Summer travel may look different for many workers this year.
According to Monster’s Staycation Summer Report, 52% of workers say rising living costs are causing them to stay home more often this summer. Nearly two in five are cutting back on vacations or trips, and many are seeking lower-cost ways to spend their time off.
This can mean more than a travel trend for today’s workforce. It’s another signal that financial pressure is shaping how workers live, spend, work, and evaluate their jobs.
When employees feel stretched financially, they may delay time off, work more, cut back on savings, take on side income, or rethink what they need from an employer. That can affect engagement, burnout, retention risk, and how candidates evaluate future opportunities.
Key Findings For Employers
- 52% of workers say rising living costs are causing them to stay home more often this summer, showing how financial pressure is changing time-off behavior.
- 39% are cutting back on vacations or trips, suggesting many workers are scaling back traditional summer plans.
- 37% are looking for lower-cost leisure activities, pointing to a more budget-conscious approach to rest and recovery.
- 28% are prioritizing saving money over discretionary spending, reinforcing how financial stability is shaping worker decisions.
- 23% plan to work more this summer due to financial pressure, creating potential risks for burnout and work-life balance.
- Only 17% say their summer plans have not changed, showing that most workers are adjusting in some way.
What This Means For Employers
The rise of the staycation is not just about where workers spend their summer. It reflects how financial pressure is affecting employee behavior.
For some workers, staying home may still provide needed rest. For others, cutting back on travel, delaying purchases, reducing savings, or taking on additional work may signal deeper financial strain.
That matters for employers because financial stress does not stay outside the workplace. It can affect productivity, engagement, morale, burnout, and retention.
Employers don’t need to solve every cost-of-living challenge, but they should understand how financial pressure may be shaping employee expectations around pay, flexibility, time off, scheduling, and total rewards.
Summer Plans Are Being Reshaped By Financial Pressure
Monster’s report found that workers are scaling back summer plans in response to rising costs.
More than half say they are staying home more often, while 39% are cutting back on vacations or travel. Others are looking for lower-cost activities, prioritizing savings, or planning to work more.
For HR and business leaders, this points to a broader issue: employees may be making financial tradeoffs that affect how they use time off and how they recover from work.
Vacation time is often treated as a personal benefit, but it also supports retention, productivity, and well-being. If workers are skipping travel, working more, or avoiding time away because of financial pressure, employers may need to pay closer attention to whether employees are actually getting the rest they need.
Cost Pressures Are Changing Spending And Work Behavior
The staycation trend is part of a larger shift in how workers are managing rising expenses.
Monster’s report found that 54% of workers have cut back on dining out or entertainment, 38% have delayed a major purchase, 33% have reduced savings contributions, 31% have cut back on driving, and 26% have taken on additional work or side income.
These behaviors show that workers are not only changing summer plans. They are adjusting their broader financial lives.
For employers, this can show up in several ways. Employees may be more sensitive to commute costs, more interested in flexible scheduling, more likely to ask about raises or advancement, or more open to higher-paying opportunities elsewhere.
This also reinforces why compensation conversations cannot happen in isolation. Workers are evaluating the full picture: pay, benefits, flexibility, stability, commute costs, and whether their job helps them keep up financially.
Working More Can Increase Burnout Risk
One of the most important employer-facing findings is that 23% of workers plan to work more this summer due to financial pressure. That could mean taking on extra hours, side income, or additional work outside their primary job. While that may help employees manage short-term costs, it can also increase stress and reduce time for rest.
For employers, this creates a potential burnout risk. Employees who are financially stretched may be more likely to push through exhaustion, delay vacations, or remain “on” even when they need time away.
Managers should be aware of signs that employees are overloaded, including declining engagement, reduced focus, missed deadlines, irritability, lower participation, or reluctance to take time off.
The Retention Impact Of A Staycation Summer
Cost-of-living pressure can also influence retention. Workers who feel financially strained may be more open to higher-paying roles, more focused on benefits, or more likely to compare their current job against opportunities that offer better flexibility or stability.
Even employees who are not actively searching may be reassessing whether their current role supports their life outside of work. That includes whether their pay is competitive, whether their schedule is sustainable, and whether they can afford to take real time away.
Employers should not assume that employees are unaffected because they are staying put. A worker may remain in place while still feeling financially pressured, burned out, or open to a better opportunity.
How to Support Workers This Summer
Employers can use this data to better understand how financial pressure is affecting their workforce:
- Encourage time off and make it usable. Employees may need support planning coverage, disconnecting from work, and taking meaningful breaks.
- Review compensation and total rewards. Pay remains central, but benefits, flexibility, commuting support, and career growth can also shape how employees evaluate value.
- Train managers to watch for burnout. Employees who are working more or delaying time off may need help managing workload and expectations.
- Communicate flexibility clearly. Flexible schedules, remote or hybrid options, and predictable work hours can help employees manage personal and financial pressures.
- Strengthen the employee value proposition. Workers are looking at the full employment experience, including pay, stability, flexibility, growth, and whether work feels sustainable.
The Recruiting Impact Of Financial Pressure
Rising costs may make salary ranges, commute expectations, schedule flexibility, and benefits even more important in the job search. Candidates may be less willing to consider roles that are vague about pay, require costly commutes, or offer limited flexibility.
Employers can build trust by being clear in job postings and recruiter conversations. That includes communicating compensation where possible, outlining benefits, explaining work location expectations, and showing how the role supports long-term stability and growth.
The goal is not to overpromise. It is to give candidates enough information to understand whether the opportunity fits their financial and lifestyle needs.
The Bottom Line
Many workers are scaling back travel, cutting discretionary spending, prioritizing savings, and planning to work more because of financial pressure. For employers, those choices can affect engagement, burnout, retention, and candidate expectations.
Organizations that understand these pressures can respond with clearer communication, stronger total rewards strategies, more usable time-off practices, and a better understanding of what today’s workers need to feel supported.
Methodology
The findings presented in this report are based on a survey conducted by Monster using Pollfish from April 20, 2026, through May 4, 2026. The survey collected responses from 1,005 U.S. respondents. Respondents answered a series of single-selection and multiple-choice questions about financial pressure, cost of living, employment decisions, commuting costs, and how rising expenses are influencing work behavior, job preferences, and lifestyle choices. The sample included respondents across a range of age groups, genders, and employment statuses.