Taking ‘hush trips’ accompanies rise of remote workers

Emily Smith was working two jobs — at a hotel and at a retail store — when she realized she was in dire need of a break. Smith, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, says her employers didn’t usually approve of her vacation days, so she invented a fake family emergency, claiming she needed to work from home. Instead, she went to Las Vegas.

“I took meetings poolside, and I timed my flights to happen outside working hours,” she says. “All my work was completed in a timely manner, so neither of my bosses ever asked.”

That was back in 2012, when most jobs demanded an in-person presence. About 10 years later, more people are working remotely (or poolside like Smith). According to U.S. Census Bureau data released in 2022, more than 27.6 million people worked primarily from home in 2021. That is triple the number of people working from home in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even with the rise of remote work, some workers are hesitant or don’t feel the need to tell their employers when they plan to work from another location outside of their home. That’s why they’ve started taking “hush trips,” where employees work from a vacation destination without revealing their true whereabouts to their boss.

Often, these workers will take advantage of leisure activities in their off hours, combining work and play into one trip.

For those with employers that are stingy about vacation days, hush trips can provide rejuvenation. However, some employers disapprove of the secrecy and don’t want workers anywhere besides their home office, period.

But does it even matter if workers share their whereabouts?

Hush trip problems

Amy Marcum, a human resource manager with HR service provider Insperity, warns that hush trips can cause friction if word gets out.

Executive coach Robin Pou points to another negative consequence: the breakdown of trust between employees and managers.

“The leader always finds out, driving them to wonder why the employee was trying to hide something in the first place,” he says. “This erosion of trust can be a cancer to team dynamics.”

Then there are also security concerns around bringing employer-issued computers out of town or logging onto unknown Wifi networks.

Plus, there could be unexpected tax implications for employers if workers are working from another state or country too long.

Not necessarily a bad thing

The whole premise of a hush trip might help expose problems in the workplace to begin with.

“Leaders need to look themselves in the mirror and wonder what type of environment they’ve created where their team member doesn’t feel comfortable having conversations directly with them,” Pou says.

Business and leadership coach Mariela De La Mora says the need to know where employees are at all times is “unnecessary at best, patronizing at worst.” She says some of her best co-workers were permanent digital nomads.

How employers can help

Whether pro- or anti-hush trips, there’s one thing pretty much everyone agrees on: Time off is important.

“A change in location can spark new ideas, increase productivity, improve morale, lead to higher-quality work and improve work-life balance,” Marcum says.

As for Smith, she since has quit those two jobs, and she is now her own boss.

She runs a travel planning company called The Female Abroad. But she says even if she had to report to someone else, she’s pro-hush trips.