In the past, maintaining a balance between work and personal leisure was often challenging. However, modern companies are now creating innovative work environments to boost both employee productivity and job satisfaction. Among the various new work models being introduced, workation has emerged as a highly popular and effective approach.
Workation is a combination of "Work" and "Vacation," referring to a work model where employees carry out their tasks from a vacation destination instead of an office. This flexible work style allows individuals to work in diverse environments while simultaneously experiencing new surroundings and enjoying leisure time. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, workplaces have undergone significant changes, with digitalization advancing across most industries. As a result, employees can now perform their tasks from virtually anywhere. With remote work becoming more viable, some companies have started encouraging telecommuting over traditional office work. Taking this a step further, businesses are now incorporating workation as part of their employee benefits, seeking out locations where employees can combine work with relaxation.
Workation differs from remote work in several ways.
While remote work typically involves working from home, workation integrates both work and vacation, enabling employees to complete their tasks from various destinations. Once work hours end, they can freely unwind and enjoy their time in a new environment.
Workation can be categorized into two types: individual and team-based. Companies have the flexibility to choose the type that best suits their policies and can implement workation in a way that aligns with their corporate structure.
Individual Workation: This type allows employees to work and enjoy leisure time from a vacation destination of their choice. It can be offered as an employee benefit, serving as a reward system similar to a month-long sabbatical. Employees have the freedom to balance their work responsibilities while taking time to relax in a new environment.
Team-Based Workation: This type resembles a workshop or retreat but differs in that each team member independently organizes their schedule. While team members work freely during designated hours, they can also enjoy leisure activities outside of work hours. Team-based workations foster collaboration while allowing employees to experience a refreshing change of scenery.
Types of Workation
Workations are gaining popularity, with many companies seeing positive results after implementation. As a result, more businesses are considering workation programs as an employee benefit. However, since this is a relatively new work format, implementing it requires careful planning. Rushing into adoption without a structured approach may lead to operational challenges.
To assist companies in this transition, the Korea Tourism Organization has outlined key considerations and procedures for implementing a successful workation program.
Steps to Implement a Workation Program
In March 2023, LG Uplus introduced a workation program, allowing employees to work remotely for up to a week in Gangneung and Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province. The company covered all hotel and resort expenses, and the program saw high participation from employees. According to LG Uplus, the initiative significantly improved work efficiency and productivity.
OB Beer implemented a Flexible Workplace Policy in November 2022, enabling 82% of office employees to participate. The program grants employees up to 25 days per year to work from a location of their choice while adhering to core working hours (10:00 AM – 4:00 PM). Designed to enhance autonomy and work engagement, this initiative has received highly positive feedback from employees.
Before implementing a workation program, businesses need a structured system for managing employees and setting clear policies. One of the biggest challenges in workation adoption is attendance tracking—ensuring employees are working from remote locations and verifying their working hours.
For companies facing these challenges, Shopl offers customized attendance management solutions, allowing businesses to efficiently track and manage employees, regardless of where they work.
Shopl provides facial recognition-based clock-in and out functionality, ensuring precise attendance tracking. By verifying GPS and Wi-Fi along with facial authentication, businesses can accurately monitor employees' work hours—without requiring any additional equipment at workation locations.
For instance, Balmuda, an electronics retailer, adopted Shopl and significantly improved attendance accuracy for mobile employees. The streamlined system made workforce management much easier.
[Read Balmuda's Success Story]
Workation employees may want to take time off to explore their surroundings. With Shopl, managing leave requests and approvals becomes seamless.
Employees can submit leave requests via the Shopl app or dashboard, and managers receive real-time notifications. Approval or rejection is just a few clicks away, and approved leave days are automatically reflected in the attendance system—eliminating the need for manual tracking.
As workation becomes a game-changing workplace benefit, many companies are considering its implementation. Why not enhance your workation program with an efficient workforce management solution like Shopl?✨
