Nearly Half of US Workers Lie About Bad Wi-Fi to Avoid Working on Vacation

Interesting that the generation most likely to give themselves away by posting vacation pics to their Instagram stories are also the most likely to lie about bad Wi-Fi. But that is neither here nor there.

“Most working Americans feel pressured to spend their vacations attached to their work email, when they may just need a few days to unplug,” said Daniel Durazo, director of marketing and communications at Allianz Global Assistance USA via a statement.

Allianz found nearly two-thirds of working Americans feel the need to check up on the office while on vacation, a phenomenon known as “email creep.” Though fewer than five percent of respondents said this was because their bosses expected them too. And only eight percent said it was because they “feel guilty” about not being online. Which begs the question: Why lie about it?

Most feel the need to creep because they don’t want to return to a quadruple-digit inbox, as nearly a third cited making an easier transition back to work as their main reason for checking emails while on vacation.

Bosses were not surveyed, though given you can literally get usable Wi-Fi in Antarctica now, we can assume they’re like parents who choose to believe their kids’ eyes got so red from a campfire. So go ahead and say you found the only hotel in Scottsdale that doesn’t have high-speed WiFi, you’re far from the only one lying about it. And if it helps you maintain a little work-life balance, your employer probably doesn’t mind all that much either.