Zoom Study Reveals Inbox Anxiety Is the Hidden Cost of Vacation
Rhea-AI Summary
Zoom (NASDAQ: ZM) released findings from its 2026 Out of Office Index, a Morning Consult survey of 1,000 U.S. knowledge workers and 500 IT decision-makers, showing widespread anxiety around taking paid time off. According to Zoom, 61% of workers dread the work waiting after PTO, 48% feel anxious before vacation, and 57% left some PTO unused in the past year. Many prefer staying partially connected, with 68% saying they would rather monitor their inbox on vacation than return to hundreds of unread emails.
The study highlights broader operational impacts: 71% of workers at least sometimes experience delays when a teammate is out, 75% say work tied to a key colleague stalls for at least a day, and 76% of IT decision-makers plan to invest in productivity and continuity tools. In response, Zoom introduced ZoomMate’s Out of Office Workflows, which organize projects and contacts before PTO, summarize meetings and chats during an absence, generate a prioritized “Day 1 Plan,” and triage action items into do, delegate, defer, or done.
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Key Figures
Historical Context
| Date | Event | Sentiment | 24h Move | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 25 | earnings report | Positive | -7.0% | Reported fiscal 2Q27 results; the 24-hour price reaction was -7.03%. |
| Jul 28 | earnings scheduling | Neutral | +1.0% | Scheduled fiscal 2Q27 results for August 25; the 24-hour price reaction was 1.02%. |
| Jul 22 | AI product update | Positive | -4.4% | Expanded Zoom Revenue Accelerator AI features; the 24-hour price reaction was -4.41%. |
| Jul 09 | product launch | Positive | +2.8% | Launched Virtual Agent Receptionist; the 24-hour price reaction was 2.84%. |
| Jul 02 | acquisition agreement | Positive | -3.3% | Agreed to acquire Common Room; the 24-hour price reaction was -3.31%. |
24h Move is the share-price change in the day after each event; other market factors may also have contributed.
Zoom’s recent positive corporate and product announcements more often diverged from subsequent negative price reactions than aligned with them.
AI-generated analysis. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.
New research from Zoom shows that workers dread returning from vacation, and that dread is changing how, or whether, they take time off at all
SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 01, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The hardest part of taking time off might be the anticipation of what awaits workers when they get back, from an overflowing inbox and a calendar packed with catch-up meetings to important context lost while they were away.
Zoom’s Out of Office Index, a national study conducted by Morning Consult, found that
That pressure is changing how people use their time away, with
With its products at the center of daily workplace communication, Zoom commissioned the study to better understand a workplace culture tension around productivity and well-being. Workers want meaningful time away, but many worry that disconnecting will leave them behind when they return.
“Taking time off should give people room to recharge, yet many workers spend their vacation worrying about what will be waiting when they return,” said Whitney Magnuson, Zoom’s Head of Brand Strategy and Activation. “The Out of Office Index puts numbers behind a workplace experience that people recognize, and it captures how that anxiety affects individuals, managers, and teams.”
To help close that gap, Zoom built ZoomMate's new Out of Office Workflows, designed to help workers prepare before they leave and catch up quickly when they return.
The Anxiety Around Time Off Is Real and Measurable
For many workers, preparing for PTO means bracing for the return, with
After they return, workers report the following:
61% dread the amount of work waiting for them.77% say unread emails and messages are a source of stress.88% need at least one full day to recover after returning.53% need three or more days to feel fully caught up.
Gen Z workers report especially high levels of anxiety:
52% feel anxious before PTO.52% have considered skipping vacation because of work stress.65% left at least some PTO unused last year.
Managers are also heavily affected:
53% feel anxious before taking time off, compared with36% of individual contributors.70% work extra hours before they leave.60% left at least some PTO unused.
For Organizations, One Person’s Time Off Becomes Everyone’s Problem
When a key employee steps away, the effects can spread across the team, especially when information and decisions remain tied to one person.
71% of workers say they at least sometimes experience work delays when a teammate is out.75% say work tied to a key teammate stalls for at least a day when that person is out.65% encounter collaboration challenges.60% report operational inefficiencies when a colleague is away.
That pressure is shaping investment decisions, with
Workers Want AI to Help Them Catch Up
AI support is especially appealing around the return to work:
82% want AI to summarize what they missed.80% want automatic recaps of decisions made in their absence.79% want AI-generated to-do lists for their first day back.78% would be more likely to fully disconnect if AI reliably caught them up upon return.76% would use more of their available PTO if AI reliably helped them catch up.69% say AI tools could improve their work-life balance.
ZoomMate Carries the Conversation Forward, So People Don’t Have To
Much of what a returning employee has to reconstruct begins in a conversation, whether it is a meeting they missed, a decision made in a thread, or a customer call that changed a priority. Catching up means understanding what happened in those conversations and what needs to happen next.
ZoomMate’s new Out of Office Workflows help employees organize what happened while they were away and decide where to begin.
- Before You Go. Organizes open projects, key contacts, and pending decisions in a “While I’m Out” Canvas.
- Welcome Back. Searches meetings, documents, and Zoom Chat threads from the time an employee was away, surfaces key decisions and priorities, and creates a prioritized “Day 1 Plan.”
- Missed Messages Digest. Creates a prioritized digest of Zoom Chat messages, including urgent items and mentions, with suggested replies for time-sensitive conversations.
- Action Item Triage. Brings together action items from an employee’s absence and organizes them into Do Today, Delegate, Defer, or Done.
The workflows help returning employees understand what happened, identify what needs attention, and decide where to begin.
Methodology
Zoom's Out of Office Index was conducted by Morning Consult, surveying 1,000 U.S. knowledge workers and 500 U.S. IT decision-makers in 2026. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for knowledge workers and plus or minus 4 percentage points for IT decision-makers. To learn more about Zoom’s Out of Office Index, visit zoom.com/en/lp/summer.
About Zoom
Zoom (NASDAQ: ZM) is an AI-first work platform built for human connection, purposefully designed to move conversations to completion. From solopreneurs to global enterprises, customers choose Zoom to communicate, collaborate, and get work done across meetings, chat, phone, contact center, events, and more, with the built-in assistance of Zoom AI Companion. Founded in 2011, Zoom is headquartered in San Jose, California. For more information, visit zoom.com.
Media Contact
Rebecca Bernhard
rebecca.bernhard@zoom.com
