The catch praise “quiet quitting” – doing the minimum required of the job but no more – has made way for “quiet vacationing” – when workers pretend to work but are actually taking time off.
Of course quiet quitters may also be quiet vacationers. Summer is here. Do you know where your employees are, or don’t you care as long as the work gets done?
Quiet vacationing may mean taking a week off to work somewhere other than the home office, or taking time off during work hours while making it look like they’re on the job through pre-scheduled emails and the like.
There may be no way of knowing if it’s happening in your workplace. Perhaps it doesn’t matter anyway because employees often work more than the required number of hours or during time off. Some employers offer unlimited time off.
Research by public relations firm Movchan Agency shows that workers frequently work during vacation:
- Top of Form
- 39% said they sometimes work while on vacation and 15% stated they do frequently.
- 34% said they work while on vacation because they love their job. However, 26% said their boss demands it and 29% fear losing their job.
- 33% said they regularly receive text messages from colleagues while on vacation while 29% receive emails and 7% get social media messages.
Conor Hughes, Society for Human Resource Management senior certified professional and HR consultant, told U.S. News and World Report about the drawbacks. “It prevents employees from fully recharging and avoiding burnout since they don’t completely unplug, blurs boundaries between work and personal time, and violates company vacation policies.”
Media outlets have been reporting on the phenomenon, with debates about the reasoning, the need for transparency, and the risks and rewards. Check out Forbes and U.S. News and World Report.
