Workation - nice or stupid?

philpo, 10 months ago

We do it regularly - but from a much different angle than the US is sometimes promoting it.

We take 2-3 weeks off work as everyone does in my country. The problem is: Schools off much longer and neither the wife nor I can get more than 3 weeks off in a row (there are other school holidays to cover as well…). So we usually add another week or one and a half and work with reduced hours (accrued overtime, neither of us works for more than 5h per day) and usually mixed (half the time I take off work, half the time she is off work) time off periods. That works wonders as it is still much more relaxing than being back in the daily grind at home and the location away from home forces you to not do something about all the leftover chores waiting for you at home and often it’s easier to get the kids entertained at a vacation location. That helps a lot.

Actually my friends company explicitly promotes this type of arrangements as they found their staff satisfaction to be much higher this way.

If you just go somewhere else to work from there without time out…well… that’s a fucking business trip. Not a vacation.

Twelve20two, 10 months ago

The only way I’d do that is if my employer paid for travel, food, and lodging. And even then, I’d do as much as I could before leaving and then just phone it in during the week as much as possible.

JamesStallion, 10 months ago

I worked remotely from Caye Caulker Belize for severalmonths and I was literally the dude in this photo, only much more stoned.

slaacaa, 10 months ago

I have 20 days a year to work anywhere from EU. I mostly use it to go back to my home country and meet friends & family, without having to use up vacation days.

stsquad, 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

I enjoy combining some holiday when I travel for work to new cities (e.g. taking the weekend after a conference). However the idea of being productive away from my home office where things are setup for maximum productivity is silly. I’m 100% WFH but wouldn’t want to combine that with traveling even if I could (family etc).

HobbitFoot, 10 months ago

Through reasons I didn’t completely plan, I’ve had this happen to me twice, so I’ve had a little experience with it.

It sucks.

First time, the room didn’t have a desk, so I had to deal with a mix of issues trying to get a place to work. I wasn’t working full time, but I was working enough while still having to fight the urge to get up and go on vacation.

Second time, I had places to work while I was away, but I was still dealing with the issue of wanting to get up and enjoy myself where I was. I also bore costs to me alone to pay for my ability to work.

The only way I see it work is if you have enough mental discipline to work wherever or there is a firm understanding that the quantity of work is going to decrease.

trimmerfrost, 10 months ago

If I’m not being made to overwork, why not? Better than a dreading cubicle

war, 10 months ago

You've got six whole weeks of paid vacation as a Dane. Why would you even consider such an insane concept? The idea of working while on vacation is so utterly perverse that I struggle to find the words to express just how much I want anyone promoting the concept to fuck off and die.

Rullejorge, 10 months ago

7½ weeks in my case One reason why the idea was somewhat appealing was that I usually spend a lot of my vacation with other people, but now and then sometime alone would be a nice change. It would be an easy way to go on an “ego trip” without sacrificing time with my friends.

DavidDoesLemmy, 10 months ago

They could have 6 weeks of proper vacation then stay on in a nice place and work from there an extra few weeks. You’re not sacrificing vacation time.

curiousaur, 10 months ago

If you’re working permanent remote, just do what I did and move to where you like to vacation.

Cras, 10 months ago

You say you can easily work remotely, but that is not the same thing as working from another country. Tax implications, cross border data transfer, work residency rules - absolutely speak to your HR before assuming that if you’re remote it doesn’t matter where you are

HobbitFoot, 10 months ago

I would imagine that staying in a Schengen country would be good enough. So, a holiday in Spain or Italy should be fine.

borlax, 10 months ago

This is propaganda… Plain and simple.

orca, 10 months ago

Yep. This is on par with the onslaught of bullshit articles telling us going back to office is better for us, the drive is a good disconnect, etc. It’s nothing but capitalist drivel paid for by capitalists.

elouboub, 10 months ago

If you're working, you aren't on vacation

Num10ck, 10 months ago

if you work isnt stressful but your workspace is, then it might be interesting… but really shouldnt you just invest the energy and money into making your workspace better for you?

Ethalis, 10 months ago

Paying money to work isn’t something I would consider worth it. Sure, I might get a bit of free time in the evenings, but it doesn’t seem like enough to justify the travel and lodging costs

orca, 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

The idea of “work vacations” only exists because capitalism demands the entirety of our lives. I’m not working on my vacation, period.

Atemu, 10 months ago

I agree but it’s supposed to be the other way around: Have a bit of vacation while you work. You still get your actual PTO in addition to that which you can use on an actual vacation.

monobot, 10 months ago

I also see it as having vacatio while you work, plus you have plain old vacation without working.

orca, 10 months ago

See it never works out that way. My experience has been that I’m stuck working more than I am vacationing, and when I’m not working, I’m thinking about work the whole time. It also means I’m not doing the same level of focused work as I can at home. I have hardcore ADHD and introducing more distractions is something I have to personally steer away from. So I’m either in (fully on a vacation) or I’m out (fully working in my own space). There’s no in between.

yads, 10 months ago

I think that’s a skewed way of looking at it. I can see the appeal if your family is able to take advantage. Like if your kids are off and your spouse doesn’t work (or maybe can also work remotely). That way you can enjoy some nicer weather and a different location and are able to stay longer. It’s definitely not for me because like you said I’d rather just have a vacation, but I think blaming it on capitalism is a bit of an odd way of looking at what’s essentially someone’s lifestyle choice.

HobbitFoot, 10 months ago

The problem is that it gets presented as a way to take time off from your job with “unlimited” vacation time while still working, which of crap.

The idea only works as a more extreme form of remote work. So, remote work where some of the time is at Grandma’s.

alcasa, 10 months ago

not to say all the places that I’ve been to reliability of stuff like Internet, and so on has been very has been very bad in most places you would like to be.  Given you’re expected to perform your normal work. This might be quite stressful.

orca, 10 months ago

I’ve had multiple times where I’ve told employers I was working in a new location and 100% of those times I had some sort of new caveat in regards to workspace, internet, etc. that has hindered me.