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US Workers Secretly Take ‘Workations’ From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.
In the United States, a quiet change is happening at work. Many workers are taking "workations." This is when employees work remotely from a vacation place without telling their boss.
Workation combines the words "work" and "vacation." Another example is "staycation.” This word describes when a person decides to stay home during vacation rather than traveling.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, teleworking and remote work led people to re-think parts of their professional and personal lives. This increased the popularity of workations.
Corporate trainer Rudi Riekstins works with businesses and employees. He told VOA the pandemic made people question what they really wanted in their work and personal lives.
Riekstins said that as a result, some people started to feel like they wanted to avoid the busy, work-driven life sometimes described as a “rat race.” And as people went back to work, they sought to have more control.
One study by hospitality management company Mews found that about 29 percent of employees said they had worked remotely from a vacation place without telling employers. The study, carried out by market research company OnePoll, involved 1,000 American travelers and 1,000 American hotel workers.
The research suggested that 52 percent of employed Americans would use vacation travels as a chance to work remotely.
Riekstins said workations can be good for both workers and employers. For example, a workation can improve worker happiness by making life more interesting.
“Productivity goes up by 70 percent on average when people are happier when they are working. And we see happy people when they're traveling because they feel stimulated,” said Riekstins. “You start to be stimulated emotionally, mentally, and physically, and then when you show up to work, you are more creative.”
Some hotel companies offer workation specials to boost business, especially during slower times.
Sandy Wieber owns the 17-room Bayfront Marin House in St. Augustine, Florida. She also rents out eight beach cottages. Wieber herself worked remotely for eight years and now offers workation services that she would have liked using.
In Georgetown, Maine, the 13-room Gray Havens Inn, which sits near the water, created a special program that aims to appeal to younger, remote workers.
“We have a lot of younger travelers, but not as many as we would like. This is part of the reason we started this program,” said innkeeper Ali Barrionuevo. “I read about other hotels doing it, so we put it out there to see if we could attract people who were teleworking.”
The special includes 25 percent off the room rate for a seven-day stay. The room comes with daily breakfast, a welcome gift, and some food and drinks. Barrionuevo also provides advice and support for seeing the area and taking part in activities.
“When they are done working, we help them find out what they like and create itineraries to help them see the things they want or should see with limited time,” she added.
A public opinion study carried out by ResumeBuilder.com found that one in six Gen Z workers used a false online background of a home office to fool their employer.
Gen Z is a name for the generation of people born in the late 1990s through the early 2000s.
Another study from 2023, found that 51 percent of Gen Z workers said they had worked remotely from a vacation place, but did not tell their employers.
Riekstins noted that not all workations have to be secret. Some employers permit workations as long as employees get their work done. “A number of the organizations that I do currently work with don't care where their employees work, as long as they produce the results and it's done within the office hours.”
Riekstins said he thinks more companies should accept remote work situations as a way to improve worker satisfaction and business productivity.
He said employers should be asking: Are workers happy? Are they able to work anywhere and still get the job done? Can companies get better products and better results with happier workers? And will this make them stay at the company?
And that’s the Health & Lifestyle Report. I’m Anna Matteo.View -
What Is the Hajj? Once a year, millions of Muslims from all over the world travel to Saudi Arabia, to complete an important religious duty called Hajj. The travelers gather in the city of Mecca, carrying out holy acts over several days.
Hajj is one of the five pillars, or bases, of Islamic belief.
Here is a look at the religious event and its meaning to Muslims:
What is Hajj?
Every Muslim who is financially and physically able is expected to complete at least one Hajj. Hajj is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. The others are declaration of belief, daily prayers, giving to those in need, and fasting. These acts are required.
When is Hajj?
The Hajj takes place once a year during the Islamic lunar month of Dhul-Hijja. It is the 12th and final month of the Islamic year. The Hajj begins on June 14 this year and ends on June 19.
What is the meaning of Hajj to Muslims?
Performing Hajj meets a religious requirement for Muslims. The pilgrims are to seek God’s forgiveness for their wrongdoings. They believe the act brings them closer to God.
Many pilgrims bring with them prayer requests from family and friends that they would like to be said for them.
Some Muslims spend years saving money and making preparations to make the pilgrimage. And other barriers can get in the way.
In 2019, almost 2.5 million Muslims traveled to Mecca for Hajj. But the next year saw worldwide pandemic restrictions. Saudi officials restricted the event in 2020 to Muslims who lived in the country. Last year’s Hajj was the first to be held without COVID-19 restrictions since 2020. Close to 1.9 million people took part.
What are some of the religious acts that pilgrims perform?
Pilgrims declare the will to perform Hajj and they enter a state of “ihram.” Rules of ihram include the wearing of special clothes by men. The aim is to prepare oneself to be humble and a follower of God.
A spiritual high point of Hajj for many is to stand on the plain of Arafat. Pilgrims pray at the site, praising God and asking for God’s forgiveness.
Other religious acts include performing “tawaf” or circling the Kaaba structure in Mecca seven times.
The Kaaba is a structure that represents the house of God. Muslims pray toward the Kaaba wherever they are in the world.
Pilgrims also follow the path of Hagar, or Hajar. She is the wife of the Prophet Ibrahim, or Abraham to Jews and Christians. Muslims believe she ran between two hills seven times searching for water for her son.
Among other religious acts, pilgrims throw small stones at structures that represent evil.
What is Eid al-Adha?
Eid al-Adha, or the “Feast of Sacrifice,” is a holiday that begins on the 10th day of Dhul-Hijja, during Hajj.
It is celebrated by Muslims around the world. It marks Prophet Ibrahim’s demonstration of religious belief by offering his son’s life to honor God. During the holiday, Muslims kill animals like sheep or cattle and give some meat to the poor.
I’m Gena Bennett.View -
The City of Tokyo Aims to Increase Dating, Marriage The city of Tokyo is launching a campaign to create couples in a country where it is increasingly common for people to be alone.
Called “Tokyo Futari Story,” the plan aims to create couples, called “futari” in the Japanese language.
A website offering advice and general information for possible lovebirds is online. There is also a dating app in development. The Tokyo government hopes to offer it later this year.
The app will be available through phone or the web, a city official said recently.
Details were still undecided. The city government would not comment on Japanese media reports that said the app will require a lot of information. Users reportedly would need to confirm their identity, such as with a driver’s license, provide tax records to prove income and sign a form that says the person is ready to get married.
The reports also said the app might ask for a person’s height, job and education, but the official denied anything had been decided.
Marriage and birth rates
Marriage is on the decline in Japan.
Recent health ministry data shows that the country’s birth rate fell to an all-time low in 2023.
Last year there were 474,717 marriages, down from 504,930 in 2022.
Births totaled 727,277, down from 770,759 from the year before.
On the national level, the government has been trying to solve a serious labor shortage. The government has promised cash payments to families with children and support for child-care providers. It has also eased immigration policy over the years to increase foreign workers.
During the so-called “baby boom” of the 1970s, Japan recorded more than 2 million births a year. Like many young adults around the world today, fewer Japanese are interested in marriage or having children.
There are concerns that Japanese workplace culture leads to extremely long hours. Such hours make it difficult to meet people outside of work. Some say raising children is too costly.
The Tokyo government is also supporting events where single people can meet and couples can get counseling on marriage. In addition, lovers can have stories of how they first met turned into art such as manga comics or even songs.
I’m John Russell.View -
South Korea Establishes Space Agency, Targets Mars Landing South Korea has created a new national space agency to increase its capabilities and is aiming for a future Mars landing.
President Yoon Suk Yeol recently announced the establishment of the Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA). He said the country plans to spend about $70 billion on future space exploration.
"I have always believed that there is an infinite dream and future in outer space," Yoon said. The South Korean leader added that the agency would seek "to land a homegrown probe on the moon by 2032 and plant the (South Korean flag) on Mars by 2045."
South Korean space officials say the newly formed agency will aim to establish better cooperation than in the past, when different government ministries were involved in space activities. All space efforts are now to be developed under the KASA.
South Korea became the seventh country to own an indigenous space launch rocket. Last May, that vehicle, called Nuri, successfully launched a large satellite into orbit. Additional Nuri rocket launches are planned. One is set for the second half of 2025.
In the next three years, South Korea plans at least three more space launches. It also aims to launch several military satellites.
A KASA statement said the agency is modeled after the American space agency NASA. It said KASA would act as an "aerospace control tower," to oversee space policy, satellite development and exploration missions.
Planned cooperative projects include expanding South Korea's involvement in Artemis 3, NASA’s planned effort to put astronauts back on the moon by 2026. Research and development at KASA will be led by John Lee, who spent 30 years with NASA.
Yoon said the country’s space development budget would increase by $1.1 billion by 2027. That is double the current space budget.
KASA will be headquartered in the city of Sacheon, in South Korea’s far south. Yoon noted the government’s plan to create the "Toulouse of Asia" in Sacheon. He was speaking about the southwestern French city of Toulouse, which developed into a European space capital because Airbus is headquartered there.
KASA’s planned moon landing in 2032 will be a joint project with Hanwha Aerospace, South Korea's largest defense and aerospace company.
Roh Kyung-won is deputy administrator of KASA. He told the French news agency AFP, "Our aim is also to support the private sector in space missions as extensively as we can.”
One of the agency’s first projects will involve a cooperation with Perigee Aerospace. The newly formed South Korean space company will aim to test a space launch vehicle from South Korea’s southern Jeju Island as early as next month.
International space experts say Yoon's announcement demonstrates the increasing efforts that Asian nations are putting into space programs for practical reasons. These include perfecting independent rocket technology and strengthening national pride.
China has been heavily developing its space program and exploration missions in recent years. The country has successfully launched heavy-lift rockets, including the Long March 5. It has also established its Tiangong space station, sent unmanned moon probes and launched its Zhurong exploring vehicle, which reached Mars in 2021.
Japan has also increased its national space activities. In January, it became the fifth nation to place a lander on the moon. Japan also plans to send an explorer, or rover, to Mars.
And last year, India became the fourth country to land on the moon.
I’m Bryan LynnView -
African Elephants Call, Answer to Individual Names African elephants call each other by and answer to individual names, a new study finds. Such communication is rare in the animal world.
African elephants are among the largest animals that live on land.
The names are one part of the low sounds, or rumbles, elephants make. They can hear these sounds over long distances where they live in the savannah – large grassy areas of land mixed with woodlands.
Scientists believe that animals with complex social structures may be more likely to use individual names.
Stuart Pimm of Duke University is an ecologist who was not involved with the study. He said, “If you’re looking after a large family, you’ve got to be able to say, ‘Hey, Virginia, get over here!’”
It is extremely rare for animals to call each other by individual names. Humans have names, of course, and dogs and cats may react when their names are called.
Some ocean animals, including the dolphin, invent their own names when they are very young. And the birds called parrots may also use names.
Each of these naming animals also have the ability to learn and say individual new sounds throughout their lives, as does the African elephant, the research shows.
The study was released in the publication Nature Ecology & Evolution. In the study, biologists used machine learning to find the use of names in recordings of savanna elephant sounds. The sounds were recorded at Kenya’s Samburu National Reserve and Amboseli National Park.
The researchers followed the elephants as they traveled to observe which one called out and which one appeared to answer.
By examining only the audio data, the computer model predicted which elephant was being called 28 percent of the time, likely due to the inclusion of its name. When fed meaningless data, the model only correctly predicted eight percent of calls.
Biologist Mickey Pardo of Cornell University wrote the study. He said, “Just like humans, elephants use names, but probably don’t use names in the majority” of their communications.
The low rumbles elephants make also may include sounds that are below the range of human hearing. The scientists still do not know which sounds make up a name.
Researchers tested their results by playing recordings to individual elephants. The elephants reacted more energetically, moving their ears and lifting their trunks, to recordings that contained their names. Sometimes elephants did not react in any way to the sounds of elephant names other than their own.
Ecologist George Wittemyer of Colorado State University helped write the study. He also is a scientific adviser for the nonprofit Save the Elephants, which aims to protect the animal.
He said, “Elephants are incredibly social, always talking and touching each other — this naming is probably one of the things that underpins their ability to communicate to individuals.”
Wittemyer added, “We just cracked open the door a bit to the elephant mind.”
I’m Gregory Stachel.View