Is working on vacation key to enjoying it?

New Survey by Wrike finds many workers enjoy vacation better when they know things are going smoothly at work

San Jose, Calif., May 15th, 2018 - Wrike, the collaborative work management software for high performance teams, today released the findings of its 2018 Summer Productivity Survey. The survey, conducted in March, surveyed over 1,000 full-time employees from the US to understand their vacation plans and planned work habits for the coming summer.

Among the key findings:

• ⅓ of workers intend on being available to work on vacation.
• For many, working during vacation helps them enjoy vacation more.
• Men are 10% more likely than women to say they plan on working during vacation.
• Millennials mirror the working habits of their boss when they take vacation.

Wrike CEO Andrew Filev cites the growth in mobile and remote work as one of the reasons his company conducted this survey. “Vacation is a big part of the summer for most Americans, but the proliferation of mobile technology means vacationers increasingly must choose between disconnecting completely from the office, or staying in touch,” says Filev. “Our findings seem to indicate there’s no wrong answer, however, both options have the potential to add stress in different ways.”

According to Wrike’s survey, most vacation work comes in the form of short, digital interactions, like forwarding emails or giving colleagues the short answers they need to advance projects. Only 10% of respondents said they keep project data stored in the cloud, which Filev believes could help workers reduce the need to work on vacation. “Most vacation work is based around helping colleagues find information they need. If companies implement technology that stores critical documents and information in one place, the result should be less vacation work and less stress for everyone.”

More information from Wrike’s Summer Productivity survey is available here.