Out of Office in 2021 - The Return of Vacation

With temperatures now reaching the 90s across a good part of the country, much of America is collectively taking their first real vacation in over a year. Whether venturing to an amusement park venue, baseball park, or national park, 67% of Americans are planning to travel this summer, a 17% increase from this spring, according to TripAdvisor. 

While much has already been written about the pent up demand for air travel, hotels and reservations, our team at Benson Executive Search has noticed a new trend emerge. In years past, we’ve seen a stronger willingness from candidates to engage with potential new opportunities when they were out of office than we are seeing in 2021. Simply put, when people are stepping away, they are shutting down more broadly and firmly. 

We’ve heard many times that through the pandemic and all of the challenges it brought - health and social to mental and cultural - that people are now exhausted. They’re ready for a break, and when they finally put their feet in the sand or reach the first tee, they’re ready to unwind. Our team has spoken with candidates who say they’re placing new importance on taking real time away, and see those days as a chance to focus on hobbies they know and enjoy rather than also try to mix in work and a career search as they might have done in the past. We’ve heard that it’s been so easy to turn remote work into ‘always-on’ work, and as a result people are looking to create more healthy work habits. 

The strong state of the job market also means that workers have more available to them now than in previous periods. Many companies are looking to increase hiring. Simultaneously, many candidates have either gained new skills or adjusted to remote work during the pandemic, and are therefore looking to expand their opportunities or to find something new. This means that candidates are experiencing an even greater volume of inquiries than normal, and they are using vacation and PTO as a time to turn it all off. They want to truly unplug, and we’ve heard  from many candidates respectfully asking to postpone potential phone and video calls relating to potential hiring opportunities. 

We’ve even seen companies become more attuned to the importance of truly recharging and preventing burnout, with caller ID startup Hiya declaring the last Friday of every month a holiday. Technology giant Cisco also introduced “unplug” days last year, and PwC even announced in April it would start paying its employees to take time off, with $250 to those who take a full week. Many of these programs were developed with the help of employee feedback. 

We think this is a positive trend and long overdue. Employees should take time to refresh their body and mind, and dedicated physical and mental rest has been proven to bring out the most in our performance back at the office. However, it’s required our team to adapt, as our communication cadences have changed as we seek to understand the unique preferences and perspectives of each candidate. We’ve altered our communication timeframes, and placed more importance on meeting candidates however they prefer and wherever they are in their lives, both professional and personal. 

But we’d love to hear from you! If you are a candidate, how are you approaching time off this summer? How has it changed, if at all, from previous summers? If you are an employer, have you begun any new programs or initiatives to ensure that your employees feel supported and cared for, as they look to recharge from a demanding year? If so, reach out to us at info@bensonsearch.com to continue the conversation.