'Quiet vacationing': a secret revolt against workplace culture

Employees have been taking more "quiet vacations" over the past year. And this trend, when someone goes on a trip but concurrently presents the illusion of being online and working, is likely an indicator of a larger problem with workplace culture in which employees are afraid of slacking off or being seen as lazy.

What's the data?

Approximately 41% of employees have taken a quiet vacation in 2025, according to a survey conducted by Resume Builder. Of those who have quiet vacationed, "3% have taken just one quiet vacation, 48% two to three and 28% four to five." Also, "about 11% have taken six to seven secret vacation days and 4% have taken 10 days or more."

The trend began last summer, with many taking summer vacations on the sly. "Employees utilize various methods like scheduling emails in advance or setting auto-responders to create the illusion of being present while they're actually on vacation," Tawny Lott Rodriguez, the director of human resources at the private school Rowland Hall in Salt Lake City, said to U.S. News & World Report. The concept has similarities to the "quiet quitting" trend, where employees check out of their jobs but refuse to quit.

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Quiet vacationing arose because the "boundaries between work and personal time have blurred with the rise of remote work, which has given more people the flexibility to do their jobs from far-flung locales," said The Wall Street Journal. However, the approach is "often counterproductive," as "you're neither getting a truly restorative break from work, nor being that productive." There is also, of course, the risk of getting caught.

Why are people quiet vacationing?

The rise of quiet vacationing is a canary in the coal mine for corporate work culture. "This isn't just people being sneaky," Marais Bester, a senior consultant at SHL, said to Forbes. It's instead an indication that "many don't feel safe or supported enough to take a proper break." So they find "workarounds, jiggling their mouse to stay 'active,' turning video off on calls, answering just enough emails to look busy." The problem is the missed-deadline potential and boundless "tasks to complete upon return" along with "facing repercussions if discovered," said U.S. News & World Report. These are ways that "taking a quiet vacation can backfire."

Many employees also have limited amounts of paid time off, so they are reluctant to use it. The blurred lines between leisure time and work time have put pressure on employees in general. "All of this comes from a fear of looking like they're slacking off," said Fortune.

Employers should be more intentional about setting boundaries between work and free time. If employers want people to "show up fully engaged, creative and resilient," they need to stop "rewarding burnout" and start "valuing recovery," said Bester. "Rested people do better work. It really is that simple."