Of course, some people may prefer to fully engage in work or play rather than combining the two activities. Rachel Fu, professor of tourism, hospitality and event management at the University of Florida, USA, says work experience will depend on a “variety of individual personalities and behavioral choices”; some may feel like they’re only on vacation if they’re totally unplugged from work, for example.
But Fu suspects that many white-collar workers have developed the skills needed to do jobs during the pandemic. “Our behaviors were forced to change,” she says. “Home is school, home is where we work. We’ve all been trained to switch: ‘OK, now we have a Zoom meeting’. I think after the last two years, we can move on from one thing to another very efficiently.
This does not mean, however, that workcations should replace actual holidays. People need time off from work; work leave should complement paid leave, rather than serve as a substitute – otherwise the risk of work-related stress and burnout could increase. An Expedia survey released in February showed that while 78% of Americans aim to feel “unproductive” while on vacation, half bring their laptop and 41% connect to Zoom calls. Many aren’t happy with it: 61% of respondents said they don’t consider trips that combine work and leisure to be true vacations. This suggests that many people still enjoy the vacation without work, but struggle to achieve it.
Workcations also raise equity issues, even after the pandemic recedes; not everyone can work remotely or afford a week in rented accommodation. Increasing workcations or bleisure “could actually create more of a divide in organizations between people who have location-specific jobs and people who don’t,” Maznevski warns.
But she says the trend could also give people opportunities they might not otherwise have; whether it’s adding an extra day to a business trip to explore a city you never imagined visiting or improving your mental well-being for a week in a natural environment, even if you have used up all of your paid vacation.
Manage your expectations
Given the level of interest workers are now accustomed to staying productive across multiple environments, workcations looks like a practice that’s here to stay. “As long as you deliver, many companies don’t care [where you’re working from]Fu said. Welcoming workers will be in the interest of companies; it is already clear that flexibility will be key to retaining workers in the future, especially as the new generation of workers, in particular, values the ability to work from anywhere. According to a January 2022 survey conducted by Kayak and YouGov, 38% of Canadian Gen Z workers plan to take a job in 2022, Kayak told BBC Worklife; a higher percentage than older cohorts.
Bhaia and Drane plan to take more workcations. In fact, Bhaia has already been on another 20-day shift and has another scheduled for March. She stresses that future vacationers must undertake their trip with realistic ambitions.
“You can’t walk into a workcation expecting the rest and relaxation that a regular getaway gives you,” she says. “Expect to be busy if you want to explore your surroundings while managing work at the same time.” She recommends planning ahead, taking longer stays to have enough time for work and play, and if you’re going with travel partners, choose people who have the same goals as you. “Vacationers and workers do not mix well,” she warns.
Drane says he used to think that professional and personal should be kept separate. But when changes to the way we work during the pandemic allowed him to combine his job and spend meaningful time with his family in a rural setting, he became a workcation enthusiast. “The beauty for me of the workcation,” he says, is that it was able to carry out my professional duties “while allowing me to spend meaningful time with my family.”
He has booked his next workcation in the Lake District for October and says he and his staff will continue to benefit from this new flexibility. “In the past, people often had to wait until retirement to do the things they dreamed of,” he says. “That’s not necessarily true anymore, and I plan to take advantage of that.”
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