Of course, when Stefan Virnik goes on vacation, his laptop comes with him. That’s not always practical, because when you’re off on a motorcycle, storage space is known to be scarce. But the computer has priority for the IT consultant. After all, there are problems with customers that he cannot solve over the phone. Wait, didn’t Stefan Virnik want to go on vacation? Weren’t those the days of the year when you leave work at home and don’t solve customer problems? Not with Virnik: “As a freelancer, it doesn’t matter whether I’m lying on the beach in Norway or sitting at my desk in Cologne.”
The majority of working people in Germany do the same. The motorcycle-computer combo is rather rare. But packing a piece of work in your suitcase is common. In a Bitkom survey of working people, 65 percent stated that they could be reached for work even on vacation. But why actually?
The legal situation is clear: there is no obligation to wear your mobile phone in your swimming trunks when on call. This is confirmed by employment law expert Michael Fuhlrott: “The employee can switch off his company cell phone and does not have to check it regularly for incoming calls.” If you insist on being available at all times, the time doesn’t count as a holiday, explains Fuhlrott. There may be exceptions in special cases, for example in operational emergencies. Otherwise, the employee could relax – he doesn’t have to make a “It’s quick, only five minutes” phone call.
According to a survey, almost all self-employed people can be reached on vacation
With freelancers like Stefan Virnik, that doesn’t matter anyway, he’s his own boss. It’s up to him whether he works on vacation, but it’s about the customers. When they have a problem with new software, it often cannot wait. It’s no wonder that almost all self-employed people have their work cell phone in their travel bag, along with slippers and sunscreen.
“It used to be different,” Virnik recalls of his days as an employee. “I was reachable for support from colleagues, but I went on vacation without a computer.” Today, no one could easily take on all of their tasks if they were away without being able to contact them. Sometimes he also takes on new assignments while on vacation. For a freelancer like Stefan Virnik, it simply makes economic sense to pick up the phone while on vacation. And he can also switch off so well: “I enjoy what I do, so it doesn’t bother me.”
Very few people are now self-employed in Germany, a little less than nine percent in 2022. However, being responsive when traveling is not only the rule for the self-employed. Many employees are also available for professional purposes. This comes from data from the survey institute Yougov, which surveyed more than 2,000 office workers on behalf of Slack. There, 37 percent state that they can be reached professionally while on vacation.
The fact that the figures from Bitkom and Yougov (65 percent vs. 37 percent) differ greatly is not only due to different professional groups. If you ask someone “Are you available for work while on vacation?”, people don’t necessarily mean the same thing. For a person, this means whether they will participate in work calls. For the next one, if you could call her in case of emergencies. Some might consider “achievable” just as a technical possibility. The difference in opinion causes fluctuations when the question is worded slightly differently.
It is therefore not clear what role the corona pandemic has played. The assumption is obvious that Corona would have mobilized many jobs and promoted access from anywhere. However, the last few years of Bitkom’s surveys do not show a clear trend. In any case, the phenomenon has not only existed since 2020.
Personal motivation drives most office workers on vacation
No additional wages and still on call in a beach chair? This is more of a psychological than an economic or legal issue. Work psychologists are more likely to advise using vacation as recreation and therefore not being available. The research was made more difficult at this point by the fact that many of them set a good example in August. Stephan Sandrock is already back from vacation. At the Institute for Applied Ergonomics in Düsseldorf, he heads the department for work and performance. He explains that the urge to be available is often about the feeling of missing out. Sandrock calls it a “misguided curiosity motive.”
For the Yougov respondents, it is above all their own motivation and important projects that drive them on vacation. Older employees in particular give these reasons. Your colleagues under 30, on the other hand, want to meet the supposed expectations of customers and superiors. Overall, the young office workers are somewhat more accessible than the older ones, which runs counter to their work-life balance image in the media. “Gen Z isn’t Gen Z,” says Stephan Sandrock. “I don’t expect Gen Z to behave very differently to other age groups on vacation.”
On the other hand, occupations seem to be more important than age. In fact, differences can be seen in the sectors. The IT area is at the forefront when it comes to accessibility. Every second person there states that they can be contacted professionally during the recovery period. Public sector workers, on the other hand, switch off the most. This is probably due to structural reasons. Anyone who often works on projects like people in the IT industry is bound by deadlines in a flexible manner. It might be easier to switch off if you have fixed working hours. In addition, the very complex matter, even during Stefan Virnik’s time as an employee, meant that his expertise was sometimes needed. If IT problems could lead to devastating damage without the employee on leave, legal expert Michael Fuhlrott also sees a possibility of disturbing someone on vacation.
It is also noticeable that people tend to be more accessible the more they earn. A similar association was found in the US, where high-income people take fewer vacation days. Are high-income people all workaholics? Or maybe they have a high income because you can call them anytime? “I don’t think there’s a direct connection between people with high incomes being more accessible,” says Stephan Sandrock. “It’s probably more the case that managers and specialists from certain industries are more accessible and also earn more money.”
What better way to switch off? That’s what the psychologist advises
Psychologist Sandrock advises to devote oneself primarily to relaxation on vacation. The impulse to check your emails is a matter of habit. And as the surveys show, young people in particular are putting themselves under pressure because they assume their employer wants to contact them. Therefore, according to Sandrock, the first step should be to discuss expectations with managers. “Then you quickly see that most people don’t expect you to be available.”
You can also turn off the push notifications and separate business emails from private ones to weaken the appeal. A concrete replacement regulation also helps to relieve stress. Of course, it can still happen that curiosity grabs you. So if you absolutely want to check your emails, you should set aside fixed slots to work, advises Sandrock. “I myself check my messages once halfway through my vacation and can then relax the second half as well.”