The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is the envy of the world. Medical care is free at the point of contact so you won’t go bankrupt paying medical bills because the system is funded by taxes. The NHS performed admirably at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and its doctors, nurses, and support staff worked tirelessly to help patients recover.
As a result, the slogan “Thank you NHS” became a social phenomenon in the United Kingdom during the early part of the pandemic. Government officials, organizations and people everywhere posted supportive messages of support for NHS workers acknowledging the work they were doing in saving lives despite the risks of catching Covid-19.
A Wikipedia article describing the phenomenon said “large numbers of private individuals placed home-made signs in their windows and outside their homes to thank the NHS workers. The handmade posters frequently featured drawings of rainbows. The campaign was supported by the Conservative Party-controlled British government, which displayed children’s ‘Thank You NHS’ signs in the windows of 10 Downing Street.”
On April 8, 2020 Twitter posted a Tweet of the NHS Song which was written by Geoff Morrow and performed by Talia Morrow.
Facebook #thankyounhs: 136,000 people are posting about this Instagram #thankyounhs: 229,716 posts TikTok #thankyounhs: 714,900,000 views YouTube #thankyounhs: 1,300 videos and 697 channels
Google Trends: “thank you NHS” first appeared during the week of March 22, 2020 and reached its peak during the week of April 12, 2020 during lockdown.
Happy new year readers! Let’s hope that the pandemic can be defeated and put behind us. Today’s word, although not new, is workcation and is a portmanteau of the words “work” and “vacation” and refers to working remotely while enjoying the benefits of vacationing. For example, you might be on a business trip for a few days and want to check out the local sites of interest.
An article published for HelloLanding.com on August 1, 2022 explains what a workcation is, the benefits of taking one and how to plan your nomadic workcation getaway:
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, there has been a huge increase in people working remotely. While some have waved goodbye to office life in favor of being a full-time digital nomad, others have preferred to work from home, allowing them to spend more time with their families and achieve a better work-life balance.
This new trend of working remotely has led to the rise of the “workcation” (also spelled “workation”), a concept that combines work and travel. The two terms might seem contradictory at first, but people are beginning to find that taking a workcation allows them to destress, recharge, and explore a new place without falling behind on their workload.
A workcation might last for a couple of days, weeks, or even months—basically, it can be whatever you want it to be! You’re still expected to get all of your work done as normal, but rather than working from home or the office, you can bring your laptop to the pool, a coworking space, or even the beach (just be mindful of the sand!).
While workcations aren’t necessarily a new concept, the rise of remote work has led more and more people to realize that a hotel room or vacation rental apartment is just as good as their living room for getting a day’s work done.
Danielle Leigh
Workcations can have their disadvantages. For starters, there is too much temptation to just enjoy the “vacation” part of workcation and not do the work. With remote working, the lines between our personal and business lives are already blurred. It is not uncommon to feel pressured to respond to emails and deadlines outside of working hours. Rewire.org, a non-profit journalism website, said that “white collar workers specifically are under constant pressure to be available at a moment’s notice, and the notifications – from email, Slack, Google Chat, and others – are seemingly endless. The pandemic has only exacerbated this trend: for the 42 percent of the American workforce that has been working from home for the past 12 to 18 months, there is no longer any physical separation between life and work” (Banks). There is a balance to be achieved to make a workcation “work.”
Facebook #workcation: 23,000 people are posting about this Instagram #workcation: 176,481 posts TikTok #workcation: 11,300,000 views YouTube #workcation: 851 videos and 273 channels
Google Trends: workcation first appeared in 2004 but since the pandemic the popularity of the term has increased due to the high number of people who were able to remote work.
