What Is Quiet Vacationing? Latest Workplace Trend Gets Millennials Excited

A new workplace trend is discreetly gaining steam among millennial employees in the United States called "quiet vacationing," and it's not your conventional way to spend time off. Consider it a twisted version of traditional vacationing in which, instead of sending a formal leave request to your boss, you slip away under the radar while keeping the appearance of business as usual.  According to a recent Harris Poll of 1,170 employed US adults, 37% of millennial employees said they took time off without alerting their bosses.

What Is Quiet Vacationing?

Millennials would rather discreetly manage their work-life balance than Gen Zs, who, according to the survey, are more vocal about workplace difficulties. This type of "quiet quitting" is more suited for vacations since it involves taking time out to rest and rejuvenate while maintaining a constant appearance of productivity.

The Out of Office Culture Report poll, conducted by the American market research firm Harris Poll, included 1,170 employees situated in the United States. Seventy-eight percent of those polled claimed they had never taken paid time off. Nonetheless, 75% of respondents stated a desire to be able to take time off for any reason at all.

Those polled were 166 members of Gen Z (ages 18–27), 486 millennials (ages 28–43), 365 members of Gen X (ages 44–59), and 153 Boomer members (ages 60 and over). In the poll, 37 percent of millennial workers said they took time off without telling their managers or supervisors.

According to the report, millennials—who account for more than 40% of the workforce—will stop at nothing to give their bosses the idea that they are still working. As reported by Fortune, nearly 40% of respondents admitted to jiggling their computer mouse to look online, while an equal amount claimed they emailed after office hours to appear to be working longer hours.

Quiet vacationing is just one of several techniques millennials employ to be productive. Other tactics include sending messages after hours to simulate working extra or employing "mouse-jiggling" software to appear busy on chat networks such as Slack.

Does a Quiet Vacation Equate to a Quiet Quitting?

Not precisely. In 2022, the word "quiet quitting" became popular to describe employees who were tired of their burden and work-life balance, so they put in the bare minimum effort. Quitting softly could, however, entail taking a quiet vacation, which may result in higher absenteeism.