It wasn’t just Gen Z and young millennials sneaking out of work and secretly taking some time off over the summer months. Bosses have been at it too.
New research has found that productivity really does dip over the peak summer months—and that’s because workers, from the front line to corporate management, are ditching their desks to enjoy the warm weather.
The software company PDFFly surveyed 2000 managers and senior managers and found that while 85% of managers suspect their employees are making fake excuses to grab extra time off in the summer, half of management are doing exactly that themselves.
And the fake excuses are almost identical whether you’re an entry-level worker or the boss.
Managers say they think their employees are pretending their Wi-Fi is down, pulling a bogus dental or doctor’s appointment, or even a “sick” day, just to grab extra time off.
Yet when asked about the excuses they’re using to shut their laptops and enjoy a day out in the sunshine, managers admitted they’re guilty of fake “sick” days, followed by an exaggerated family obligation, a fake appointment, or a fake tech issue. Shockingly, nearly 10% aren’t even making up excuses, opting instead to log on and do no work.
Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter who is at it. But the bottom line is being impacted: Six in 10 managers have admitted output drops in summer—18% say “significantly,” 42% say “slightly,” and 37% say that they see more than a 10% dip in productivity. In fact, a third say it’s gotten so bad that the company lost a client or missed a deal.
4 in 10 millennials take a quiet vacation—others are taking paid medical leave
Managers aren’t the only ones getting creative to take more time off.
Nearly 4 in 10 millennials admit to “quiet vacationing”—secretly taking time off and going on holiday without ever telling their boss. They bring their work phone to the beach and check in every so often just to avoid getting caught. A separate study from Resume Builder found that 43% of quiet vacationers sneak off for up to three days at a time, while a quarter take the entire week off.
Others have taken things even further, using medical leave to get up to 12 weeks off, job-protected and, for some, even paid.
While some are boasting about abusing the system for bonus PTO days, many are struggling—one TikToker said taking that time off to work on her mental health, without the risk of being terminated, was “life-saving.”
Meanwhile, the researchers behind the “quiet vacationing” study said the trend isn’t laziness, but anxiety: two in five workers admitted they’re scared that asking for time off will hurt their standing at work.
In both cases—medical leave and secret vacations—a common thread runs beneath the mischief: people aren’t sneaking off because the work’s too easy. They’re sneaking off because they don’t feel safe asking for a break honestly.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
