This is not a #workation

Unlock the power of Workation: This article explores the art of workation, a dynamic approach that combines vacation relaxation with focused productivity. It explores the key elements of a thriving workation - a true extension of a holiday, a welcome escape from daily tasks, an embrace of work-related joys and more than just a change of location. The narrative underscores the remarkable transformative potential of workation, highlighting how it ignites creativity, drives innovation and redefines the balance between work and play.

So here I am - enjoying a lazy Sunday morning in Bangkok's Lumpini Park, halfway through the closest thing I have to an ideal workation, writing this article that I have been meaning to write for three and a half years. Three and a half years, you ask - yes, because that's when I first started thinking about the benefits of extending your holiday in a great place to do creative and strategic work.

It was December 2019, and I had just gone through a really stressful and challenging time at work that had me on the verge of quitting. So I needed this holiday like a glass of cold water on a hot summer's day. I remember arriving at our favourite destination and going for a walk while we waited to check into our hotel: I could physically feel the stress lifting from my shoulders, feel myself regaining the ability to breathe freely. A few days of long walks on the beach and relaxation later, my creative mind was in overdrive. Mind you, I am a university professor, so creative thinking means innovative teaching, thinking about research, etc.?

But I was torn. Precious holiday time seemed too precious to devote to work-related thoughts. So my focus shifted to my husband, a self-employed consultant who doesn't have the luxury of vacation days. During our holiday, he was free from the day-to-day running of his business, Transatlantic Trade & Consult , and his mind was buzzing with new ideas and directions for his company. I eagerly joined in the strategising, making the most of this unexpected business brainstorming session while enjoying the holiday spirit.

We were on one of our long walks when one of his business partners called to discuss one of the ideas we had just come up with. It was during this hour-long call, sitting on a low wall on the boardwalk of Treasure Island, Florida, that I first thought about how what I had experienced could become an organisational practice. I called it a 'workation', having probably come across the term somewhere but not remembered it. (To be clear, I am not claiming to have invented the term, I must have read it somewhere and it came to me in that moment):

In my opinion, a workation should?

1. Be an extension of a real holiday,?
2. Be free from the daily grind of meetings, emails, etc,
3. Involve doing the things you love about your job,
4. not just move your work from one place to another.

The workation should be an extension of a real holiday

I believe that a workation should be an extension of a real holiday, where relaxation and leisure lay the foundations for productivity and creativity. My personal experience has reinforced this belief.

What I have just described sounds like a creative and productive workation definitely needs some time to relax beforehand. However, I have also experienced the overflow of creativity between workdays and the start of the holiday. I remember the time I had to finish a research report before going on vacation (well, officially I was already on leave, just not quite finished working): My husband and I had decided to extend one of his business trips to Miami into a Florida vacation. We had chosen a hotel close to the beach, and while he had his business meetings, I spent my day by the pool and in our suite writing my report. We both tried to wrap things up by mid-afternoon and enjoyed some quality time together on the beach in the late afternoon. Evenings were set aside for post-meeting notes and further research.?

On another occasion, I spent an entire long-haul flight and the following day grading some 'leftover' seminar papers. While this was obviously the result of not finishing everything before going on holiday, it still felt liberating to know that my out-of-office email reply was already set. Although not ideal, knowing I could switch into holiday mode afterwards relieved tension. Even in this scenario, the work element made the experience more liberating. This mental preparation allowed me to relax knowing that important work responsibilities had been addressed and my out-of-office message was set, allowing me to focus on enjoying my holiday.

However, in my opinion, a workation can be even more successful if you have had the opportunity for some R&R before you start, and here is why. Research has shown that stress limits creativity and can have a negative impact on the quality of work produced (Sanchez-Ruiz, 2017). By incorporating leisure and relaxation into the workation equation, individuals can recharge their creative batteries and approach work tasks with renewed enthusiasm and innovative thinking. The experience of feeling stress lifted from your shoulders and regaining a sense of ease during the first couple of days of a holiday can put your mind in a more receptive and innovative state. As a university professor, this boost in creative thinking has translated into more inventive approaches to teaching and research, allowing me to explore new ideas and solutions.

Workation should be free from the daily grind of meetings, emails, etc,

If you want to benefit from the effects of feeling relaxed and recharged, and go about your work with a renewed sense of enthusiasm, you need to avoid adding any potential stressors to your workation equation. Therefore, you need to keep your workation free from the daily grind of meetings, emails, etc.

Just having your emails on in the background can be detrimental to your ability to focus on creative work. Research has shown that the constant influx of email notifications can lead to increased cognitive load and task switching, disrupting concentration and hindering the brain's ability to engage in deep, uninterrupted thinking. This 'email interruption' phenomenon not only reduces creative problem-solving abilities, but also contributes to increased stress levels and decreased overall job satisfaction (Waldhauser, 2019), which is detrimental to what you hope to achieve in your workation.?

Creativity and innovation thrive in an environment of relaxation and mental freedom. Not only do you need this mental freedom to explore new ideas, think outside the box and come up with novel approaches to problem solving, but being freed from these sometimes tedious tasks will help you regain a sense of control. Feelings of control at work will affect your creativity both directly and indirectly: Lack of control has been linked to increased stress levels, as individuals may feel powerless to influence their work situation or outcomes. And stress, as mentioned above, is detrimental to creativity. In addition, a lack of control at work has a direct impact on creativity: it limits the ability to explore new ideas, to take risks and to experiment with creative solutions.

And last but not least, meetings and e-mails have the potential to bring negative relationships at work or even just unecessary conflicts to your vacation / workation destination. Believe me, when I think back to 2019/2020 and the stress I experienced before that holiday, the mere thought of immersing myself in emails and meetings would have quickly brought the tension back to my shoulders. Of course, workplace relationships and communication aren't just a potential source of stress, and research has shown that positive workplace relationships and support can buffer the impact of stressors. However, taking into account your positive holiday experiences as a foundation, the potential risk of succumbing to stress from email communication simply outweighs any potential benefits.

A workation should be about doing the things you love about your job.

A workation should be all about doing the things you love about your job to maximise both relaxation and productivity. By engaging in tasks that align with your passion and expertise during a workation, you can tap into your intrinsic motivation, foster a positive mindset and improve your overall well-being. This focused approach ensures that the workation experience remains rejuvenating and enjoyable, while capitalising on your strengths to deliver high quality output without the burden of routine tasks or stressors that could detract from the benefits of the holiday aspect.

Engaging in tasks that align with your personal interests and strengths taps into your intrinsic motivation. This psychological drive makes you want to immerse yourself in your work, creating a sense of flow where time seems to slip away effortlessly. The enthusiasm and commitment that comes from doing what you love contributes to a more fulfilling work experience, bridging the gap between leisure and productivity.

Often referred to as the "optimal state of experience", flow has been scientifically linked to profound effects on emotional well-being and creativity. During flow, individuals experience heightened focus and a sense of effortless engagement, leading to a surge of positive emotions such as joy and satisfaction. This state of deep concentration and intrinsic motivation not only enhances emotional well-being, but also fuels creative thinking by facilitating the emergence of novel ideas, lateral connections and innovative problem-solving strategies. Research has consistently shown that regular experiences of flow can contribute to improved mood, increased self-esteem and a greater sense of personal fulfilment, while also enhancing one's capacity for creative expression and unique insights. As such, being able to focus on the things you love about your work will not only provide the immediate effects of improved creativity and productivity, but also the potential long-term effects of experiencing flow.

By focusing exclusively on the tasks you love, you prioritise quality over quantity. Freed from the constraints of routine tasks, you can devote your time and energy to delivering exceptional results. This focused effort ensures that your work is not diluted by distractions, allowing you to achieve significant milestones and make contributions that leave a lasting impact.

Engaging in activities that resonate with your passion during a workation will rekindle your love for your work. The satisfaction that comes from doing meaningful work increases feelings of accomplishment and joy. This positive emotional well-being not only enhances the workation experience, but also carries over as a source of motivation and satisfaction when you return to your regular job.

A workation should not just move your work from one place to another

And for all the reasons I have outlined, a workation is not just about moving work from one place to another. As such, my concept of a workation is different from what you might find if you google the term these days. Mind you, when I first started thinking about the concept in early 2020, there was not much discourse on the topic, especially in terms of scientific discourse. I guess you can already guess what has changed... Remember the phone call my husband took that basically triggered this article? Well, besides business ideas, my husband and his partner discussed news from China. His friend had seen reports on some fringe media (yes, COVID was not yet in the mainstream media, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_COVID-19_pandemic_in_January_2020) of people collapsing in the streets and dying on arrival at hospital. Of course, I didn't immediately see how this was related to what I'd come up with.?

Three and a half years later, however, there are a huge number of sites discussing workation, blogs discussing the best locations for workation, etc. The immediate, and for some people quite long, move from the office to remote working had opened the door to work-from-anywhere. So when travel restrictions finally started to be lifted, people hungry for travel began to consider taking their remote work abroad. In this way, the concept of workation began to merge with digital nomadism. Before the pandemic, digital nomadism was a niche lifestyle choice embraced by a select group of adventurous individuals - mostly freelance IT professionals - who wanted to combine work and exploration.?

However, the global shift towards remote working during the pandemic accelerated the rise of digital nomadism, transforming it into a mainstream trend that offers both professional flexibility and the thrill of discovering new places. As the traditional boundaries between work and leisure continue to blur, the fusion of workation and digital nomadism represents an evolution in the way people imagine their careers and pursue fulfilling, location-independent lifestyles.

Workation is not and should not be considered synonymous with digital nomadism, as there are distinct differences in focus, purpose and the nature of the experiences they offer. While both concepts involve working remotely from different locations, they serve different purposes and emphasise different aspects of the work-life balance equation.

A workation, as discussed, involves extending a traditional holiday to include periods of focused work on tasks you love and excel at. It uses the restorative effects of leisure and relaxation to enhance creativity, recharge mental batteries and achieve better work-life integration. The primary goal of a workation is to combine moments of productivity with leisure in order to optimise personal well-being and professional performance. Digital nomadism, on the other hand, is a lifestyle choice characterised by constant travel and exploration.

So why is this not a workation?

The answer to this question is quite simple – I am still on my annual leave. While I followed the outlined recommendations to a T, I am doing it on my own time: I extended a wonderful vacation with my husband Gregor Waldhauser that has given me the much needed time for relaxation; I do not engage in meetings and emails – my out-of-office reply is still active, telling people I will not be back at work for another week; I only engage in things I love about my job – specifically I devote my time to research and writing; and have thus not just moved my regular job abroad. And it is great! I start my day with a short Hatha yoga session, have my morning coffee at my computer. I take a short mid-morning break after three hours to take a dip in the pool, come back to my computer and work until mid-afternoon, when I leave the hotel to enjoy this vibrating city. In the evening I return to my computer, inspired with my new impressions and refreshed from a massage or some great Thai food.?

This is exactly what I had in mind when I first thought about the concept and I am still convinced that it is not only beneficial for the individual employee but for organizations, as well. I will not be going into the many – some quite understandable – reasons, why organizations, especially in Europe, are reluctant to offer their employees this option. That’s a task that does not fall in the category of doing things I love about my job????There are mostly legal concerns, and from what I heard one manager tell me: Barbara, nobody would believe you are actually working when there’s a beach nearby. So clearly the whole trust question that has started to rise its ugly head again now that companies have started to limit their employees’ remote work time is at play as well. But that is a story for another day now, I am off to the pool!