Woman on beach vacation

First there was 'quiet quitting' – the idea of putting forth the least amount of work possible to keep one's job. Now, apparently, some employees are taking the trend even further by 'quiet vacationing' – or taking vacation time without letting their employer know.

According to a Resume Builder survey of 1,050 corporate workers who have paid time off benefits, 1 in 10 workers participated in quiet vacationing during the past year and 1 in 8 plan to do so this summer. Of workers who took unauthorized vacation, 18% took one secret vacation day, 43% took 2 to 3, 24% took 4 to 5, and 15% took six or more secret vacation days.

But rather than trying to pull a fast one on their boss, the survey revealed employees are largely driven to surreptitiously take time off because they are worried about the impact taking PTO will have on their job security, even though a majority of workers believe their direct manager supports the use of PTO. The reasons employees took vacation days without their employer's permission included being too anxious to ask for time off, not wanting to use paid time off, and believing taking a vacation day would make them look less hardworking. In addition, 29% of respondents thought they'd be more likely to be laid off if they took vacation days, 26% had their request not approved, and 23% didn't have any paid time off left to use.

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