This is the Business English Podcast, episode 259.
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Hello, Michelle. How are you doing today?
Good, Lindsay. How are you? Fantastic. Fantastic.
Do you have a question for me to open up the conversation?
Yes, I do. Lindsay, have you ever heard of a hush trip?
A hush trip. I have not heard of that. What does that even mean?
Oh, well, today, that's what we're going to be talking about, because this is becoming a trend and it's making things a little sticky with work.
Sticky and tricky. Sticky and tricky. Yes, yes, yes, exactly.
So that's what we're going to be talking about today, guys.
Before we do that, we have this awesome B2 fluency course coming out.
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Right. We just created this course, guys.
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Great. Okay. Can't wait for that. So guys, we are going to be using an article for inspiration just to help us explain it.
But there are many different articles. You can look up Hush Trip and read about it.
So we're going to be mostly talking about our own opinion.
But this article is from... work life dot news and it's W from February 20 February 17th 2023 and it's WTF is a hush trip and why HR needs to know about it and this is by Chloe Callahan oh okay now that makes it even more interesting the concept and I'm even more curious but first guys go back and listen to business English 25 to change your mind and pivot and business English very interesting go and find that out A lot of what you guys tell us you want to work on is being able to change ideas, be dynamic in conversation, move from one idea to the next, and that episode gets into that in the career space.
Okay. Absolutely. Love it. So, Lindsay, do you want to know what a hush trip is?
Please tell me, Michelle. Tell me. Here we go.
Okay. So a hush trip is basically when you work somewhere else.
So you already work from home or most of the time, so you can go away and work in another place without even saying anything to your workplace, to your boss.
And a hush trip tends to be in a place where you also are pretty happy to be for a vacation.
So maybe you're going to the beach and then after work you're going, you know, you're, you're going water skiing or after, or maybe for lunch you're taking a quick swim.
So, This is interesting, Lindsay. What do you think about a hush trip?
Well, I definitely think that this is a topic that's relevant to certain countries and not all countries.
So I think work from home became a huge deal after the pandemic, during the pandemic in the US, maybe the UK, maybe Canada, but we recognize it's not everywhere.
A lot of parts of the world are back at work, back to the commute.
Here, I think it's more of a hybrid model, Michelle, right?
Maybe two days in the office, three days from home.
But this might be a conversation, even if you don't experience work from home, you might start the conversation with someone from any of these countries, right, Michelle?
So just to get some context there, for sure.
What do I think? Really depends. Yeah, well, let's just let me just want to mention a couple of points that the article mentions that if you feel if you feel that you can't tell your employer, it may mean there's there's a reason you feel that way, because, you know, it should be kept from them.
You might know that there's some sort of issue.
Yeah, for sure. I do think the whole idea of the laptop on the beach is pure fantasy because Stan gets into your laptop.
That's true. That's not really a thing. Yeah, that's true.
Yeah. But however, if it is a routine and everybody's going on hush trips and it's just kind of expected, you might not always need to mention it.
So this could depend on the flexibility of your workplace.
Yeah, this is really about reading the room, understanding your company culture, understanding what the policies are, what are your coworkers doing?
But I think above all, it's about, and I interviewed Kayla Erig about digital nomadism back in January.
You guys can go check that out on All Ears English.
It's about if you do decide to do this, you have to over deliver.
You have to be better than your coworkers who are in the office or just at home, home.
You actually have to be three times better than them in terms of delivering early, not missing a single email.
Because what people will do is if you do miss an email, miss a task, they'll immediately say, oh, well she's, you know, she's working from somewhere else.
They'll attribute it to that. Whereas there could have been an internet outage in the office too, but you'll get blamed more for it if it happens to you, if you're not in the office.
You have to cover all your bases, make sure everything's going according to plan.
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Exclusions apply. See details online. Okay, so what else does the article mention?
Well, it also mentions about how H.R. might need to make policies to help legally because there are things that can go into this like safety, cyber safety, cybersecurity or even tax implications that It's not as simple as just, oh, I want to work from somewhere else.
There's a lot that could actually go into it depending on how frequently you do it or how intense the security needs to be, especially for your job. yeah i mean sometimes you can't take your laptop to certain countries if you work for certain government agencies you actually can't enter those countries with a laptop or there is proprietary data on your system your computer network so that is definitely a thing you want to think about for sure yeah yeah yeah so lindsay if if i were going to work at the beach and and we just started recording and you noticed i was in a hotel room or with a beach in the background How would you feel?
And I never said anything to you. I'm trying to feel you out because I'm going to do this.
No, I'm just joking. We'll be in Florida next week, right?
I mean, I always tell you where I'm going to be.
We definitely have had times where we're each recording in a different place.
I can't imagine just not telling that to you because why wouldn't I?
But how would you feel if I just was at the beach and I didn't say anything?
I think as long as the internet were just as good as it is in your home office, as long as there were no background noise and there were good lighting, the standards have to be as good as they are in the original space.
I think that's kind of the key. How does it affect?
In the end, I think most managers are really more interested in the final product, the result.
So if we can create as good of a podcast episode from you being in a hotel room in Miami as we can from you being in New York, then I'd mostly be okay with it, right?
It's just really about the final product in my mind.
Yeah, but I'm not the same as all managers or all bosses, right?
Yeah. Right. Right. Exactly. People. And exactly.
It is it is a little bit different for us because we're podcasting.
So something like the look of it and the sound and the Internet, it's really specifically important for what we do.
So, yeah. And again, it might be different for a larger business and the more of the corporate world.
It could vary. But yeah. Um, yeah, I think I think if you're avoiding taking talking about a trip.
Yeah. Maybe you're telling your family not to put up pictures on social media.
Yeah. Yeah. That's that's a sign. You know, it's not right.
You know, you know, it's not the right thing.
Right. In our guts, we know. And I think if if we're not talking about some kind of performance based media creation like podcasting, let's say you're in project management.
Then at that point, it's about are you taking on the same workload? um as you would be normally like i remember when i first started creating this podcast um my original co-host just not for recording but just for work to get the podcast going she just said i'm gonna go to hawaii and run an iron man and i said uh okay so are you working from hawaii like what's happening i didn't really know it was 2014
We were doing a ton of work to launch the show, and that leaves a lack of confidence in your partner's mind, your business partner's mind, or your co-worker's mind.
It is your responsibility to clear up the gaps, like fill in the gaps.
Here's what I'm going to do. Here's what I'm going to be working, and we're delivering the same quality of work, right?
Right, right. Yeah. And then also, I think it makes a difference also if you're going to be on the beach versus you're staying with your family in the suburbs, right?
I feel like there might be a different way of looking at it if you know somebody's just on vacation and, oh good, I can fit my work in here.
Whereas if it just happens to be that they're not doing anything too exciting, they're just with their family in a different house. think maybe it has a different feeling i'm not yeah i think just focusing on the output the result the work the quality of the work is the most important thing and there is something to be said for taking a vacation and really taking it as you know take take your a lot of companies offer a limited pto or pto in some format just take the pto take the time off you know if you can and be fully disconnected so you can actually go to the beach and not have to take that laptop with you.
Right, right. Well, I think that some people might just see it as an advantage or taking advantage of the whole work remote situation and how much people do it.
And so it's almost, yeah, they're going to take that vacation, but they're also thinking, oh, I can fit in a few more vacations.
It's tricky. Yeah, it is tricky. And we don't want to be too intense about things.
So I think, Lindsay, if you Like you said about focusing on the output and if you can actually get things done, that to me is probably the most important thing.
However, I can see some of those HR issues coming up that can make things a little bit uncomfortable.
Yeah, I think it's going to depend on the size of your company.
A smaller company is usually going to think more about output and results. whereas a larger company maybe would be more about like norms and traditions and this is not how we do it so much depends on your company for sure exactly bring this up in terms of English Michelle if we decide let's talk about language a little bit right so maybe you want to ask your boss if this is okay what could you say you could say something like I'm thinking of something right so for example i'm thinking of getting some sun in florida do you mind if i work from there next week yes so yeah just this would sound like this hi lindsay i'm thinking of getting some sun in florida do you mind if i work from there next week not at all as long as you can get your work done we're good thanks Yeah.
And I think maybe what I would recommend is as the person asking for permission, bring up a little more context on the front end.
I'm thinking of working from Florida next week.
I'll have access to a co-working space between nine and four.
So I'll be logged on. uh and i'm thinking of maybe getting some sun in the evening or getting some air in the evening i don't know i would just say like i would present it where you're explaining how and where you're going to be working from first and then you know i'm going to visit my family on the weekend or something something like right right like it shows that you've put you put in the care and you put in the thought about how you're going to get your work done and you're putting your manager at ease Yeah.
Yeah. Lead with the benefit for the company.
That's what I would do. You know what I mean?
And then, and then add on and, you know, I'm also going to be near my parents' retirement facility and we're going to play golf on the weekend or something.
Right. Great. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. What's one more way you might bring this up?
Okay. So we have a little role play then.
Should we go into that, Michelle? Well, another thing you could say is, okay.
Yeah. Would it be okay? Sorry. Yeah. Go ahead.
Go ahead. Would it be okay with you if I worked from blank next month or next week or next whatever?
So let's do this role play. So Michelle, would it be okay with you if I worked from Jamaica next month?
For a whole month? You might need to ask HR about that.
Oh, good point. I will. Okay. Yeah. And so again, I think here too, leading with the details, the logistics.
So then you don't make your manager have to ask, well, when are you going to be working?
How's your internet? Don't make them ask those questions.
You come to them with those answers. You've already researched it.
You can guarantee a bandwidth, all these things.
That would be the key. Yeah, definitely.
I think that's a good... Outlook for many things in business.
Just showing that you're the prepared one.
You don't have to make your boss seek out the information and wonder.
You've thought of all the possibilities of things that could happen in many different situations, not just for a hush trip.
Yeah, I mean, in a sense, it's really...
It's sales here. You're selling an idea to your boss, right?
And a good salesperson is prepared. They've thought about every aspect of what they're proposing.
And that's what you're doing. So what would you bring?
You bring a sales pitch to someone. You're also selling the idea of going and working from a different place.
The onus is on you to do that well. Right?
Love that. Interesting. Love it. Yeah. Very good.
So yeah, the takeaway is a lot of what Lindsay just said.
It's really interesting how things at work are evolving and how this is even now an option.
It could have benefits and drawbacks. It could be good for people's mental health or production or maybe not so much for production.
You guys, let us know what you think. Do you think if you are a manager, would it bother you if your employees did this?
Or do you think as an employee, would it be too distracting to go away on vacation and work?
Yeah, guys, check out my interview with Kayla Erig about digital nomadism and how to make sure you maintain trust when you are in that Airbnb working from Florida, for example.
You know, how upfront should you be? What do you need to do to make sure you stay ahead of the game and you don't fall behind?
That came out on All Ears English, I think in early February.
So that would be the place to go for that, guys.
Hit the search button and search for All Ears English and hit follow.
All right. Great topic today, Michelle. Very relevant for our modern post-pandemic times.
Yes, absolutely. All right, guys. Thanks for listening and have a good day.
All right. Bye-bye. Bye. Thank you. Tap the link in the show notes.
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