What to know about quiet vacationing and why millennials are doing it

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A new Harris Poll conducted in the United States has found that a majority of workers in that country — 78 per cent — do not use all of their allotted vacation time or paid time off days, with many saying they are unable to do so. But at the same time, a significant numbers of younger workers have found ways to carve out time away from work without letting others know about it. Hence the rise of the term “quiet vacationing.”

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What is quiet vacationing?

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It’s taking time off work without officially taking time off work. The Harris Poll found that, among Millennials in particular but across all generations, employees are using out of office workarounds to appear to be working when they’re not, or sometimes to be appear to be working harder than they are.

“There’s a giant workaround culture at play,” says Libby Rodney, chief strategy officer at The Harris Poll. “They will figure out how to get appropriate work-life balance, but it’s happening behind the scenes.”

Not that I’d do this, but what are some of the workarounds?

The survey found that 38 per cent of millennials admitted to “moving their mouse” to maintain online status on a company messaging system like Teams or Slack. In addition, 37 per cent say they have taken time off without requesting it or even telling their employer. And the same number have scheduled a message to be sent outside of normal office hours, to give the impression they’re working overtime.

Is this the same thing as quiet quitting?

Not quite. The term quiet quitting was in vogue in 2022 to refer to workers who were fed up with the pace of work and with work-life balance, and responded by putting in the minimum effort required. That might include increased absenteeism, so quiet vacationing could be a component of quiet quitting.

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What about hush trips?

Again, it’s similar. Hush trips — also known as workcations or bleisure travel if you like portmanteaus — are about working as normal, but from a vacation spot, and without telling your employer that you’re not at your usual location.

And work from Dome?

That’s something the Toronto Blue Jays made up, with games that start at 3:07 p.m. The idea is to leave the office early and “work” while you watch baseball, but even the team’s web site notes: “We won’t tell if you leave your laptop at home.” The next work from Dome game is July 25.

Why not just take the allowed time off?

The poll found a number of reasons why workers are reluctant to ask for time off. Topping the list from 31 per cent of respondents was feeling pressure to always be available and responsive to work demands. Just below that at 30 per cent was “heavy workload.” Other reasons included guilt at leaving others to pick up the slack, fear of missing out on workplace developments or promotion prospects, lack of support from the employer, or fear of perception from the boss.

What can workplaces do about this?

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Rodney notes that employers and managers can be more supportive about employees taking their regular vacation, so that fewer feel the need to do it on the sly. This can include making sure employees know how to request time off, normalizing the practice by having managers use their vacation time, and even mandating a certain amount of time off. Also, a sarcastic “must be nice” when someone takes a vacation can reinforce the idea that it’s not a good thing.

The poll notes that some companies have gone as far as to create week-long shutdowns, paying new hires to take a vacation before they start their job, or requiring a certain number of vacation days per quarter to make sure they are used up throughout the year and don’t pile up at the end.

More drastic measures, popular among workers in another survey, include a European-style extended vacation. France is famous for basically shutting down for a month in August while everyone takes time off at the same time. Think of it as noisy vacationing.

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