Quiet vacationers are being ‘demonized,’ says Perceptyx

Finding and maintaining a work-life balance is a struggle as old as time.  

But with the rise of remote and flexible working, many employees have found a sneaky way around getting more time away from their desk, while still appearing to be willing and ready to work. This is through the idea of so-called ‘quiet vacationing’. 

In a recent survey of almost 3,000 US employees, Perceptyx, found that quiet vacationing is occurring due to the “crumbling divide between work and vacation”. So much so that seven in ten employees report working at some level while on vacation.  

But are there some positives that HR leaders can take from this data? In an exclusive conversation with Emily Killham, Senior Director and Head of the Center for Workforce Transformation at Perceptyx, UNLEASH finds out more. 

Has quiet vacationing become wrongly ‘demonized’?

Perceptyx’s data identified that employees typically fall into three categories:  

• Planned workationers (29%) take their devices on holiday with them and keep their notifications turned on. 

• Unplanned workationers (43%) intend on leaving their devices at home or to switch them off, but get roped into working, often on their personal devices. 

• True vacationers (28%) are the only group to properly disconnect and disengage from work on every level. 

Of these groups, Perceptyx’s study found stark differences between employee groups and generations, regarding how much time they take off work, and how they go about achieving this.

For example, planned workationers are typically people leaders and are 1.5x as likely as individual contributors to say they plan to work while on paid time off (PTO). 

Unplanned workationers are generally senior managers who leave devices behind and switch off notifications but check in regularly, most likely from their personal devices. 

True vacationers are typically older employees and people without management responsibilities. 

Expanding on these findings, Killham tells UNLEASH: “The differences between these groups show that there might be some level of unrealistic pressure on those who are considered planned vacationers, as they really can’t seem not to be able to not work.”

In other words, more than 70% of employees work to some extent throughout their vacations – these individuals are 2.3x more likely than their peers to take secret vacation days. 

However, Killham says that these quiet vacationers are “demonized” when, in reality, it demonstrates that these employees aren’t getting the breaks they need. 

“Employees may take secret vacations because when they take a published vacation day, they can’t actually disconnect. 

Ultimately, this affects employee wellbeing. Both planned and unplanned workationers are more likely to have lower wellbeing and show more signs of burnout than their peers who are considered true vacationers.”

Continuing, Killham warns that managers who can’t disconnect from work drive employee workationing.

In fact, planned workationers (65%) are almost twice as likely as true vacationers (37%) to say their manager checks email or messages from vacation. 

“Employees are worried about the way an organization will react to disconnecting, so if HR wants people to take time away and come back refreshed, they need to encourage and model it,” she says.

Managers who encourage and model boundaries during their vacation foster the same behaviors for employees. Managers continue to feel the pressures from above and below, affecting their ability to disconnect. 

“If employees aren’t supported properly, their ability to disconnect will trickle down and affect the greater workforce.”