U.S. workers are reportedly working while on vacation

Yahoo Finance Live examines how U.S. workers are taking vacations but staying plugged in and on call for their jobs.

Video transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

SEANA SMITH: Workcations are on the rise, according to a recent study by Allianz Partners USA. Nearly 60% of Americans are going on vacation this year, but they aren't clocking out. Layoff fears and a tight labor market are making some workers feel as though they have to stay in work mode, even though they're away.

And Dave, when you take a look at some of these other anecdotes that are in this report, more than 1/3 say that they plan to check in with the office multiple times a day, compared with just 19% who planned to do so in 2021. So we always talk about the fact that Americans have a hard time detaching themselves from work. And it seems like employees are having an even tougher time this summer.

DAVE BRIGGS: Oh, it's funny you ask because I mean, I'm literally the poster child of this.

SEANA SMITH: Yeah, I know.

DAVE BRIGGS: I just had a discussion with our boss earlier, and I said, I'm off Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I said, well, I want to do this segment Wednesday from home. I'm going to do a story on Friday. And she looked at me and said--

SEANA SMITH: Yeah, how did that go over?

DAVE BRIGGS: --aren't you on vacation? Yeah, I'm bad at it. I think we're all bad at it. Unplugging is impossible for me now. And it's not because of pressure from a boss. It's just the new way we're built because now we know we can work from anywhere, Rachelle. I don't know. Clearly, I'm not alone.

RACHELLE AKUFFO: I think it's hard though, especially in journalism when you know that you're going to have to come back to a story that's maybe been building for the past week, and you don't want to sort of come in blind. So in the back of your mind, you're like, I still at least want to check in on what's happening. So I'm just saying, I can't completely unplug. But when I do, everything is getting turned off. I set aside my time to check my things. The rest of the time, I'm out. I'm not interested.

SEANA SMITH: You guys need to unplug. You need it to recharge--

DAVE BRIGGS: You do?

SEANA SMITH: --come in refreshed. I don't totally unplug. I like to keep an eye on what the show is doing. But I think that I don't necessarily-- I'm not sending about 10 to 20 pitches a day when I'm off, as some people do I'm not going to name any names. So maybe there's different layers or levels as to how badly we really cannot unplug.

DAVE BRIGGS: I have been known to do that, even on a Sunday afternoon. It's a sickness.

RACHELLE AKUFFO: I know.

DAVE BRIGGS: I got to cure it. I'm going to put the phone away for one day this week. Just watch.