We are all married to our jobs as community managers and that’s part of the fun!  We like being connected and involved with our work, but every so often we like to take breaks, go on vacations, or leave for the holidays.  We had a pretty great discussion Wednesday with 670 tweets and 87 participants, all about some of the best practices when leaving the nest just for a bit.

Bonus: The Community Roundtable posted this about Nutella taking the summer off.

Also make sure to follow the @CmgrChat Twitter Account and join the Linked In group as well (Link on the right side of the screen)!

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Q1) What’s the time off structure like at your company?

jvkautz: I accrue 2 weeks per year and can’t take ’em before I earn ’em

AskTim: I accrue 1.25 vaca days per month, plus floating holidays, personal days, & our summer day program

JennaLanger: What’s time off? 😉 We’re fairly flexible as long as we stay connected. Setting up shifts for handling support issues

kerimorgret: I’m able to telecommute two days a week.

BrianneVillano: 3 weeks vacation (can roll over 40 hours starting last week in December), 1 flex day, 5 days sick, 10.5 holidays

MikeFraietta: 4 Four weeks should be minimum if you want to keep your staff more than a year. I’ve never had less at 3 startups I worked for.

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Q2) How have you handled leaving your community for various stretches of time?

cochinealred: Longest I have left the community for was 5 days. Updated occassionally as I was able.

SueOnTheWeb: How have you handled leaving your community for various stretches of time? – I’m on 24/7 so never experienced that.

muruganpandian: Or you can scale down your participation and also let the community know that you are on vacation.

rhogroupee: Online community is like a small child, you can never really leave it unattended 🙂

BrianneVillano: Planning ahead and then enjoying the time I have off. Disconnecting is a necessity in the age of information overload.

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Q3.How do you prepare to take time off? Schedule tweets/posts? Prepare your community for your departure?

JennaLanger: I make a to do list of things I need to take care of before I leave, and things I need to follow up with when I get back

Mitch_M: Blogs are written way in advance,and automatically post to Twitter. Otherwise, just make sure to check in at least once a day

greghollings: We have a handover process which each CM must go through before leaving on holiday. Includes scheduled content

Arrakiv: I work solo on community. Prepare content ahead of time, let the community know I’m off – smaller community though

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Q4. So, say you actually do take time *off* & have a backup. Are you still checking? How? What if no wifi or other access?

SueOnTheWeb: Yes gotta love my iphone. Even manage to put out cmty fires whilst sitting on a ski lift 😀

LvM: If you love your company and job, it’s fun to semi-monitor when off. It’s a part of your lifestyle.

ericfoster: I also utilize my members to keep me updated on mood of community while Im away.

aleveland: Usually out of country so probably not checking in much!

luciagia: I usually check at least 1x a day. If I don’t have internet, its not for long. I always seem to find my way to one somehow 🙂

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Thanks to all who participated! If you would like to see the entire transcript, please click here.Make sure to come back to #cmgrchat every Wednesday from 2-3pm EST for more chats!

If you have any ideas or suggestions for future topics, leave comments or get in touch with either Jenn or Kelly!