Pros and Cons of Workation

What is workation, how to get one, and how to spend it

Yours truly has returned from a workation just a couple of weeks ago. Having finalized two big projects, I got a pretty cool opportunity to roam amidst medieval castles, climb up romantic lighthouses, and drink local beer to my heart’s content all while doing everything my boss and I agreed upon beforehand. While a week wasn’t nearly enough, it gave me the much needed opportunity to breathe out a bit.

What is a workation? To those of you who have never heard of it, here’s a brief explanation.

A workation is when you are on a vacation but also do your work. That’s basically it.

So, here’s how it happens. Say you have finalized a tantalizingly long and complex project at work and your inner world is a desolate post-apocalyptic wasteland where dreams go to die. In other words, the project took every last speck of your sanity and you need a rest to recover. Preferably at a tropical island but binge-playing Assassin’s Creed would also do. However, your scheduled vacation is like five months down the road and you don’t exactly enjoy the idea of an unpaid leave because no good thing in the history of things has ever started with ‘unpaid.’

Thus, you go to your boss and say:

‘Hey, boss. Do you mind if I take a week of workation?’

Your boss will show dismay on their face and say:

‘How do you see it?’

Then you say:

‘You see, I like working here. But that project I’ve just closed was the dracula of all projects and sucked all my blood. I need to take a rest and there aren’t many other projects on my hand right now. So I propose that I go to a tropical island for a week and do my job there. I’ll have my phone on me so you can contact me anytime if something happens. I’ll just do what I would have done anyway at the office. It’s just my office would be somewhere in the Pacific for seven days, that’s it.’

If your boss knows you don’t put ‘dead’ in ‘deadlines’ they may actually agree. After all, a tired employee rarely does a good job, so it’s in the company’s interests that you have some rest, especially after excruciating endeavors like that cursed project of yours. When your boss agrees, make sure you discuss what work you will do during your workation. That way, your boss and yourself will ensure both parties win.

When everything’s arranged, you just go to that island from your pipedreams and do exactly what you said you would do. Then you return to your office and regret you haven’t asked for two weeks.

So, here’s what you need to get a workation:

• A company that allows workations. That’s where it gets tricky.
• Some agreement with your boss as to what you will have to do in your workation.
• A laptop, some mobile gadget and internet access when you arrive at your destination.

A workation may be a truly wonderful experience. Or it may not. That depends on whether its cons outweigh its pros for you.

Cons of workation

You have to dedicate a few hours a day to working while knowing that your perfect rest is right outside the door. That may cause some frustration.

Imagine yourself lollygagging on a white sand beach somewhere on an island off the shore of Thailand. The ocean roars near you, the sun is hot, your beer is cold and your swimsuit is awesome. And your life is perfect until you get a notification stating that you need to check some text your kouhai wrote because they still don’t get what you wanted from them in the first place.

Finally, when you come back, your colleagues tend to look at you the way far right politicians look at immigration. They feel jealous and kind of deceived because they also work here but nobody let them go slugging on a beach. Are you the boss’s pet? Maybe you two do it? Why such preferential treatment? Of course, that’s not always the case. But some people are just like that.

So, here are the cons of a workation:

• Your leisure time is limited.
• Your rest may be interrupted at any moment.
• Your colleagues may get jealous.

Pros of workation

Ironically, the pros are very close to the cons. Some might argue they’re exactly the same. The difference is in the way you look at it.

You get to plan your work the way you see fit. You may work for a couple of hours in the morning and in the evening. You may do it in just one day, if it’s possible, and then do nothing but respond to routine questions somebody from work may want to ask you in a messenger app. It’s totally up to you. Provided your job is done anyway, you are free as a bird.

You get a notification saying your kouhai needs your help again, and of course you help them. But instead of doing it in front of your computer, you send them messages with your recommendations while lollygagging in the sun somewhere on an island off the coast of Thailand. And when you’re done, you just keep on listening to the crashing of ocean waves with a bottle of cold beer and your awesome swimsuit.

Finally, even if your colleagues are jealous, they still know the company allows its employees to go on workations. And they know that you sort of earned it, so they don’t have reasons to complain. After all, they may go to your boss and ask for a workation, too. Their possible jealousy is actually their problem, not yours. And it’s up to them to solve it. The possibility of having a workation is kind of a good incentive.

So, the pros of a workation are:

• You can plan your work however you see fit.
• If somebody sends you work messages, you respond to them from a goddamn tropical island. Pretty cool, huh? And when you’re done answering, the island hasn’t gone anywhere. Still pretty cool.
• Your colleagues may get motivated.

Finally, if you’ve had a workation in the past and it went well for you and the company, your boss will be more likely to give you another workation in the future. Just because you know that tropical islands, cold beer, and awesome swimsuits don’t prevent you from doing your work. Look at your job positively and you’ll surely enjoy your workation.

That’s all for today. Stay tuned.