An employment law specialist is urging caution over the introduction of ‘workation’ policies – a growing trend in many workplaces, which allows staff members to work remotely from a location of their choice away from their home or office.

Liam Entwistle, Chairman at Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie LLP, believes a careful approach should be taken when introducing this kind of workplace ‘perk’ as it could serve to further blur the line between work and private life – especially down time. He says:

“There are some very strident voices out there debating the topic of workations. Those who are in favour say it affords employees greater flexibility by allowing them to work from a location of their choice, which means they can continue to work as normal while enjoying the experience of being in a location away from their home or the office.

“Some employees may wish to extend a planned trip, and may book accommodation for two weeks rather than one, staying in the location they holiday in for an extra week without sacrificing their annual leave and working remotely during this time.

“On the surface, this sounds like a great idea, and you may wonder if employees can stay in a desirable location for an extra week when they are equipped to work remotely, why wouldn’t they want to do so?

“However, I believe the concept of a workation could have some unintended consequences. Technology results in some of us experiencing an ongoing invasion of our downtime outside of working hours in the form of texts, emails and phone calls in relation to work.

“The thin line between home life and work life has become even more blurred over the last 18 months thanks to homeworking, which has become the norm for so many, and I fear the mass introduction of workation policies will simply make this worse.”

The Working Time Regulations are quite specific surrounding how much leave must be taken in a leave year to ensure that workers are provided with the opportunity to rest away from work.

The first four weeks of annual leave entitlement MUST be taken. The remaining 1.6 weeks – or more if the employer chooses to enhance the annual leave entitlement for workers – can be rolled over into the next annual leave year to be used at a later time.

Entwistle goes on to say that there is a reason employees need holidays. It is an opportunity to completely switch off from work, to recharge and relax, which ultimately improves performance for the rest of the year spent at work. He says:

“If an employer chooses to give staff members the chance to spend one week a year working in a location that isn’t home or the office then of course that is absolutely fine. But the term ‘workation’ is misleading. Workation implies some kind of vacation, which in turn implies downtime, but if you’re continuing to work as normal, this is not the case.

“Of course, there will be occasions when this is a suitable option, for example if an employee wants to take an extended trip to visit family who live far away and will be there for a considerable length of time, but I would discourage employers from introducing the policy across the board and packaging it up as some kind of company benefit which may cause confusion around what is expected of employees.

“Instead, it may be more beneficial for employers to turn their attention to introducing stricter policies around annual leave to ensure their workforce can fully switch off during their holidays. Do employees need ‘intermittent access’ to emails when they are on holiday?” Instead, consider a robust system to allow your people to get a real break. This could involve encouraging employees to plan ahead, to ensure their work can be handed over for the period of time they will be on holiday, guaranteeing there will be a support network in place during their annual leave so tasks can be picked up, and implementing a stringent policy on out of office messages to make it clear the person is on holiday and will not be contactable until they return.

“In my opinion, helping employees get the most out of their annual leave would be far more beneficial than gimmicks which allow staff members to ‘work from the beach’ for a few days every year. Of course, flexibility for employees is great, and the ability to work remotely is a huge benefit for lots of people, but it’s essential that we do not allow the distinction between work and home life to be blurred any further than it already is for many employees.”