The Post-Covid “Workcation” Advantages for Your Business

Remote work has made life much more flexible. People are meshing their work life and personal life in ways never before possible. The pandemic encouraged people to embrace this new style of living even more than before, and technology has made the process a lot more streamlined.

We’ve all known what a staycation is for a while, but the workcation is an entirely novel phenomenon exploding in response to the surge in remote work. A workcation is when someone takes a vacation, but still does their job while on a trip.

For example, a marketer who writes copy for their company could take their work to the beaches of Florida, mixing their personal and professional ventures. But what does the business get out of a workcation?

We’ll discuss some of the things companies will want to think about when workers are on workcation, like getting great cybersecurity insurance, and how these things are advantageous for workers.

#1 – Workcations Will Help Employees Relax

When you are an employer, you constantly have to think about how you can improve the productivity of your employees. Workers who have spent over 40 hours a week dedicating their time to your business deserve some time off.

At the same time, there is a severe lack of employees in certain industries at the moment post-Covid. Giving employees more time off can lead to a lack of labor available to push the company forward and handle the daily operation of the business.

The workcation is an ideal scenario because it gives workers a change of scenery. Often all an employee wants is to see more of the world outside of their home and the office cubicle. Workcations will let these folks get away from it all, while still contributing to the objectives allowing your business to grow.

There are a lot of studies proving that remote work is more efficient than in-office work. This is often because workers feel they have more freedom to have fun, take breaks, and spend time with their family if they want during the day. The workcation is an extension of this liberty.

#2 – Workcations Will Increase Productivity and Creativity

As an employer, you have to decide whether you are funding an employee’s workcation or whether they are. If you fund the workcation, this will decrease stress for your employees. The workcation will resemble a business trip. You pay for the restaurants, the hotel, and the airfare for your employees during a workcation.

They can then do their jobs completely remote from the vacation destination you sent them to. Unlike a traditional business trip, the worker doesn’t have obligations specific to the location they are in. They can treat the trip like a normal vacation, and then hop on their computer and do their job for a few hours each day from their hotel bed or coffee shop table.

This means family members would be welcome to come along on the vacation, another differentiating factor from a business trip. Being around loved ones often raises people’s spirits and it will surely do the same for your workers on a workcation.

These trips could also turn into creative ventures for your company. If an employee plans to go on a trip to Italy, for example, see if you could task them with running a new social media marketing campaign related to the country.

Businesses do need to be aware of the cybersecurity risks involved when putting workers in new places for business trips or workcations. Taking out cybersecurity insurance is a good way to protect against hackers getting information from employees when they are remote.

Putting employees in brand new places is very beneficial because it can trigger their creativity. A different location spurs new ideas about projects that will potentially increase revenue for the business.

#3 – Workcation Opens Up the Office

This may seem like a minor thing, but workcations can really clear up space in the office for other people. When you are a smaller business, there is often a lack of physical space for everyone to get around and do their job properly.

When someone is working remotely either from home or on a trip, they aren’t getting in the way of other employees. There’s room for everyone working in-office to walk around, get some private time away from others, and enjoy better productivity.

It’s important for workers to get space, both physical and mental, from folks at work. Being around the same people every day is a great way for infighting and occasional frustration to occur.

Getting time away to decompress should help reform solid relationships and rapport amongst employees. You’ll find better attitudes from everyone in the company, those who are on workcation and those on-location. Make sure to give everyone a chance to go on a workcation so they can receive the same benefits as their coworkers.

#4 – You Don’t Have to Give Paid Vacation

Giving paid vacation can be a difficult proposition for smaller companies. When you turn a vacation opportunity into a workcation one, it means you don’t have to worry about funding a normal paid vacation schedule. Workers are doing things for you on their trips, meaning they are contributing to the company at all times.

Work the price of the workcation into the budget you would normally have for paid vacation. Make sure the workcation is not significantly more expensive to fund than a typical vacation period. You can afford it to be a little more money considering your employees will be working still, though.

Communicate with everyone in your company and let them know whether workcations will be replacing regular vacations. Explain thoroughly the amount of work expected to be finished on a workcation. Communication is key to making this format a success.

You can see the workcation is going to continue to evolve as businesses and employees alike learn about how to juggle working and enjoying a vacation simultaneously. Not every employee will be able to handle a workcation. They might get too distracted or not be able to find a proper work-life balance.

Employers can continue to evaluate workcations on a person-by-person basis. If your workers can handle a workcation properly, it can really be an asset to everyone involved.

Shawn Laib writes and researches for the insurance comparison site, Clearsurance.com. He wants to let employers know about different forms of vacation they can give their employees.