An image posted by a young woman who told the program about her atypical work schedule, stating that she works from the beach without being on vacation or leave, has sparked controversy on social media.
An image of a young woman working on a laptop on the beach, accompanied by her explanation of the effectiveness of such a program, has sparked controversy on social media and opened a heated debate about where employees are most productive.
“The Office Moved to the Beach”
Along with the image published on the Internet, the young woman briefly described how a typical work day went.
“Today I went to the beach, a Thursday, during work hours. I wasn’t on vacation, I didn’t take sick leave, and I didn’t screw up. I just worked. My day started with an iced coffee in bed, as usual. Then I sat down to work: emails, client messages, internal Slack, and Trello cards. At 10:00 I went out to get my nails done, during which I responded from the phone to some work messages”, she told this.
The young woman added that she returned home to have lunch and take her child to daycare, but then returned to the beach.
“I sat in the sun, ate watermelon and swam in the sea. After that, I settled under the umbrella, opened the laptop and continued to work. I finished the work day at 6 pm, then I lay in the sun for another half hour. Finally, I took my little boy and went home. That was my Thursday: a normal and productive day at work, only in a less beautiful setting usual”, reported this.
Reactions to the young woman’s message
The message of the young woman caused a wave of reactions. Some Romanians saw her gesture as exaggerated and totally unproductive.
“No wonder people are being called back to the office by companies,” complained a netizen on the Reddit platform.
Other Romanians listed the advantages of such a flexible way of working.
“In a normal world, theoretically this shouldn’t be a problem if you deliver everything on time and do your job as well as you do at home or in the office.” someone else wrote.
Many Romanians reported that they work from home and that sometimes they also feel as if they are working from the beach.
“I have days when I go to the countryside and work remotely, quietly, from the terrace of the house, in the shade, with a view of the surrounding hills. Believe me, I work much more efficiently in a pleasant environment than between four walls. A happy employee is a performing employee”, says someone else.
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Other Romanians say that working on a laptop on the beach can be risky, because of the sand, water, strong sun, but also the danger of the device being stolen or even accidents at sea.
“You can’t see the sun on the screen, your laptop battery dies if you’re working hard, a wind comes and brings sand on your keyboard, people come, disturb you, you lose concentration”someone else adds.
However, some users claimed that the office is not necessarily the ideal space for concentration either.
“On the beach you have even fewer distractions than at the office, where there is a repair and the drill ends, someone calls you for a cigarette, someone else for a coffee, you go to the meeting room and stop when it gets dark, because you want to get home. Working overtime, working from home, is much easier to do”one user commented.
Another Romanian claims to have noticed the difference between employees who work seriously, even from home, and those who use remote work as an excuse to relax.
“I have been working remotely for many years and you can feel who are the beach colleagues and who are the serious ones. Most of the time, the beach colleagues have very poor results, the initiative is zero and the communication is also zero. The first to suffer are the colleagues, because usually they have to take over the things that the “beach boy” should have done”. he commented.
Some Romanians claim that going back to the office means efficiency.
“Keep calm, in Romania no one can afford to work from the beach anyway”, concludes a netizen.
Working from home, between benefits and pitfalls
Recently published studies show why the modern working day no longer necessarily means a fixed schedule at the office.
One such study, led by Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom, shows that hybrid work can benefit both employees and companies. According to the Stanford Report, employees who work from home two days a week are as productive and have similar chances of promotion as those who work exclusively from the office, and hybrid work significantly reduces company departures.
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The research, published under the title “How Hybrid Working From Home Works Out”, analyzed an experiment conducted on 1,612 engineering, marketing, and finance employees of a large technology company. The study showed that hybrid work reduced the rate of company departures by 33% and improved employee satisfaction.
Another study, published by Microsoft, brings into focus a less appreciated aspect of the flexible schedule. Research published in 2025 shows that the traditional working day from 9.00 to 17.00 has become history. Microsoft data shows that 40% of Microsoft 365 users check their email by 6am, while late-night meetings after 8pm have increased year-on-year. This expansion of working hours is not limited to weekdays: weekend work has become the norm, with 20% of employees checking their email before lunch on the weekend, and more than 5% staying active on Sunday evenings.
“One in three employees say the pace of work over the past five years has become unsustainable. This points to a larger truth: For many, the modern workday no longer has a clear beginning or end. As business demands become more complex and expectations continue to rise, time once reserved for focus or recovery is now spent recovering, preparing and trying to bring order to chaos. It’s the professional equivalent of having to assemble a bicycle before every walk”Microsoft notes.
