The workplace is evolving, and with it comes an exciting trend: workations. By definition, workations allow employees to work from locations away from their regular workplace. Some call it "temporary work from abroad" or "mobile work abroad," but the concept remains the same – offering employees the freedom to work from anywhere.

Why offering workations makes business sense

The widespread adoption of workations isn't surprising. HR teams frequently report that flexible location policies significantly influence candidates' decisions to apply. The numbers reported by companies offering this perk tell a compelling story about the benefits to existing employees as well (TUI Workation Index, 2024):

• 76% boost in employee satisfaction
• 74% boost in employee retention
• 69% boost in employee motivation
• 66% improvement in work-life balance
• 54% improvement in company culture

How companies structure their workation policies

Companies are implementing workations in various ways. Based on WorkFlex data, workation policy settings differ significantly by company type (fully remote vs. hybrid) and industry.

The hidden challenges: understanding workation risks

While employers are eager to offer workations as an attractive benefit, a WorkFlex survey (2024) exposes a troubling pattern: companies aren't recognising the compliance risks associated with this perk. Most organisations aren't taking compliance measures seriously enough:

• Only 51% introduce employees to their workation policy 
• Just 43% have implemented a formal approval process 
• Merely 42% provide essential travel health insurance guidance 
• A mere 40% assess compliance risks before trips

Without proper compliance management, what starts as an attractive benefit can quickly turn into a significant liability. Both employers and employees may face substantial fines and administrative burdens—exactly the opposite of what companies hope to achieve when offering this perk.

The eight critical risk dimensions of workations

Let's examine the eight critical risk dimensions that need to be managed for a successful workation program:

Immigration and work authorization 

• Challenge: Workations often may not neatly fit into traditional visa categories
• Impact if unmanaged: Penalties of €5,000+ and potential country entry bans

Corporate income tax 

• Challenge: Risk of creating a permanent establishment
• Impact if unmanaged: 20-35% tax rates over attributable profit, and €50,000+ in administrative obligations

Employment tax 

• Challenge: Foreign payroll obligations
• Impact if unmanaged: Employment tax up to 60% of remuneration, potentially even 150% if grossed up

Social security 

• Challenge: Dual risk of losing home coverage and triggering foreign obligations
• Impact if unmanaged: €5,000-15,000 in annual contributions per employee, €5,000+ in administrative obligations

Labor law 

• Challenge: Applicability of local employment regulations
• Impact if unmanaged: Unexpected obligations regarding local working conditions like wages, hours, and benefits

Posted Worker compliance 

• Challenge: Special EU requirements for cross-border work
• Impact if unmanaged: Penalties of not registering timely plus reputational damage

Health & safety 

• Challenge: Duty of care obligations abroad
• Impact if unmanaged: Medical expenses, evacuation costs, legal liability

Data protection 

• Challenge: Cross-border data transfer and security
• Impact if unmanaged: Penalties exceeding €5,000 plus reputational damage

The solution: making workations work with WorkFlex

These compliance risks, while significant, shouldn't stop you from offering workations to your employees. That's where WorkFlex comes in with our all-in-one global mobility compliance management software and the groundbreaking no-risk workations concept.

Here's how we make workations work:

Each employee workation request requires an individual approach since compliance risks are impacted by employee-specific factors: home country regulations, destination country regulations, employee demographics, trip details, as well as company policy. 

To ease the workload of HR and global mobility specialists, as well as to ensure 100% compliance for every employee trip, WorkFlex software provides automated compliance risk assessments based on employee- and trip-specific details.

After a workation request has been submitted by an employee, WorkFlex global compliance engine starts a 3-step process.

Step 1: Identify and assess compliance risks

Considering the trip details and employee demographics, the WorkFlex compliance engine evaluates compliance risks across eight main dimensions:

• Immigration and work authorization
• Corporate income tax
• Employment tax​
• Social security​
• Labour law​
• Posted worker directive
• Health and safety
• Data protection​

Within a few minutes, you will receive a thorough compliance risk assessment specific to the trip, accompanied by a final mark using the traffic light system: green or yellow for a no-risk workation, and red for high risk.

Step 2: Implement risk mitigation measures

Once the compliance risks are identified, WorkFlex automatically implements all relevant measures to mitigate these risks:

• ‍Employee instructions: A document that supports the employee with their trip from A to Z, summarizing considerations for entering the destination country, working in the destination country, traveling safely, insurance, internet and data security, and other details.‍
• A1- or CoC-Certificate: Specifies the applicable social security scheme for the traveler, helping to mitigate social security risks.‍
• Travel health insurance certificate: Provides worldwide coverage, insuring the employee against health and occupational risks.‍
• GDPR Transfer Impact Assessment (TIA): A systematic evaluation conducted to assess the potential impact of transferring data from one location or jurisdiction to another. It involves a comprehensive analysis of the data protection and privacy implications associated with the transfer, ensuring compliance with relevant data protection laws and regulations.‍
• Audit trail: WorkFlex automatically captures and stores all travel details, from initial trip requests to manager and HR approvals, complete with timestamps. This ensures transparency and accountability throughout the process, with all necessary information accessible in one place.

Step 3: If any risks arise during the trip, WorkFlex takes full liability

If any risks materialize during the employee's trip, which is highly unlikely given all the compliance risk assessments and documents provided, WorkFlex takes full liability, ensuring a no-risk experience for both the employer and the employee. WorkFlex supports with the following:

• 24/7 availability for consultations: Employees are provided with a telephone number and email address for the WorkFlex team, which can be reached at any time if compliance issues arise during the trip.
• Assumption of liability: WorkFlex assumes liability up to an amount of €50,000 in the event of legal disputes. Additionally, we support our clients in discussions with the authorities of a country when they reach out. The financial aspect covers local corporate tax, social security premiums, or employment tax

What does this mean for your organisation? 

With WorkFlex, you can:

• Eliminate compliance risks across all major risk dimensions
• Reduce administrative costs by avoiding the need for expensive legal consultations
• Save time through automated processes
• Offer workations confidently and safely

Ready to get started?

Don't let compliance concerns hold you back from offering the flexibility your employees want. Join leading employers like BioNTech, Pantheon, and Scout24 in providing safe and compliant workations that benefit both your employees and your business. 

The first step is creating a well-structured workation policy. WorkFlex has developed a free template for you, available here.

To learn more about our no-risk workations solution, visit WorkFlex or schedule a meeting with our team to discover how we can help you implement a successful work-from-anywhere program that keeps both your company and employees protected.