start with a summary instead of a full inbox.