3 On Your Side: Thanks To Mobile Devices, Many Are Working On Vacation
By Jim Donovan
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Were you able to get away this summer?
A recent survey finds that even if you did take some time off, many of us still couldn't leave the office far behind. 3 On Your Side consumer reporter Jim Donovan says thanks to electronic devices, many of us were still checking in.
Summer is coming to a close, and while many Americans took a vacation, most of us didn't really get away from it all.
A recent survey by Trip Adviser found 77 percent of Americans confess to doing some work away from the office. Some are motivated by guilt, others by the boss.
Twenty percent said it's a guilt thing; they feel a need to check in on vacation. But another one-in-five said they "really think their boss really expects them to be checking in and working, even when they're out," said Brooke Ferencsik, with TripAdvisor.
The most common activity was checking email. According to the survey, nine in ten American workers have checked their email while on vacation and 85 percent responded to emails.
Forty-five-percent confessed to checking voicemail, while 40 percent said they returned some of those calls.
Forty-two-percent said they created or edited a work document.
Aiding in all of this are our electronic devices.
"It really sets this expectation for them that they are checked in when they're really supposed to be checked out," said Ferencsik.
As we head into this final long weekend of summer, experts say that if you do feel the need to check in while on a vacation, set some parameters. For instance, if you set aside 30 minutes each day to review email and voicemail, at least you don't spend the entire vacation looking at your phone or computer screens.
