If you can't handle me at my quiet vacation, you don't deserve me at my workation

Hi! I’m Peter, CEO of Kickresume, and these career-related stories caught my attention this month — and might catch yours too.

It’s nearly the end of June, and our company vacation board looks like it. Nobody’s online. The office is empty. Everything here is so...quiet. You could almost call it “quiet vacationing.”

But don’t call it that yet—quiet vacationing is something different, and all kinds of media have picked it as their favorite topic for this year’s silly season.

I will explain everything, I promise, but before we get to that, let me ask you a few questions about your vacationing, quiet or not:

1. Do you often log in to work during vacation to make it seem like you’re still working?

2. Do you avoid telling your boss or colleagues that you're on vacation?

3. Do you do the bare minimum to keep things running while you're away?

4. Do you always bring your laptop on vacation and check emails regularly?

5. Do you feel anxious if you don’t stay connected to work, even when on holiday?

6. Do you often schedule meetings or calls while you're supposed to be on vacation?

Did you answer yes to any of these questions? Great. I’m about to tell you what it all means.

Discover your ideal career path with Kickresume Career Map

How can you have a dream job if you don’t know what jobs are out there? Our new AI Career Map will show you all the jobs that might fit you—both now and in the future. It will take your resume and suggest all kinds of different career paths that will bring you closer to your ideal lifestyle. Explore your options and start planning your dream career today! 

Millennials don’t always take vacations, but when they do, they don’t tell anyone

If you agreed with the first three statements, you're a so-called quiet vacationer. 

Quiet vacationers take time off without informing their managers, yet manage to give the impression they're still working hard. 

Their top tactics include:

• Moving their computer mouse to show activity on company messaging platforms.

• Scheduling emails to send outside regular hours.

• Asking for more details on tasks in the evenings to seem busy.

• Setting status messages like "in a meeting" or "working on a project" while they’re actually at the beach.

This time around though, it’s not Gen Z leading this trend. It's millennials. 

A 2024 Harris poll found that nearly 40% of millennials admitted to taking time off without letting their manager know, compared to only 27% of Gen Z.

And why would millennials do this, instead of just taking their PTO? The poll found several reasons that scream toxic to me:

• 31% feel pressure to always be available.

• 30% have a heavy workload.

• Other reasons include guilt, fear of missing out, lack of employer support, and fear of boss’s perception.

(I even tried to go ahead with my Kickresume employees survey again and asked people in my team if anyone had ever gone on holiday without requesting PTO. Very suspiciously, everyone replied they had never done it. Perhaps I should make an anonymous employee survey the next time.) 

By the way, if you find yourself resorting to quiet vacationing, it might be a sign to explore new career options. 

This is a bit of a shameless plug, but we've just launched a new product that could help. It's called AI Career Map, and it will show you all the job roles that you can aim for in the future—based on your current skills and preferences. End of the shameless plug.

What do you mean, you’re not supposed to work on a day off?

But what if you agreed more with the last three statements? Then you, my friend, are what media and TikTok experts call a "workationer" (yes, another new esoteric term).

Workationers are those people who can’t quite let go of work, even on vacation. 

And it's not as rare as you'd think.

Forbes highlights that 54% of individuals continue to work while on vacation. 

And why on earth would they do this? Well, the larger percentage doesn't do it because they love their job.  

• 34% work while on vacation because they love their job.

• 29% fear losing their job.

• 26% do so because their boss demands it.

A Movchan Agency study also reveals that about 1 in 4 workers said their boss demands they work on vacation while 86% said they get calls and messages from colleagues while they are away.

Screams burnout

No, literally. 

The same study notes that 70% have experienced mental health issues such as burnout and depression due to being overworked.

Hop on a work (euro)trip

Finally, what if you didn't agree with any of the statements of my questionnaire? 

Well, congratulations – and good for you. You’re likely enjoying your time off the way it was meant to be. You know…By truly taking time off and pulling the plug off your work laptop. 

For those stuck in the cycle of quiet vacationing or workationing, it’s clear these trends are reflective of a pretty toxic work culture. 

Interestingly, this seems to be more of a problem in the U.S. than elsewhere.

Here in Europe, getting holiday approval is a given, and when people are on leave, they’re truly on leave. You can’t reach them, and they’re not expected to be available.

Maybe our American friends could learn a thing or two from this.

After all, encouraging genuine time off and creating a culture where employees can unplug without fear of repercussions can lead to happier, more productive teams. Which is a win-win for everyone. 

Hand-picked remote job of the month: Partner Sales Account Manager at Adobe

$207,900 – $329,000 annual US base range

• Company-paid life and AD&D insurance with coverage of 3 times annual salary

• Company-paid short- and long-term disability insurance

• Delta Dental plan that covers 100% of diagnostic and preventive care

• Reimbursement for services and activities that support your—and your family’s—well being: up to $600 in 2024

• Sabbatical every five years

• flexibility to work from the office and from home.

• 16 weeks of 100% paid leave for new parents

• 20 days of subsidized backup child care

Learn more here >

Random piece of career advice

The appeal of remote work is impossible to resist. Just imagine ditching the daily commute and working from the comfort of your own home. Sounds perfect, right?

Well, if you're looking for a job you can do remotely that doesn't require you to have years and years of experience, turn your attention to these 12 work-from-home jobs you can do with no experience:

1. Customer service representative

2. Data entry clerk

3. Social media manager

4. Virtual assistant

5. Online tutor

6. Content writer

7. Proofreader/editor

8. Product tester

9. Translator 

10. Video or photo editor 

11. Community manager 

12. Online researcher

You can find a closer look at these jobs, including the expected salary & job description for each, as well as remote-specific job sites on our blog. 

And as per usual, as a reward for your unmatched scrolling skills, here’s a 20% discount code for Kickresume Premium. 

Catch you later! 

Peter