The Memo: Summer’s over, workcations aren’t
Plus: Union utopias.
Hello, Memo readers!
It used to be that vacation meant logging off, ignoring your emails, and telling people you’d get back to them in a week.
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But that’s changed for some remote workers, who are increasingly traveling for “workcations.”
Instead of spending a long weekend in a city, they might spend a week or two abroad, working from a new destination and exploring it on nights and weekends.
But where’s the best place to go on a “workcation”?
The International Workplace Group made a list of the 10 best cities in 2024 for a workcation, measuring factors such as climate, culture, food prices, happiness, access to Wi-Fi, and availability of flexible workspaces. The WeWork rival has long operated flexible workspaces under the name Regus.
The results might surprise you. Take a look at the top 10 destinations.
Labor unions are putting in the work
Some 70% of Americans now approve of labor unions, up from 67% in 2023. This marks the second-highest approval rating for unions in almost 60 years, according to a recent Gallup poll; the only year during this timeframe with a higher approval rating was 2022, when support reached 71%.
But unions haven’t been able to directly translate that support into growing membership; just 1 in 10 workers are members of labor unions, even as more get organized each year. According to a new report from CUNY’s School of Labor and Urban Studies, that’s because much of the recent growth has come from unions at small workplaces, such as Starbucks $SBUX stores that pop up all over suburbs and major cities.
But where are labor unions most concentrated? Quartz’s Will Gavin takes a look.
You got the Memo
Send questions, comments, and workcation tips to [email protected]. This edition of The Memo was written by Ben Kesslen, Will Gavin, and Morgan Haefner.