In the wake of lockdown, almost every workplace has embraced a more liberal “work from home” policy – but what about hush trips, the new trend for doing your 9-5 from a different country (and not telling your employer?).
According to Jill Cotton, career trends expert at Glassdoor, a hush trip is defined as “a catch-all term to describe an employee working remotely in a different location than where their employer thinks they are. The company usually allows flexible work, but here, the worker is actively hiding where they are working from and/or pretending to be in a location close to work.”
The temptation speaks for itself. Over the past couple of years, it's become clear that remote working is a perfectly legitimate way of doing your job – in some cases, providing the added benefits of enhanced focus and quiet, while ridding you of daily commute stress. ""The pandemic proved that employees don’t have to be physically present to be productive and for companies to be successful," adds Cotton. "The pandemic also sped up technology adoption across many businesses, enabling more roles to work remotely."
Yet some employers implement policies which forbid, say, working abroad, or necessitate their staff to come in to the office a minimum number of days a week – removing the possibility of working just about anywhere. The hush trip, then, is a means of circumventing this.
While the more rule-abiding might be wary of attempting this kind of manoeuvre, according to Cotton it's indicative of a greater “power to the people” mentality in the current employment climate. “With labour shortages impacting nearly every industry, workers have the leverage to demand greater flexibility and autonomy over how and where they work.” It's just, rather than busting in and attempting that conversation with their line manager, workers are just going ahead and leaving the country.
That's the case for Melinda*, who considers hush trips “the norm”. She tells me: “ If I’m only working from abroad for 1-2 days (like flying to a destination on Wednesday or Thursday and working there from Thursday to Friday so I can enjoy a long weekend)." Her policy is “ask for forgiveness not permission” – only volunteering the information of her whereabouts when forced to: "I definitely don’t tell my company in advance - I won’t lie about where I am if asked, but I don’t proactively bring it up..Have only done it once for a longer trip of one week), I ended up having to explain because there was a big company offsite scheduled that week and people asked why I wasn’t there. But definitely the ask forgiveness not permission approach.”
Others prefer to lean in to the top-secret approach. “I lived in a different country for three months and took a weekly 6am flight back for the one-day-a-week office day!” says Hannah*, adding: “I've also done a number of trips abroad secretly where I had to position myself away from palm-tree backed windows.”
So – are hush trips worth the duplicity (and the risk of getting in trouble with your employer)? To some degree, yes, says Cotton. “Switching up how and where you work can be a great way of keeping a job fresh and exciting, allowing you to bring your best self to your employer. It can also be a great way to keep your mental health in check.”
Men are praised and rewarded for their ambitions, but women are more likely to be penalised for acting on theirs.
However, do question the need for this sleuthing in the first place, she adds: “Great workplaces offer transparency - the employee is clear on what the company will do for them but equally the employer knows what to expect from their team.” In other words – if you're feeling the need to lie to your boss, it might be a sign something's off, either in your professional communication or in the workplace itself.
If you do still want to head off on a hush trip, Cotton has offered the best advice (below) to pull it off. Bon voyage, or should we say, enjoy your day of work – just beware of those pesky palm trees popping up in your Zoom background.
- Confirm you can legally work from another country.
- Make sure you have all you need with you to work successfully away from home (ie. stable wi-fi)
- You might be in a different location, but you still have a job to do. Quickly get into a new work routine to ensure you don’t lapse on any responsibilities. And just like at home, ensure a separation between work and personal life.
- Think differently about how you work - if you are on a different time zone you might need to work early mornings/late evenings to fit in with other team members.
*Names have been changed to protect anonymity.
