Illustration by Wenting Li
An influx of young workers, largely millennials and Gen Z, are working smarter to play harder, redefining workplace culture and using technology to toy with what it means to be “on the clock.”
From working vacations to flexible hours to multitasking, what used to be seen as slacking off at work is now being embraced as innovative, efficient and useful in making more time for fun. Prevalent in industries such as tech or consulting, where work can be completely remote, experts say this push is coming from new generations of workers who prioritize their well-being and know how to use technology to their advantage.
Employee engagement and satisfaction is reaching record lows across North America. Coined “The Great Detachment” by analytics firm Gallup, the trend is evident in several recent polls that cite a steep decline in workers’ feelings of connection to their company mission and dwindling patience in an uncertain labour market.
In 2024, only 18 per cent of Canadian employees reported feeling fully engaged at work, according to labour market analysts ADP Research. Dropping by three percentage points from the year before, ADP said this was one of the biggest decreases ever recorded and furthers the erosion of employee satisfaction that took hold during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This deterioration is evident in retaliatory acts by workers. For example, in a 2023 survey by ResumeBuilder.com, nearly half of approximately 920 Gen Zers said they had taken a secret vacation – and about half of those people said it was because their paid time off wasn’t approved.
And this isn’t the only way employees are taking their happiness into their own hands using methods born out of the depths of fully remote work during the pandemic.
Some experts say this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s simple to run a company that’s open from nine until five and requires all staff work in-person at an office, said Terri Griffith, professor and Keith Beedie Chair in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Simon Fraser University. But it’s foolish to assume everyone there will be constantly working or being productive.
“People are misinterpreting working as sitting in the chair,” she said.
By bending the rules of the traditional nine-to -five job, Prof. Griffith said these younger generations pose an important question: “Are organizations paying for the work or are they paying for our time?”
Quiet vacations
One way this successful – yet shrewd – work force is challenging the concept of traditional work is from abroad.
Bautista Abascal, a 28-year-old senior product designer, has taken advantage of his fully remote career’s flexibility, travelling to South America, Asia and Australia. While he continues to work from each destination, he said he’s careful about which trips he discloses to his workplace, and which ones he keeps to himself.
For example, when he travelled to Australia for a wedding last year, he chatted with his manager to get some meetings moved around since the time difference was considerable. However, during other trips, such as an excursion to Colombia, he’s been less eager to share his plans with work.
No matter where he is, he continues to show up and be productive, but Mr. Abascal said his disclosure strategy stems from a desire to maintain a positive relationship with his colleagues by not making it seem like he’s taking too many liberties.
“If I don’t have to move things around, then it’s in my best interest to not tell anybody, so that it doesn’t seem like I’m taking advantage of the situation,” he said.
According to the Global Business Travel Association, more than half of Canadian business travellers report combining leisure travel with business trips more often than they did in 2019.
But even with unlimited paid time off at his previous jobs, Mr. Abascal said he only ever cashed in the benefit for travel days between destinations. His advice for making it work? Plan longer stays.
“When you’re spending a month or two at a destination, you don’t really need to take vacation days. You can just use the weekends,” he said.
Roman Pavlovskyi, a 33-year-old software engineer, took the meaning of a “workation” one step further when he and his girlfriend became completely nomadic almost three years ago.
Since then, the Ukrainian-Canadian couple have travelled to more than 20 countries while working full-time. Mr. Pavlovskyi said the small startup he works for doesn’t have an issue with his travel, so he doesn’t always have to disclose when he moves locations.
However, after he was caught in the Philippines’ rainy season one time and was unable to explain to his team why his internet connection would sporadically cut out, he’s now careful to only choose destinations with reliable service.
“I would be in the middle of a call, and then it’s out, and there’s no way to get internet, no way to message back, nothing, so I would just disappear,” he said.
A lot of the remote workers Mr. Pavlovskyi meets abroad are either software engineers, consultants or people who have learned to productize their skills, such as a personal trainer who sells courses online.
He said the lifestyle is only suitable to certain careers and anyone considering travelling while working should think twice about whether it suits their job. For example, he said his girlfriend had to start from scratch with her career and become a consultant after she was fired for moving around too often.
To ensure the couple has time to make the most of their temporary homes, Mr. Pavlovskyi said they hired a virtual assistant to help them plan the logistics of their life.
“I don’t think it’s sustainable to do it without assistance. We ended up in this loop where we were always looking for the next hotel, always booking some tickets, all our free time was spent on that,” he said.
Despite the hustle of it all, Mr. Pavlovskyi said he wouldn’t have it any other way and the buzz he gets from travelling actually improves his productivity.
“Over all, I have a lot more energy, and a lot more motivation at work, and life feels a lot more fulfilling,” he said.
Illustration by Wenting Li
Squeeze in a ski – or a wave?
Globe-trotting isn’t the only way Mr. Abascal mixes business with pleasure. Back home in Vancouver, he enjoys little luxuries such as catching a midday yoga class and parking himself at a nearby coffee shop to continue working without anyone noticing he’s gone.
“I’m all for not telling your workplace where you are or what you’re doing, just as long as you get your work done and you do a good job,” he said.
This flexibility also allows him to work more efficiently around the ebbs and flows of busyness in his job, he added. “When you are working, you’re working, and then you’re not forced to pretend to work in between random times that you may be feeling unproductive.”
In Deloitte’s 2024 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, the consulting firm found work-life balance and flexibility to be influential factors guiding where these generations choose to work. Their drive to be freed of traditional employment models is unmistakable.
For example, Deloitte’s survey found Gen Z and millennials want their employers to create more part-time or job-sharing options, with similar career advancement opportunities to full-time employees. The four-day work week is also being increasingly asked for by these generations.
Also in Vancouver, 29-year-old Liam McDonald operates under a philosophy that prioritizes his well-being. When the gears stop churning in his brain, he doesn’t force them into overdrive. Instead, the vice-president of product at software company Clarity Technologies steps away from his desk and into nature.
An outdoors enthusiast from a young age, Mr. McDonald might end up hiking a local mountain or shredding some powder on his skis – leaving work behind in search of some respite. Originally from New Zealand, he said whenever he visits home, he often shifts his workday back a few hours to catch a wave if the surf is looking good.
He has learned that one unproductive day of sitting in front of his computer isn’t worth powering through.
“Being able to do things outdoors, or take advantage of my flexibility, is a key part of how I make sure that I stay productive,” he said.
Working smarter to play harder
Whether it’s working from a faraway destination or logging in later to squeeze in a morning ski, Prof. Griffith said taking a flexible approach to jobs is sometimes interpreted as slacking off. But that’s not always the case.
“I don’t see it as necessarily being lazy. It’s just finding the best way to get work done,” she said.
Prof. Griffith said the more a company understands the importance of work-life balance and taps into their employees’ tech savviness, the better positioned they are to attract new talent.
“If you think that by having people sit in a seat from nine to five they’re always working, that’s just not the case,” she said.
Nancy Hauge, chief people experience officer at tech company Automation Anywhere, said people who have found ways to slack off at work and not lose their job are, generally, really smart about how they do their work.
And as a manager, those are the kinds of people she’s looking to hire.
“Anybody who’s clever enough to be able to do their work in a shorter period of time and slack off? I want that person,” she said.
More managers could benefit from giving their employees some space, she added, to watch and learn how they can make their jobs more efficient.
“It’s shocking how innovative people are when you just give them the headroom to do it,” she said.
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