The Employer’s Guide to Workations
It’s not surprising that more and more employees are getting tired of the boring and depressing office environment. Instead, they crave the exciting life of remote workers, who enjoy the independence and freedom to work from wherever they choose.
But for those that aren’t ready to take the plunge and commit to a 100% digital nomad lifestyle, ‘workations’ have emerged as a viable alternative and could very much do the trick.
If you’re an employer intrigued by and considering offering workations, this Pacific Prime UK article is for you.
Workations: The Latest Flexible Working Trend
Workations, a combination of “work” and “vacation,” allow employees to take a break from their usual workplace, but not from the actual work. It gives the employee the power to work from anywhere they wish outside of the office.
For example, an employee working in an office in London might be allowed one month of workation in a year as an employee benefit, whereby they can work from a beach in Southeast Asia.
Workations are a great benefit to have as an employee. They have the opportunity to work in the office, and get to experience the thrill of being a digital nomad once a year.
Types of Workation
Not every workation offers the same experience. They can be divided into the following categories.
Short-term Workation
As the name suggests, a short-term workation is for a limited time period (e.g., a few days or a week) Employees could take a long weekend trip to a spot near their city to make the most of their time.
Medium-term Workation
Medium-term workations last a few weeks to almost a month. The destination is entirely up to the employee, but is typically farther away. Many employees with this arrangement tend to travel e domestically or to a country close by.
Long-term Workation
Long-term workations can span from a few months to a few years, and require employees to move somewhere briefly. It’s important to get the necessary visas and permits before going on the workation.
Group
This is when employers arrange a workation for small groups of employees, planning out the destination and all other arrangements. Alternatively, employers can also look for specialised vendors who arrange workations for employees across organisations.
Solo
This is when employers simply approve a workation request from employees, who are then entirely responsible for planning and arranging their workation. This also includes dealing with any inconveniences that may arise before, during and after their workation.
The Pros and Cons of Workations
According to a study from Stanford University, employees who are able to work from home are 13% more productive than their office-bound peers. It’s no wonder that flexible working arrangements like remote working, hybrid working and, of course, workations are all the rage in the post-pandemic world as employees gradually trickle back into the office. But it’s not all roses and peaches, and there are always two sides to the coin.
Further reading: Learn more about flexible working arrangements such as hybrid working in our Global Employee Benefits Trends Report 2022.
Pros
- A break from their usual surroundings can inspire employees. For those working in creative professions like content writers, this can deliver promising results.
- Stress can be reduced if employees can work in peaceful environments as opposed to a crowded office, which will increase their mental, physical and emotional wellbeing.
- Travelling and meeting people from all walks of life will also make employees more tolerant of different cultures, which can boost the organisation’s diversity initiatives.
- And more!
Cons
- Not all job functions and roles are suited for workations. For those requiring specialist equipment such as a podcaster, a sound and echo-proof work setting may be required.
- The lines between work and leisure can often be blurred, which has the potential to negatively impact an employee’s work-life balance.
- Employees in remote areas with poor connectivity may not be able to work effectively, and there are also additional travel expenses compared to working from home.
- And more!
3 Tips to Facilitate Workations for Employees
Now that you’ve weighed up the pros and cons of workations, you may decide to offer workations as an employee benefit. Whether your motive is to increase the overall productivity rate in your organisation or boost your talent acquisition/retention efforts, there’s much more to facilitating workations than simply announcing that you’re offering it. Here are 3 tips to bear in mind.
1. Figure Out the Specifics of Your Workation Policy
Before you allow your employees to go on a workation, there are a few things to consider.
- Do all employees get the same period of time (i.e., short-term, medium-term or long-term)?
- How will you organise or plan each workation case?
- What is the procedure an employee has to go through to request and/or inform their managers if they want to go on a workation?
These are all important considerations to help you come up with a thorough workation policy.
Pro tip: If employees will be going abroad for a workation, a comprehensive health insurance plan will come in handy. Consider offering worldwide coverage as part of your group health insurance plan.
2. Give Employees the Necessary Tools for a Workation
Employees going on a workation will also need to have the necessary devices and software needed to work effectively. These include laptops, Wi-Fi hotspots, VPNs and more. You should also train employees on best practices for cybersecurity when working remotely in order to prevent cyberattacks and data breaches. What’s more, having an IT team on hand who know how to support remote workers will also go a long way in making employees’ workations go smoothly.
3. Prepare Clearly Defined Goals and Ways of Working
You should also make sure employees are clear on their responsibilities and tasks during the workation period. If there is a time difference between their main office and their workation location, and if the nature of their work allows it, you can also arrange for them to work flexibly. For example, they may choose their own start and end times. While it may also help to check in with them periodically, try not to micromanage them during their workation.
The Benefits and Challenges of a Workation
Just like everything in life, nothing is perfect and everything has two sides. Let’s look at the benefits of workations for your business as well as the difficulties you would encounter if you adopted the concept.
Advantages of a Workation
- Higher/Increased morale
- Lower staff turnover
- Increased output from employees
- Enhanced well-being
- Lower burnout rate
Along with boosting employee productivity, workations can help employees find more free time and prevent burnout by offering flexible working hours. While on workations, employees get to experience new things that can improve their mood and motivate them to work harder. If your company allows a workation, it can boost happiness at work and make it easier to attract and retain top talent as well.
Disadvantages of a Workation
Not every employee loves the idea of workations. Here are a few reasons why:
- Some employees may favour working in the office
- Workations can be expensive
- Too many distractions
- Work and holiday shouldn’t mix
Some employees prefer working in an office where they can carry out their responsibilities and socialize with their coworkers. What’s more, working while on holiday can interfere with their work-life balance. Workations can also occasionally backfire, especially if employees spend more time enjoying themselves than working.
Looking to offer workations or any other employee benefit? Contact Pacific Prime UK today!
If you want to offer workations as an employee benefits or indeed need help with any other of your employee benefits, you’re more than welcome to get in touch with Pacific Prime UK. As a global health insurance brokerage and employee benefits specialist, we have over two decades of experience helping organisations of all sizes and industries design and implement employee benefits programs that align with their goals using a tailored, technology-driven approach.
Arrange a FREE consultation with a member of our corporate team today!
With over 5 years of experience in the field, Suphanida spends the majority of her day synthesizing complex pieces of insurance-related information and translating this into easy-to-understand, engaging, and effective content across a variety of media such as articles, infographics, whitepapers, videos, and more.
Suphanida is also responsible for planning and publishing three whitepapers released annually by Pacific Prime: The State of Health Insurance Report, The Cost of Health Insurance Report, and The Global Employee Benefits Trends Report. Additionally, she handles the LinkedIn profiles of Pacific Prime’s Founder and CEO, as well as Global HR Lead.
Suphanida’s strengths lie in her strong research and analytical skills, which she has gained from her BA in Politics from the University of Warwick and Erasmus Mundus Joint MA in Journalism from Aarhus University and City, University of London.
Being of Thai-Indian origin and having lived, studied, and worked in Thailand, the UK, and Denmark, Suphanida also has a unique, multicultural perspective that helps her understand the struggles of expats and globetrotters.
Outside of work, she enjoys traveling to new places and immersing herself in different cultures.
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