Katherine first caught the bug when she visited Australia a couple of years ago. The flights were expensive, and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, so she asked her manager if she could extend the trip by two weeks, and work remotely from her friend\u2019s house.<\/p>\n
That was her first taste of a \u201cworkation\u201d \u2013 combining working with a holiday \u2013 and she loved it. She now regularly arranges petsitting in different places so she can visit family, friends and new cities for long weekends without spending extra.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just think it\u2019s brilliant for work-life balance. It\u2019s a great way to have a change of scene \u2013 your evenings and weekends, you feel like you\u2019re on a mini-holiday,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just getting out in nature, a different perspective, different environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
At 48, Katherine doesn\u2019t fit the stereotype of a young digital nomad living a freewheeling life. But she\u2019s one of a growing number of people of all ages who are taking advantage of digital technologies and increasing flexibility from employers to explore new ways of making the most of their free time.<\/p>\n
As a conference manager at a university, she needs to be in her hometown when she\u2019s organising an event, but otherwise she can work anywhere where she can take a laptop. Her employer doesn\u2019t have a formal policy, but managers will consider all requests.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt all comes down to individual relationships and trust, and having that autonomy \u2013 I know my deadlines, my role and what I need to get done; that doesn\u2019t change if I\u2019m at home or elsewhere,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Katherine fits in some sightseeing at Piazza Municipio in Naples, Italy.<\/p>\n
Research from the Chartered Management Institute found that one in eight employers have a formal policy on workations<\/a>, while one in five managers said they had taken one themselves. Most perceived them positively, citing benefits such as mental health and work-life balance, though some feared data security implications.<\/p>\n Petra Wilton, director of policy and external affairs at the CMI, recommended that employers should \u201cput clear, transparent rules in place and actively manage them\u201d to give managers the confidence to be supportive.<\/p>\n A recent Grant Thornton survey<\/a> suggests the use of formal arrangements is growing, with the number of businesses with a workations policy increasing from 59% in 2023 to 77% in 2025. A YouGov<\/a> poll found that 37% of people able to work remotely were interested in taking a workation in the next 12 months.<\/p>\n Travel companies are also targeting these holidaymakers \u2013 for example Tui has a workation page advertising \u201chandpicked hotels that are perfect for a working holiday\u201d.<\/p>\n This reflects a shift in people\u2019s priorities from work-life balance towards \u201cwork-life blending\u201d, where the boundaries between life and work are more blurred, said Daniel Wheatley, a researcher in the University of Birmingham\u2019s management department.<\/p>\n He added that \u201cworkation\u201d was a comparatively new term in academic circles that arose out of the cultural changes brought about by the Covid pandemic, advances in digital technologies since the 1990s, and travel, holidays and leisure pursuits going mainstream in the late 1970s.<\/p>\n The term reflects a growing culture of \u201clife first, work second\u201d, especially among younger employees, who are \u201cexploring different ways of engaging in work, different forms and structures of careers rather than a linear pathway\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n But rather than being a new way of working, the growth of knowledge and service work could actually herald a full circle return to the medieval era of artisans and craftspeople living in the same place as their workshops, he added.<\/p>\n \u201cIt gives a sense of freedom and allows people to take more control over lives,\u201d he said, noting that it could also help people juggle caring responsibilities.<\/p>\n However, he underscored the importance of proper breaks from work, so that workations are about \u201cleisure time, social connectedness and wider wellbeing\u201d, rather than \u201cincreased monitoring meaning [employees] never feel offline or disconnected\u201d.<\/p>\n