Working Strategies: No, ‘working vacation’ is not an oxymoron
Amy Lindgren
Hey workers, it’s almost summer — are you ready for a vacation? If you’re muttering “Born ready,” maybe the “bleisure” trend will be your ticket to fun.
Literally — maybe you can convert a business trip and the related plane ticket into your next vacation.
Here’s how it works: Agree to business travel, then extend the stay to include time for yourself. Get it? Business + leisure. Bleisure!
Okay, that was kind of sarcastic. It’s just that I’ve been around the block a few times on faux perks, making my spidey-sense kick in fast.
In truth, this could be a good concept for workers who don’t have quite enough money (or time) for a full-on vacation. Piggybacking on expenses that your boss is covering, such as airfare, could make the difference between something and nothing when it comes to time away.
Let’s start with vocabulary. Bleisure, as noted, is a sequential thing: Work first, then extra days that are only for you. Despite the fancy name, this has been going on for eons. Unless you have an unusually cool employer, plan on paying for the extra hotel days and any expenses that occur after the trip officially ends. But free airfare is still a big perk.
Of course, this works best for solo-vacationers, since a second airfare would still be a cost if you want to share your trip. Hence, as a bleisure variation, you might have your second person share your hotel room during the company portion of the trip and then enjoy your evenings together. In this case, the “free” expense is the hotel (and your airfare).
Continuing with vocabulary, have you heard of workcations? These are a newer concept, rooted in the more recent COVID-inspired hybrid culture. This is where you pick up your laptop and head somewhere nicer to work, such as a beach or a mountain cabin. In this case, you’re likely paying all the expenses yourself, since the boss didn’t assign you to do it. That’s where your uncle with the timeshare might come in.
As a variation, some professions are already structured with workcation opportunities where the employer does pay the costs. This could be true of college professors spending a year teaching in a different university, for example, or traveling health care professionals. Choose a nice enough location and your weekends will feel like free mini-vacations.
And staycations? Those sad little things are the long weekends where you stay home on PTO and pretend you’re not bothered by unfinished projects while you hustle the kids off to the zoo.
Oops, being sarcastic again. I’ll confess, I’m struggling with ‘cation envy at the moment. In our secret double life, our family shares our home with a variety of English language learners. Our current Swiss national is not helping my attitude, with endless pictures of camper travel from his nationally-mandated minimum four weeks (paid) work holidays. Grrr.
Okay, back again. Here’s some more information on bleisure travel that you might find interesting, from a survey taken by Howdy, a company specializing in talent sourcing from Latin America.
The survey itself is a relatively small sampling — 1,013 American workers age 20-77, according to Howdy — so you need to take the results with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, there were lots of thought-provoking nuggets in their information.
For example, it seems that some people go on work trips and skip some of the work, creating their own version of bleisure. GenZ respondents were the most likely to fess up to that behavior, if you’re wondering.
For the folks crafting a more sanctioned version of a bleisure trip, it’s not surprising the numbers veer to the two ends of the age spectrum. That is, GenZ and baby boomers (68% and 63% respectively) most often extend their business trips, compared to Millennials and GenX (44% and 48%)
That makes sense, since those in the middle of the age spectrum are the most likely to have kids, pets and a lawn to mow. For these families, engineering a longer work trip can be more disaster than delight.
It’s a fun read, which you can find here. Watch out for the last paragraphs though, or you’ll get a case of ‘cation envy too. That’s where Howdy promotes some of the Latin American cities they serve, complete with links.
If you’re inclined to try a bleisure trip yourself, be sure you and your boss are crystal clear on who’s paying what and which parts of the trip will be coming from your vacation days. Then, off you go!
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Amy Lindgren owns a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com.