Quiet Vacationing: How millennials and Gen Zs are escaping without taking time off

Working full-time has its pros and cons. It’s stable, you get to enjoy competitive salaries and company benefits, there are opportunities for career growth and advancement and the list goes on. And while most of us try to tell ourselves that having a full-time job is the best option, there are certainly downsides to it which we’re all struggling to deal with like our work-life balance. 

Work starts at 9am and you end at 6pm. But why does it seem like we’re still working past our office hours every day? Since achieving work-life balance seems nearly impossible for most of us while working full-time, there’s been a spate of millennials and Gen Zs who are indulging in a new trend in what we call ‘Quiet Vacationing’. 

What is quiet vacationing? 

Not to be confused with quiet quitting – where employees are doing the bare minimum at work due to dissatisfaction with job conditions – quiet vacationing, on the other hand, involves employees working remotely while effectively being on vacation, without officially taking a vacation day. Guilty? 

Well, you’re not alone. According to The Harris Poll’s Out of Office Culture report, 37% of millennial workers and 24% of Gen Z workers have tried quiet vacationing themselves. But how far are they willing to go to stay “online” while secretly going offline? Among nearly 500 millennials surveyed, 38% admitted to moving their mouse to make it look like they were working, and 37% confessed to taking time off without informing their employer.

In some cases, employees are taking things a step further. Among the millennials surveyed, 37% reported scheduling emails to be sent outside of traditional working hours, all to create the impression that they’re putting in extra effort and working harder than usual.

Why are people taking quiet vacations? 

Let’s be real – our day jobs can be quite demanding on us all and working hard ‘round the clock can take a toll on our mental health and may result in burnout. And while we do have the liberty to take some days off (i.e. Annual Leave), many of us feel a pang of anxiety when requesting approval from our managers and/or we’re too worried about appearing like we’re slacking off. Not to mention, even when we do take time off, it’s not uncommon to receive emails or demands from higher-ups, making it feel like we’re not really on vacation at all.

Hence, instead of taking leave and completely unplugging from work, employees are opting to do some light work tasks like replying to their emails while out of the office on vacation, just to prove to their employers that they’re spending time on the clock. 

Pros and cons of quiet vacationing

Needless to say, one pro about quiet vacationing is that, with the added flexibility, employees can achieve a better work-life balance. In turn, this helps reduce the pressure on our mental health and it reduces the likelihood of us burning out. 

On the flip side, quiet vacationing has its downsides. It doesn’t let employees fully disconnect from their work life – they often find themselves sneaking back to respond to emails. It also blurs the lines between work and personal time, making it harder to truly unwind, and it can even violate company vacation policies. Taking a quiet vacation can also easily backfire, leading to missed deadlines, dealing with emergencies, an increased workload upon return, and potentially facing disciplinary actions if you do actually get caught.

All things considered, while quiet vacationing may be something employees resort to, it underscores a larger issue for employers. They need to regularly assess whether their employees are overworked and make necessary adjustments to work processes. The delicate employer-employee relationship often leads employees to hide their struggles, highlighting the broader challenge of maintaining a healthy work-life balance.