Remote workers may feel the need to work longer and harder to prove themselves, but that can be a recipe for burnout.Getty Images
Samantha Seabrook is proud of owning a small law firm, Seabrook Workplace Law, where strong work-life balance is encouraged and staff can take time off to recharge.
So she was surprised to discover that one of her lawyers, who had been working remotely out of the country, had only taken a handful of days off during 2024.
”That is not okay,” said Ms. Seabrook in a recent post on LinkedIn. “If I had not been paying attention, he would have just kept going. Because high performers do that.”
As his employer, Ms. Seabrook realized this was a problem that needed to be rectified. She worked with the lawyer to ensure that he booked some proper vacation time and took time to unplug completely.
”I believe that having quality time off – an extended period of time disconnected from work – is absolutely essential,” says Ms. Seabrook, who is based in Toronto and has spent part of the past two winters working from Brazil.
The rise of remote and hybrid work has spawned many benefits for workers, from flexible schedules to reducing commute time. But it can also reduce employers’ oversight, meaning that high-achieving staff members could be burning out without their bosses realizing it.
More flexibility, less downtime
Ms. Seabrook says she posted her comments on LinkedIn because she felt strongly that other remote workers might not be taking the vacation time that they should, and that the onus should be on employers, not employees, to ensure that they do.
Because her workforce is remote and employees are allowed to work from other locations, she says she works hard to ensure that colleagues aren’t just shifting the workload to their vacation spots and are truly unplugging.
According to a 2023 poll, remote workers (who make up about 20 per cent of Canada’s workforce) are less likely to take vacation than their in-office counterparts. They took 5.5 per cent less vacation time than non-remote workers and were 22 per cent less likely to take any vacation time at all. (It’s notable though that these numbers are self-reported.)
In another survey, just 29 per cent of Canadians said they took all their vacation time in 2022, compared with 48 per cent in 2019.
John Trougakos, a management professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management who has studied the effects of workers taking breaks throughout the day, says this lines up with what he has seen.
”What we’ve historically seen with a lot of different employees is that when you give them more flexibility, they will actually spend a little more time working.” He cites the trend of companies providing unlimited vacation, which results in some workers taking less vacation time, rather than more.
Dr. Trougakos adds that there may be a feeling among some remote workers that they need to work extra hard.
”There is a fear factor when you have this kind of autonomy and flexibility, that, ‘Oh, I better go above and beyond.’”
A quick path to burnout
Recent data from McKinsey & Company shows that women tend to prefer hybrid and remote work because they are happier and healthier with more flexibility. But does it also mean women are more at risk of working longer hours and not taking proper vacations?
Dr. Laura Hambley Lovett, a Calgary based organizational psychologist and podcaster who researches remote-hybrid leadership and team effectiveness, says that the fear of flexibility options being taken away can mean that women in particular will “try to prove themselves, [to show] that they are always accessible, always available.”
Dr. Trougakos agrees, saying sometimes people will spend extra time working when they have more flexibility “because they don’t want to be seen to be taking advantage [of their working situation] or to lose it.”
For individuals who don’t unplug and who take just a smattering of vacation days throughout the year, there are definite consequences, says Dr. Hambley Lovett. Overwork and not taking breaks can lead to fatigue, stress and mental and physical illness.
Burnout, which the World Health Organization defines as a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed, is at an all-time high globally. In Canada, “I see higher levels of burnout,” Dr. Hambley Lovett says. “It’s been getting worse.” According to Mental Health Research Canada, 24 per cent of Canadians reported feeling burned out in 2024.
”[With] blurred boundaries between work and life, work consumes life and we have burnout as a result,” she says.
Encouraging employees to disconnect
Lyndsay Hillier, a human resources instructor at the Longo Faculty of Business at Humber Polytechnic, says that stress and burnout can directly correlate to a company’s engagement results, its productivity and its effectiveness as an organization. At its worst, burnout can result in employee turnover.
In the years since the COVID-19 pandemic threw many organizations into disarray, Ms. Hillier says she has seen improvements on the work/life balance front, with many organizations introducing more flexibility and “work from anywhere” policies. It’s in a company’s best interest to support remote workers with these kinds of policies, she says, because otherwise retention is at risk.
Ms. Seabrook says that her LinkedIn post received numerous comments from managers who said remote work policies should go hand-in-hand with requirements to disconnect during vacation and non-work hours. (Since 2023, Ontario employers with more than 25 employees must have a written policy on disconnecting from work.)
But policies only work if employers follow through on them. Ms. Seabrook says it’s important to her to continue to have conversations with her staff about taking meaningful breaks.
”I think [by] helping people navigate their lives, we’re helping to keep them motivated and fulfilled.”
Stacie Campbell/The Globe and Mail