The risks of 'ghost vacationing' over the holidays

• Ghost vacationing — where you secretly take time off work — can be risky, experts warn.
• If you'd like time away, it's better to set clear expectations with your employer.
• Bosses can help by offering greater flexibility, when possible, during the holidays.

At the end of the year, it can be tempting to keep your Slack on and quietly slack off.

If a lot of your coworkers are away — and you're supposed to be working — you might feel the pull to skip out. Yet, what's sometimes called "ghost vacationing" carries risks that often outweigh the benefits of surreptitious R&R, career advisors told Business Insider.

One of the biggest hazards, of course, is getting caught. That can damage trust with your boss, said Amanda Augustine, a career expert at TopResume.

The timing can exacerbate the situation if you disappear when many people within your company are already scheduled to be off. If an issue arises — maybe a last-minute project or a client concern — and you're not available when you're supposed to be, "the ghost vacation really can backfire," she said.

The cost of holiday-themed quiet quitting can grow if your coworkers are forced to cover for you while your mouse jiggler puts in overtime.

Augustine said that anyone who had legit time off scheduled might be left thinking, "I played by the rules, and then somebody just decides to go rogue, and now we all suffer for it."

That resentment could linger. "How is collaboration after that? How is team morale?" she said.

Communication is key

For some workers, Augustine said, it might be reasonable during the holidays to take a longer lunch and check off some errands on your list — especially when offices are quieter, and expectations are looser. It might also be OK to announce that you'll only be available by phone for a few hours before returning to your keyboard and attending to work.

The key, Augustine said, is clear communication with your boss so that expectations are understood on both sides.

Where it gets sticky, she said, is when you're trying to appear as though you're working when you're not.

"For those that are blatantly just pretending to be on the clock when they're supposed to be but are really unavailable, I think that's when you can get into trouble," Augustine said.

Flexibility can help

Augustine said that it's likely that many people have, at some point, partaken in a bit of ghost vacationing — on a nice summer day, perhaps, or while traveling.

One reason could be that many people don't use the vacation days they're allotted. More than four in 10 US workers who had the benefit of paid time off took less time than they were given, according to a 2023 Pew Research Center survey.

For workers who might be feeling burned out, snippets of downtime on the DL often serve as little more than a Band-Aid, Augustine said. That's because there's lingering pressure to stay tethered to work messages.

It's much more relaxing to be away from work when it's approved, and you don't have the feeling that someone is looking over your shoulder, said Peter Duris, CEO of Kickresume, a career tool that uses AI.

Bosses can help reduce workers' temptation to slip away by being extra accommodating during periods like the holidays, he said.

"It's definitely better for the businesses to change the schedule or change the workload," Duris said.

Augustine said that if you can't get time off approved when you want to, try to push through and take time off when others are back. That's a safer approach, she said, than trying to take work in some camouflaged PTO.

"If you get caught misrepresenting your availability, it can quietly erode trust and and that can definitely last longer than, say, that day or so that you took off," Augustine said.

Do you have a story to share about your career? Contact this reporter at tparadis@businessinsider.com.