You get four weeks of annual leave, and you use it… well, sort of.
“Ghost vacationing” is when you’re technically on holiday but still checking emails, joining calls, and basically working remotely without telling anyone. You’re physically away, but mentally still chained to your desk, pretending you’re unreachable. You should be switching off completely, but instead, you find yourself doing these things. Naughty!
1. You check your work email multiple times daily on holiday.
You can’t help yourself. Even though you’re at the beach or exploring a new city, you’re refreshing your inbox constantly. That little notification gives you anxiety, and you convince yourself you’re just “keeping on top of things” while you’re away.
Put an out-of-office on and actually mean it. If something’s genuinely urgent, people will find a way to reach you. Most things can wait a week, and checking emails just keeps you mentally at work when you should be properly switching off and recovering.
2. You take calls from your hotel room or holiday rental.
You’ve snuck away from your family or partner to join a “quick” meeting that somehow turns into an hour. You’re whispering so no one hears, pretending you’re fully present on holiday while actually still being completely plugged into work drama and projects.
Unless you’re genuinely on-call or self-employed, this shouldn’t be happening. Block out your calendar properly before you leave. If your workplace expects this, that’s a them problem, not a you problem. Holidays exist for a reason, and boundaries matter for your mental health.
3. You’re responding to Slack or Teams messages immediately.
Your phone buzzes and you can’t ignore it. You tell yourself you’ll just read it quickly, then you’re suddenly typing out responses and getting pulled into conversations. You’re maintaining the illusion of availability even though you’re supposed to be completely off the clock.
Turn off work notifications entirely or delete the apps temporarily from your phone. If colleagues know you respond while away, they’ll keep messaging. Train people that you’re genuinely unavailable by actually being unavailable. Silence teaches people to respect your time off properly.
4. You’ve scheduled work around your holiday activities.
You’re planning your entire trip around when you can squeeze in work hours. Morning calls before breakfast, afternoon emails while everyone else naps, late-night catch-ups after dinner. You’re essentially working a full day, but with tourist activities crammed awkwardly in between the work blocks.
This defeats the entire point of a holiday. If you can’t disconnect, maybe you need to look at why that is. Is it workplace culture, your own anxiety, or genuine necessity? Often it’s the first two, which means the solution is setting better boundaries.
5. You lie about where you are during video calls.
You’ve perfected the art of positioning your laptop so no one sees the hotel room or holiday backdrop behind you. Maybe you’re using a virtual background or sitting in a dark corner, so colleagues think you’re at home working as normal.
This level of deception suggests something’s seriously wrong with your work culture or your relationship with work. You shouldn’t have to hide being on approved leave. If you do, that’s a massive red flag about your workplace or your own inability to switch off completely.
6. Your family or friends complain you’re not present.
They’ve noticed you’re distracted, always on your phone, disappearing for “important calls” constantly. You’re physically there but mentally somewhere else entirely, and it’s affecting the people you’re supposedly spending quality time with on this break you planned together.
Listen to them because they’re right. You’re wasting money on a holiday you’re not actually taking. Put your phone in a drawer for set hours daily. Be genuinely present for meals and activities. Work will survive without you for a few days, honestly it will.
7. You justify it by saying you prefer to stay connected.
You tell yourself and other people that you actually like keeping up with work while away, that it reduces your anxiety about returning to chaos. Deep down,, you know you’re just scared of what happens if you fully disconnect and people realise you’re not indispensable.
This thinking keeps you trapped in a cycle where you never properly rest. Real breaks require complete disconnection. Your brain needs time away from work stress to actually recover. Staying connected just means you return as exhausted as when you left, defeating the entire purpose.
8. You’ve never taken a full week without working.
Even your longest holidays involve some level of work involvement. You can’t remember the last time you went seven days without checking in or doing something work-related. It’s become so normal you don’t even see it as a problem anymore, just how things are.
Start small if needed. Try a long weekend with zero work contact, then build up to longer periods. You need to prove to yourself that things genuinely don’t fall apart without you. Most people overestimate their indispensability and underestimate their team’s capability to manage without them.
9. Your boss expects you to be reachable on leave.
There’s an unspoken understanding that holiday doesn’t really mean off. Your manager messages you about non-urgent things or includes you in email chains despite your out-of-office. The workplace culture basically pretends holidays don’t exist or treats them as optional disconnection at best.
This is terrible management and potentially illegal depending on where you live. Document these expectations and push back. If it continues, escalate to HR or start looking elsewhere. Companies that don’t respect leave don’t respect employees, and that culture won’t improve without serious intervention.
10. You feel guilty about actually disconnecting.
The thought of being completely unreachable fills you with anxiety. You worry about letting people down, missing something important, or being seen as uncommitted. That guilt keeps you tethered even when you desperately need to properly switch off and rest your mind.
Guilt is often misplaced obligation. You’re entitled to your leave, and taking it fully doesn’t make you lazy or uncommitted. It makes you a human being with boundaries. Work out where this guilt comes from and challenge whether it’s actually justified or just conditioning you need to unlearn.
11. You return from holiday feeling more exhausted.
Your break somehow left you more tired than before you left. You never properly relaxed because you were juggling work and holiday simultaneously. You spent money and time off but got none of the recovery benefits because you never actually stopped working properly.
This pattern will burn you out eventually, if it hasn’t already. Holidays are meant to restore you, not drain you further. If you can’t disconnect, you need professional help to work through why, or you need to have serious conversations about workplace expectations and boundaries.
12. You’ve normalised this behaviour completely.
Ghost vacationing feels normal to you now because everyone around you does it too. Your whole office operates this way, and you’ve forgotten that holidays are supposed to mean actual time off. The lines between work and life have blurred so completely you can’t see them anymore.
Just because it’s common doesn’t make it healthy or sustainable. Look at people who actually disconnect and notice they’re not falling behind or getting fired. They’re often more productive because they actually rest. You deserve the same, but you have to choose it and defend it.
13. You’re scared of what happens if you truly step away.
Your fear isn’t really about work falling apart, it’s about becoming irrelevant or replaceable. You stay connected to feel needed and important. The idea of the office functioning fine without you for a week terrifies you more than admitting you’re exhausted and need proper rest.
That fear keeps you stuck in unhealthy patterns. The truth is, good systems shouldn’t rely on one person being permanently available. If they do, that’s a structural problem, not your responsibility to fix by sacrificing your wellbeing. You’re allowed to be replaceable for a week.
