Workers resort to lying to avoid checking in on vacation

“I’m sorry boss, but you’re cutting out – I must not have good reception on this Polynesian island. See you in two weeks!”

Then they immediately make a call to their bestie back in the U.S. bragging about their vacation.

Roughly the sentiment of 49 percent of Americans, who admit to lying about WiFi reception to avoid checking in with the office while on vacation, according to Allianz Global Assistance’s 11th annual Vacation Confidence Index.

“Most working Americans feel pressured to spend their vacations attached to their work email, when they may just need a few days to unplug. Consequently, half of U.S. workers are willing to lie about lack of connectivity to set them free from work obligations,” says Daniel Durazo, director of marketing and communications at Allianz Global Assistance USA.

The most likely person to pull the “cutting out” excuse is a white (53 percent), college-educated (50 percent) millennial (59 percent), who is married (53 percent) with children (53 percent) and working full time (50 percent) for an annual salary more than $50,000 (53 percent) in the Northeast (53 percent).

Across generations, millennials are most likely to use the excuse (59 percent), followed by Gen Xers (49 percent) and boomers (32 percent). On the flip side, a quarter of all working Americans (24 percent) make a point not to go on vacation in places where poor cell reception or WiFi access could disrupt their connection to the office.

Other key findings of the report include:

• The majority (57 percent) of Americans do not take a leisure trip longer than four nights in the last year, with millennials leading this “micro-cation” trend. Not only are Americans taking shorter trips, but for many, these micro-cations are replacing the traditional week-long vacation.
• Sharing economy services are cooling off with millennial travelers, just when they’re heating up for boomers.
• Overall, the likelihood to use sharing economy services is down. About four out of ten (41 percent) of Americans say they are either “very” or “somewhat” likely to use them during their 2019 summer travels, compared to 47 percent in 2018 and 50 percent in 2017.
• Americans are planning to spend more on their summer vacations this year than they have in at least a decade. The total spend will cross the $100 billion mark for the third consecutive year in the index’s history, amounting to $101.7 billion. Although year-over-year growth in total spending has plateaued, spending per traveler is up. Americans’ average anticipated spend on vacations this summer is $2,037, topping $2,000 for the first time since 2010 when the survey started tracking spending, and marking a 5.2 percent increase over last year.
• Over a third of Americans took their last vacation more than two years ago, and over half have not vacationed in more than a year. Only 42 percent say they are confident they would take a summer vacation this year—the lowest confidence rating since 2013. Despite the prevailing thought that work prevents many Americans from using all their vacation time, financial concerns (52 percent of all reasons) far outweigh professional obligations for those who were not confident in taking a summer vacation.
• Half of working Americans would accept a job with no vacation time if they were paid more, and on average they would require a 48 percent raise for the tradeoff. One in three Americans would give up a portion of their paycheck for unlimited vacation, with millennials (41 percent) even more likely to do so. Millennials are the most likely to both give up vacation time for salary, and give up salary for vacation time, highlighting how important professional success and personal flexibility is to this generation.