Britons increasingly combine remote work and holidays through ‘workations’

Many people in Britain are adopting “workations” — combining remote work with holiday time — enabled by digital tools and growing flexibility from employers. The trend spans ages and job types rather than fitting the digital-nomad stereotype. Katherine, a 48-year-old conference manager, said her first workation was extending a trip to Australia by two weeks to work remotely from a friend’s house and that she now arranges petsitting to visit family and cities for long weekends.

“I just think it’s brilliant for work-life balance. It’s a great way to have a change of scene,” she said. Her employer has no formal policy but managers consider requests; she added: “It all comes down to individual relationships and trust, and having that autonomy.” Research from the Chartered Management Institute found one in eight employers have a formal workation policy and one in five managers said they had taken one themselves.

A Grant Thornton survey suggests formal arrangements have risen from 59% of businesses in 2023 to 77% in 2025, and a YouGov poll found 37% of people able to work remotely were interested in taking a workation in the next 12 months. Travel firms are marketing to these customers — Tui, for example, has a workation page advertising “handpicked hotels that are perfect for a working holiday”.

Petra Wilton of the CMI recommended employers should “put clear, transparent rules in place and actively manage them”.

Key Topics

Business, Workations, Remote Work, Work-life Balance, Chartered Management Institute, Grant Thornton