Almost half of young professionals want to blend remote work with vacations: poll

Canadian professionals aged 18-34 are leading the “bizcation” trend with a growing desire to blend remote work and vacations.

Allianz Global Assistance’s new Vacation Confidence Study reveals that almost half (47 per cent) of young professionals plan to work remotely while travelling in 2024.

Bizcations (also known as workations) – a trend that ramped up during the COVID years when people were mandated to work from home or remotely – are becoming more common in some workplaces. It’s when employees can work and travel simultaneously without taking time off.

It may also include tacking on a few days before or after a business trip.

The increasing prevalence of remote work options has also empowered young professionals to work anywhere, Allianz reports.

Vacation barriers 

Allianz’s study, conducted online by Ipsos in November 2023 among a sample of 2,000 Canadian adults, found that 17 per cent of Canadians aged 18-34 say that the stress and time of planning to take time off work is a considerable barrier to them planning a vacation this year.

This demographic’s enthusiasm for bizcations represents a shift in how work and travel are integrated. The bizcation phenomenon ramped up during the COVOD years when more people were mandated to work from home, or remotely.

Allianz’s Study found that roughly a third of those taking a bizcation this year plan to be away for a considerable amount of time – about three weeks or longer.

Key findings

Key findings in the poll include:

• Many Canadians will tie-in a vacation with work responsibilities either by working remotely from a vacation destination (30 per cent) or by adding vacation time to a business trip (24 per cent) 
• Canadians with children (43 per cent) are also likely to blend work and vacation in the same trip
• There has been a shift in Canadians’ destination preferences – beyond Canada, Mexico/Caribbean (24 per cent) and the U.S. (21 per cent) are the most popular vacation destinations this year.

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