More than one in five U.S. employees (20.8%) report having worked remotely from another country without informing their employer, according to new Careerminds research.
The data shows no evidence of a performance cost: workers were three times more likely to report improved rather than worse performance away from their usual location, consistent with Gallup’s finding that fully remote employees report the highest engagement.
The findings come as “summermaxxing,” a social media trend centered on slower summer living, gains traction across social feeds.
Careerminds surveyed 600 U.S. employees, asking three questions: have they secretly worked from abroad, how does their performance change away from their desk, and does their manager know their real location.
Key findings include:
- More than one in five U.S. employees (20.8%) have worked from another country without telling their employer, and 22% plan to this summer.
- Gen Z workers (36.7%) are 2.6 times more likely than those ages 46-61 (14.1%) to have secretly worked from abroad.
- Half of employees (50.1%) say their manager doesn’t know where they actually work from when remote, and 12.3% actively keep it vague.
- Workers are three times more likely to say their performance improves (14.7%) than declines (4.8%) when working away from their usual location.
- Men (23.9%) are more likely than women (17.2%) to secretly work from abroad, but women report the strongest performance gains.
“The findings say less about where people work and more about what they’re willing to tell their employer,” said Amanda Augustine, resident career expert at Careerminds and a certified professional career coach.
“Working from another country without telling your employer isn’t just a harmless workation. It can create tax, visa, insurance, and data security risks for both the employee and the company,” she added. “If employees feel they have to hide a week abroad just to take advantage of a flexible work policy, the policy has already failed. Employers should establish clear work-from-anywhere policies, and employees need to understand the legal and practical risks they assume when they choose not to disclose their location.”
Full research findings include:
- The secret workation is becoming a repeating behavior: More than one in five U.S. employees (20.8%) have worked remotely from another country without telling their employer, and 22% plan to do so this summer, including 10% who would be doing it for the first time. For 12%, it’s already a routine; they’ve done it before and plan to again this summer.
- For Gen Z, working from abroad is becoming the norm: More than one in three Gen Z workers (36.7%) have secretly worked from another country, 2.6 times the rate of those ages 46-61 (14.1%). A third of Gen Z workers (33.3%) plan to do so this summer, 2.5 times the rate of their colleagues ages 46-61 (13.5%), suggesting the behavior is becoming a generational norm rather than a temporary habit. This echoes The Harris Poll’s finding that younger workers are the most likely to take time off without fully telling their managers, driven by pressure to appear constantly available.
- Managers don’t ask where remote workers are: Among employees who have never secretly worked from abroad, half (50.1%) still say their manager doesn’t know where they actually work from, 37.8% say their manager doesn’t ask and they don’t say, while 12.3% actively keep it vague. Only one in three (34%) say their manager always knows their location, with older workers being the most evasive: 17.6% of professionals ages 46-61 actively keep their location vague, the highest of any age group.
- Distance doesn’t dent performance, workers say it helps: Workers were three times more likely to report improved performance (14.7%) than worse performance (4.8%) when working away from their usual location, with 40% reporting no change. Among those who noticed a difference either way, three in four (75.3%) said they got more done.
- Men take more secret workations, but women get more out of them: Men are more likely than women to have worked from another country without telling their employer (23.9% versus 17.2%), though women are close behind on plans for this summer (20.5% versus 23.2%). When it comes to output, women report the strongest gains away from their usual location: 18.8% say they got more done, compared with 11% of men.
“Perhaps the most striking finding is that only a third of managers always know where their remote employees are actually working from,” Augustine said. “That gap doesn’t necessarily come from deception; most workers say their manager simply doesn’t ask. Both sides are choosing not to have the conversation, and that silence carries real risk. Employers should ask the question, put a location policy in writing, and create an environment where employees feel comfortable answering honestly. Workers who keep their location vague may feel protected, but they’re the ones exposed if something goes wrong abroad.”
Photo credit: Freepik
Sign in to get access to this free resource, and all of our whitepapers and reports.
Download this content today!
Register Now Already registered? Click here to Log In
