Workation

The term 'workation' is a combination of 'work' and 'vacation', and refers to when people work while they are away. A workation occurs when employees take advantage of their remote or hybrid work models to work away from home – usually in a holiday location.

It's important to note that a workation does not mean that employees are off work. However, it does mean that employees can work in non-traditional environments, such as on the beach or in the cruise ship bar. Depending on company policy, workations can be short (less than a week), medium (a few weeks to a month) or long-term (a few months to a few years).

History of workations

The term 'workation' is likely to have made its way into the business world.

While workations are typically associated with independent workers that are not tied to an office or permanent location. Employers that do offer workations must consider various legal implications, such as labour law, social security law, tax law, data protection law and residence law. Employees, on the other hand, should register their workations well in advance and check the legal requirements within the country of employment.

Recent trends in workations

During the pandemic, lockdown prevented people from going into the office – which led to the growth of online communication and video platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams. These platforms, and their accompanying mobile apps, have made it easy to conduct online meetings and work remotely – ensuring that team members can be reached during work hours even when they're on the go. This has caused many employers to become more comfortable with the idea of employees working remotely.

As the pandemic subsided, many workers either continued to work remotely or adopted a hybrid-work model that allowed them to split their time between home and the office – both of which have enabled more people to take workations.

While some companies do not allow for remote or hybrid work, others have gone in the opposite direction by offering business-wide workations intended to build team spirit and morale.

Advantages of workations

• Workations can boost employee satisfaction and productivity.

• Workations can improve the relationship between an employer and employee as it shows that they are trusted to deliver their work targets whether they are in the office or not.

• Workations can improve employee retention, as one study found that 39% of employees would consider quitting their job if their bosses were not flexible about remote work.
• Workations can improve employee wellbeing and reduce burnout.

Disadvantages of workations

• Rules and regulations surrounding workations have yet to be clearly defined.
• Employers and employees must be clear on whether workation days are registered as full working or holiday days, as confusion may arise.
• Issues surrounding cybersecurity must be dealt with as employees log in to work from unsecure networks or different countries.
• As they are only possible for white-collar workers, workations could create a cultural divide in business.
• Workations may cause dissent in the workplace between workationers and stationary employees.