In recent years, remote work, including telecommuting, has become more widespread, but there is also a similar working style called “workation.” Workation has many benefits, such as reducing employee stress and making it easier to come up with new ideas for work, and is gaining attention as a way to promote work-style reform.

In this article, we will explain what workation is, its advantages and disadvantages, examples of its implementation, and the types of jobs.

What is Workation?

Workation is a portmanteau of “work” and “vacation” in English, referring to a new way of working remotely while taking a vacation at a location away from the office, and it is now becoming popular worldwide, particularly in Europe and America.

Large companies in Japan, such as Hitachi and Fujitsu, have also started to adopt workation, and it is attracting attention as a new way of working.

Difference from Telecommuting

Workation is often confused with telecommuting, but there is a clear difference. Telecommuting simply means that the place of work has changed from the office to home. On the other hand, workation is primarily about working while temporarily staying in tourist destinations, such as resorts away from the office.

Furthermore, telecommuting is just working from home regardless of vacation, whereas workation is aimed at taking a vacation.

Purpose of Promoting the Use of Paid Leave

Depending on a company’s corporate culture and office atmosphere, some employees may feel reluctant to take paid leave. This is mainly because they feel guilty about taking a break while their colleagues are working or they want to avoid burdening their colleagues with their workload.

In that respect, workation allows employees to take paid leave while working, giving them peace of mind. Therefore, workation also has the purpose of promoting the use of paid leave by employees.

Increasing Number of Workation Facilities

Although the number is still small, there are gradually more facilities in Japan that are compatible with workation. For example, in resort areas in Nagano Prefecture, there are inns and hotels equipped with Wi-Fi and workspaces to promote remote work. There are also smartphone apps available that allow you to search for facilities suitable for workation, indicating that awareness of workation is increasing.

Six Advantages of Workation

Workation has been attracting attention for its many advantages, which can be broadly divided into six categories. What are the advantages of adopting workation?

Improves Work Efficiency

One of the benefits of workation is that work efficiency is higher than usual. Psychologically, it is known that people’s motivation increases when they know that there is a reward ahead.

Refresh yourself

The biggest appeal of a workation is the ability to refresh yourself. For those who were previously limited to traveling during specific periods such as Golden Week or year-end holidays, the ability to travel at any time of the year is a welcome change.

Working with a more open-minded attitude can help to increase productivity. When an employee’s quality of life improves, it can also lead to higher motivation, productivity, efficiency, and a lower turnover rate, all of which benefit the company.

New ideas can emerge from a change in environment

By using workation, you can expect to come up with new ideas for work. This is because a change of environment can lead to a fresh mindset, whether it be interacting with locals, experiencing different scenery or trying new foods.

If your workation destination is abroad, the impact can be even greater. Exposure to a different culture can provide opportunities to learn new ways of thinking, which can have a positive impact on work performance.

Reduction of stress

One of the biggest advantages of workation for employees is the reduction of work-related stress. Working without a boss around or avoiding crowded trains can significantly reduce stress levels.

Reducing employee stress can lead to increased motivation, productivity, and efficiency at work. Removing the need for travel during work hours can also increase the time available for work-related activities.

Increased time with family

Many employees find it difficult to spend time with their families due to overtime work or weekend work. However, switching to a workation can allow you to spend more time with your family.

Since it is possible to travel to vacation destinations with your family, you can work while still being at home. This means that you can spend as much time with your family as you want after work or on holidays, improving your quality of life.

Concentration on work while traveling

For some people, taking long vacations off work can cause feelings of guilt, while others who don’t have paid vacation days may feel uneasy about taking time off. With workation, you can continue to earn income while traveling, so you can take a break without worrying about finances.

Six disadvantages of workation

Workation has disadvantages as well as advantages. Many of the disadvantages are related to working alone without interacting with others, and solutions are being sought to improve the situation.

Difficulty managing work hours

One major disadvantage of working remotely, and especially with workations, is the difficulty in managing work hours. According to a survey of about 500 small and medium-sized companies conducted by En-Japan, “time management” was the most difficult aspect of implementing telework, accounting for 68% of responses.

In a typical office setting, employees’ arrival and departure times can be easily tracked with things like set work hours and time cards. However, this becomes challenging with workations, making it difficult to know how much time employees are actually working. This can lead to decreased actual working time due to negligence, or overworking and fatigue.

It can also be difficult to keep track of overtime hours, and there may be a need for frequent unpaid overtime. As a result, managing work hours in remote work is the most challenging issue.

Increased communication costs

One common issue with remote work is the increase in communication costs. Even small messages that would have been conveyed through a quick conversation in the office can take much longer to communicate remotely, leading to decreased efficiency. Other disadvantages include:

– Typing messages takes more time than speaking
– Communication through text makes it difficult to convey emotions or personality
– Misunderstandings can arise from communicating only through text

Not being able to see someone’s facial expressions can lead to critical issues such as not being able to tell if they are angry or if something is important. In order to minimize communication costs, it is recommended to use ICT tools such as chat or online meetings.

Difficult to keep track of work progress

Since workations are also a form of remote work, it can be difficult to keep track of employee progress. This is a major disadvantage when teamwork is necessary.

The solution is to use ICT tools and maintain frequent communication, but this can also lead to increased communication costs. This has led to more companies adopting attendance management systems and other similar solutions.

Concerns about security issues

Workations also have security concerns, leading some companies to not adopt remote work. Some employees may need to take their company computers home to work on them.

Connecting company computers to home internet increases the risk of virus infection. There is also the possibility of physical theft of the computer or leakage of login passwords. Even when using personal computers at home, there is a risk of leaked chat messages or other confidential information. These are all concerns about the potential leakage of confidential information.

Blurring the line between work and vacation

Another potential drawback of workation is that it can blur the line between work and vacation. Workation is characterized by combining work and vacation, so some employees may feel that they have to work even when they are on vacation. This is especially true for workations that use paid vacation days. This can lead to increased dissatisfaction with work, making workation counterproductive. How to view workation is therefore important. If you see it as just working from a tourist destination, like teleworking from home, it may not be a big problem.

Limited to certain types of work

Workation, like teleworking, relies on the Internet to work, so there are some industries in which workation is not possible or difficult. Presentations, for example, have become easier with the popularity of online conferencing software. However, compared to in-person presentations, online presentations are less convenient and lack persuasive power and impact because it’s difficult to read the audience’s facial expressions. There are also physical jobs that are impossible to do remotely, such as sales, pilots, and restaurant staff. Workation is not a work style that is suitable for people who need to work in such situations.

The Changing Way of Working

As workation is a new way of working that has just emerged, there are some drawbacks, but it can also be used to increase efficiency. For Japanese workers who suffer from a lot of stress, being able to work while taking a vacation is a big benefit for both the company and the employees. As remote work, such as teleworking, becomes more widespread, issues such as time management, communication costs, and security will be resolved. As workation becomes more popular, companies are likely to change their rules to make workation more accessible to employees, making it even more beneficial for both parties.

Workation Implementation Examples in Japan and Overseas

Many large Japanese companies such as JAL, JTB, and Mitsubishi UFJ Bank have been introducing workation. Some local governments, such as Wakayama, Okinawa, and Nagano prefectures, are also actively introducing workation. Let’s take a closer look at how these companies and local governments are implementing workation.

Domestic Implementation Examples

Japan Airlines Co., Ltd. (JAL)

JAL can be said to be a pioneer in the Japanese workation industry. In 2017, JAL implemented its first workation program and received attention for it. JAL employees can use workation for up to 5 days between July and August each year. Unfortunately, employees who work on site, such as pilots and ground staff, are not eligible to use it.

JTB Corporation

JTB, a travel company, also implemented “Workation Hawaii” in 2020, where employees can use workation while using their holidays or taking time off work in Hawaii, following the impact of the workstyle reform. As the destination was Hawaii, it became a hot topic that employees could “surf and work occasionally.”

Local Governments

Not only companies, but also local governments such as Wakayama Prefecture, Okinawa Prefecture, and Nagano Prefecture have introduced workation. For example, Wakayama Prefecture has been promoting workation since fiscal year 2017 and has launched the “Wakayama Workation Project.”

Wakayama Prefecture positions workation as a “tool for creating value” and provides visitors with opportunities to create innovation through non-routine lifestyles. More than 100 companies have implemented workation in Wakayama Prefecture to date.

Overseas Implementation Examples

NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association

NTCA is a rural broadband association in the United States. Even during workation, employees can log in to the company’s system from their travel destination. However, some employees who have experienced workation feel dissatisfied because they cannot distinguish between vacation and work, and resolving this issue will be a future challenge.

Summary

As mentioned above, workation has its pros and cons, and when introducing it, it is necessary to consider these factors. It is also necessary to consider suitable occupations, and specifically, the following types of occupations are suitable for workation:

・Businesspeople
・Entrepreneurs
・Engineers
・Designers
・Customer Support

Occupations that can complete work only with a computer are generally suitable for workation. Entrepreneurs who can move relatively freely are also suitable. In fact, there are companies that provide workation consulting plans for entrepreneurs. Since ideas are particularly important for entrepreneurs, it may be a good idea to use workation as a vacation and try to get some inspiration.