Why 'loud vacationing' should be the next workplace trend

Last year saw the rise of "quiet vacationing," a trend in which an increasing number of employees took time off from work without informing their managers or logging the days into their HR platform. While quiet vacations will likely continue to pervade U.S. work culture, one chief human resources officer believes she has a solution.

Jennifer Kraszewski, CHRO at HR software solutions company Paycom, is advising employers to embrace "loud vacationing," a term she coined that centers on the idea of employees feeling encouraged to plan, discuss and look forward to their vacation days. Workers should feel proud they're taking time off to recharge, underlines Kraszewski. 

"Loud vacationing is the idea that you can take a vacation and not feel guilty about it," she says. "PTO is a benefit that organizations provide to their employees, so it's important for employees to take full advantage of that PTO, and managers should encourage people to do just that."

Read more: Why employers should add SAFE leave to their PTO options

According to The Harris Poll, 78% of American workers do not use the maximum amount of PTO available to them, and 75% wish they could take those available days off. It's clear there's a vacation problem in the U.S., and while employers may chalk it up to being understaffed or employees feeling like there's too much work on their plates, Kraszewski believes it's about time leaders stop making excuses. 

"People are reluctant to take their allotted vacation because they're concerned about team coverage, or they're concerned about getting their next promotion," she says. "But you're more productive and more engaged when you're able to take time away from work."

For Kraszewski, it's obvious that the reluctance to fully step away from work has accumulated into the quiet vacationing trend. Employees don't want to let their team down, or they want to prove to their managers that they're dedicated — either way, they cannot fully focus on themselves or their work. 

Read more: Are your unlimited PTO policies actually working?

"People want to appear like they're working when they're actually not working, or working a little bit on vacation," says Kraszewski. "They want it to appear to their leaders that they're working really hard, which creates more burnout."

Kraszewski suggests that employers ask company leaders to shift their perceptions about vacation. Rather than viewing PTO requests as a potential burden to the team or as evidence of laziness, managers should view them as something positive for the entire team, explains Kraszewski. 

Read more: It's vacation season — here's how to deal with mass PTO requests

One essential action managers can take to nurture a culture of loud vacationing is to encourage employees to schedule their long-term vacations ahead of time — this helps managers figure out how to cover necessary duties while the employee is out, and it also gives employees something to look forward to. In the meantime, managers can have positive conversations about the upcoming PTO alongside more logistical ones regarding workload and daily responsibilities: They can ask employees what they're excited to do during their time off as well as check on what work needs to be covered while they're out. 

Alongside the right HR technology, tracking when people are taking PTO and what coverage will be needed has become more efficient. The last thing managers should do is get bogged down figuring out who's out and when; that time can better be spent checking in with employees and preparing for any absences that may run into important deadlines or meetings. 

"If you allow your workforce to take the PTO that's available to them, they're going to get away, recharge, come back and have lots of fuel in the tank to handle the next challenge on the horizon," she says. "I know some of my best ideas and thoughts have come when I've been unplugged and out of the office."