A workation, a blend of “work” and “vacation”, is a period of remote work carried out from a holiday-like location, without using any paid leave. Long reserved for freelancers and digital nomads, the practice is now reaching companies, which need to set a framework for their employees. This guide covers the definition of a workation, how it differs from related practices such as bleisure, the points to formalise before allowing it, and solutions to organise it without losing work quality.
Workation, bleisure, remote work: a comparison table
These three ways of organising work are often confused, even though they follow different logics in terms of duration, leave and purpose.
| Arrangement | Uses paid leave | Typical duration | Main purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workation | No | A few days to several weeks | Working full time from a holiday-like location |
| Bleisure | Partly (the added leisure days) | A few days, around a business trip | Extending a one-off business trip with leisure time |
| Standard remote work | No | Recurring, one or more days a week | Working away from the usual office, most often from home |
The clearest distinction between a workation and the other two arrangements is the combination of full-time work with a location chosen for its setting rather than its proximity to the office or a client.
What is a workation?
The principle behind a workation is simple: the employee or freelancer keeps working their usual hours, or hours adjusted to the time difference when abroad, and enjoys the chosen setting outside those hours, in the evenings and at weekends. No leave is taken for the working period, which clearly sets a workation apart from a simple trip or an extended holiday.
Duration varies widely: an extended long weekend with two working days added, one to two weeks to try out a destination, or several weeks for a longer stay. The most commonly mentioned destinations combine an appealing setting with a reliable internet connection: the seaside, the mountains, the countryside near a major city, or a foreign country with a small time difference from France.
Why workation is gaining ground in French companies
The spread of remote work has changed employees’ relationship with the workplace. According to Insee, the share of employees who work remotely, even occasionally, rose from 9% in 2019 to 26% in 2023 (Insee, “Pratique du télétravail”, October 2025). Some of these employees, now used to working outside company premises, want to extend that flexibility to more distant locations for a defined period.
Two factors explain this trend:
- Flexibility has become a recruitment and retention criterion. A policy that formalises workation, even in a limited way, meets an expectation voiced by younger employees without changing how the rest of the year is organised.
- Remote working tools have become mainstream. Video calls, online document sharing and team messaging make an equivalent workstation possible from almost any location with a reliable connection, narrowing the practical gap between working in the office, at home or while travelling.
Without a framework set by the company, the practice still develops informally, which exposes employers to uncertainty over insurance, applicable law and the employee’s actual availability. This trend echoes the motivations already observed around getting teams back to the office : the quality of the setting matters as much as its location.
The framework to set before allowing a workation
An employee remains bound by their employment contract, internal rules and the company’s safety policies throughout a workation, including abroad. Before allowing the practice, a company benefits from clarifying several points in a dedicated charter or addendum:
- Approved destinations, taking into account the time difference, the reliability of the internet connection and, for destinations abroad, the local labour and social security rules that can apply beyond a certain duration.
- The maximum duration per year, usually between one and four weeks, to keep a stable working rhythm and limit the impact on colleagues who stay in the office.
- Availability hours, especially in the event of a time difference, to keep meetings and exchanges with the rest of the team on track.
- Equipment and insurance coverage, in particular health and liability cover abroad, which does not always match that of a standard business trip.
- Approval rules, with the manager staying responsible for checking that the team’s workload and deadlines are not affected by the distance.
This framework protects the employee, who knows their rights and obligations precisely, as much as the company, which avoids situations not covered by its internal rules.
Where to organise a workation without losing work comfort
A successful workation requires a genuinely equipped working environment: a reliable connection, a suitable workstation and, for team exchanges, occasional access to a closed room. Rather than working only from accommodation, many employees on a workation turn to a local coworking space, which offers this environment without a long-term commitment.
A coworking network present in several areas lets a company give its teams occasional access to an equipped space, by the day or by the hour, instead of leaving everyone to find a solution on their own. Morning operates coworking spaces and meeting rooms available on an occasional basis in several addresses across the Paris region, a useful option for a team organising an offsite or a period of work away from its usual premises before departing, or for the members who stay in the Paris region while others are on a workation elsewhere.
This logic connects with our guide on the benefits of coworking for a company : contractual flexibility and access to an equipped space without a long lease address the same need, whether for a temporary setup or a more mobile way of organising work.
Setting up a workation policy, step by step
For a company that wants to formalise the practice rather than let it develop without any rules, three steps help set a clear framework:
- Consult employee representatives and the legal department before any rollout, to make sure the charter complies with the applicable labour law and the specifics of the industry.
- Draft a short, readable charter, rather than a dense legal document, covering the points from the previous section: destinations, duration, availability, equipment and insurance.
- Plan a review after the first periods, to adjust the maximum duration or the approved destinations based on feedback from teams and any difficulties encountered.
A well-calibrated workation policy remains a differentiating benefit for attracting and retaining talent, provided the framework is set before the practice spreads informally. It complements other flexibility levers, such as flex office , which reorganise how offices are used without waiting for a lease to end.