‘Quiet vacationing’: taking a holiday without telling your boss
Faced with a demanding work culture that shows little respect for private life, some employees are practising "quiet vacationing". This trend, which originated in the United States, involves taking time off without informing your employer.
This new buzzword is prominent on social networks. Numerous videos discuss this phenomenon, which involves taking time off without affecting your holiday balance.
In practical terms, the recipe for ‘quiet vacationing’ is simple: the employee takes a holiday, sometimes abroad, without telling anyone, and does just enough to avoid getting caught. For example, only answering absolutely essential emails or attending key meetings. It is also possible to schedule emails at 7am or 9pm to simulate overtime. Employees can also use a tool to simulate the movement of their mouse to make it appear as if they are active.
Toxic work culture
This Anglo-Saxon phenomenon echoes “quiet quitting”, which consists of doing only the bare minimum at work to preserve one’s mental health or personal balance. This concept spread on social networks two years ago.
Very high workloads, pressure to be available and responsive to requests, and not enough room for private life: quiet vacationing could also be a response to a toxic work culture. Some employees fear that taking a holiday will be frowned upon by their superiors and cost them a promotion or pay rise. This apprehension is widespread in the US, but in Switzerland too, according to human resources managers, some employees feel guilty about taking time off and are reluctant to do so.
Teleworking amplifies the phenomenon
Quiet vacationing is thought to be particularly prevalent among the younger generation. However, Anne Donou, Director of Von Rundstedt, an employment agency based in French-speaking Switzerland, believes this does not necessarily mean they are more inclined to cheat on their working hours. The real difference, according to the expert, is that generation Z, i.e., people born between 1997 and 2010, are more honest about it.
“Generation Z says things in an extremely transparent way: ‘I telework because I have something to do at home that day, I take advantage of it to do a load of laundry or my housework’,” explains Anne Donou on La Matinale de la RTS. “Generations X (people born between 1965 and 1980) and Y (people born between the early 1980s and the late 1990s) aren’t ready to hear that, but they’re doing it too,” she adds.
While the concept is new, everyday skulduggery has been around for as long as work has existed and is not unique to teleworking. “There are people who will stay at the coffee machine for a significant number of hours, who will surf the Net from their computer while in the office,” says Anne Donou. “We’ve also seen fictitious meetings in diaries.”
The democratisation of teleworking has amplified the phenomenon, however, because “it means that you’re not directly under the manager’s eye, so the level of control is less”.
Backlash
The media coverage of quiet vacationing has raised fears of a backlash. “If you telework, be careful because companies are going to start coming up with ways of tracking you better. I know some companies are already putting GPS devices in computers,” warns one user on TikTok. “I think more and more companies are going to demand to know where everyone’s computers are at all times to make sure you’re not abusing the system,” she continued.
In Switzerland, employers have the right to demand to know where their employees are working if they are abroad, as this may have tax or insurance implications. On the other hand, without special instructions, it is possible to telework from anywhere in the country. Even so, experimenting with quiet vacationing represents a major risk. According to Rémy Wyler, a lawyer and labour specialist, people who practise it could even be dismissed, because employees are required to work during their paid working hours.
For Anne Donou, the phenomenon shows above all that we need to think globally about the way work is organised. How is it paid for? Is the monthly salary still relevant? And above all: how do we measure our individual performance?
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Adapted from French using DeepL/amva
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