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You're Probably Checking Your Work Email On Vacation--But You Shouldn't Be, Study Shows

Some professionals might need to take the text of their own out-of-office replies to heart.

According to a study released today by HR consulting firm Randstad, 42% of employees reported feeling obligated to check their email during vacation, while 26% feel guilty even using all of their vacation time.

“There’s an impact on productivity, there’s an impact on allowing people to release and come back refreshed,” said Jim Link, Randstad chief HR officer, who noted that effects on employee decision making and productivity were also observed.

The numbers are even more stark when broken down by generation. Forty percent of millennial employees reported feeling guilty using their vacation time, compared to 18% of baby boomers.

While some of this dynamic can likely be attributed to changing concerns on different rungs of the corporate ladder–those in jobs closer to the entry level are likely more anxious about appearing diligent and hesitant to take time off, while those with more seniority may feel a greater sense of freedom regarding vacation time–Link says the bigger reason is actually the work-life bleed being facilitated by technology.

“Studies about millennials always say there are four Fs this generation places before all else: fun, family, freedom, and friends,” said Link. “But then you look at this information that says these folks are on board more than any other generation, and don’t feel the need to delineate between work and life.”



An overwhelming number–67%–of respondents, reported feeling more productive following a vacation, which means that some of those surveyed both checked email on vacation and reported higher productivity upon their return.

Link suggests those in this overlapping group may have found a particular balance that both preserved the separation of a vacation and managed the build-up of communication and tasks that often undo any of the effects of rest.

“Historically, up until the last 10 or 15 years, it was much easier to separate. That’s just no longer the case. It’s become harder, technologically speaking, to really build that separation in,” said Link. “There’s that group of people who find more satisfaction in being able to occasionally check in than to come back and have to respond to 500 emails and 60 voice mails.”

Ultimately, a company’s vacation or time off policy needs to be modeled by those in charge. Link maintains that oft-cited examples of policies intended to police this–company-issued phones that turn off automatically at a certain time or communication blackouts–are rarely as effective as managers who communicate clearly about vacation policies and follow them personally.

“The regulatory side of this is ineffective,” said Link. “It’s one thing to say as an organization that you prescribe to a work life balance theory, it’s another thing to say that you turn your phones off after 6 p.m. or have email free days. Those things tend to be treated for what they are in most organizations, which is a prescription for the wrong illness.”