More than four out of ten people did not make full use of their full holiday entitlements last year, according to new research on annual leave.
The survey undertaken by FRS Recruitment shows that almost one in five people did not take five days of annual leave or more, which in business terms represents a week of leave.
Around 15% of people said they did not take four days, 17% had three days which went unused, 19% did not use two days of leave and 3% had one day’s holidays remaining.
The FRS Recruitment Annual Leave Report found that almost half of those surveyed said they used their annual leave for domestic travel last year, the most common reason cited.
Around 46% used it for foreign travel, 15% for family reasons, 9% for personal reasons and 4% due to illness.
Almost a quarter of workers said the longest period of annual leave they took was less than a week, while 38% said their longest break was two weeks.
Around 31% of respondents said their annual leave is lost if it goes unused, while a similar number said it is carried over into the following year.
More than a quarter of workers said they receive payment in lieu of unused leave.
Almost six out of ten people said they would be in favour of their employer introducing unlimited annual leave, while 56% said they would be in favour of a four-day working week, even if it impacted on their salary.
A total of 1,886 people took part in the survey used to compile the report.
“After salaries, holidays and annual leave entitlements are arguably one of the main points of negotiation between employees and employers,” said General Manager with FRS Recruitment Lynne McCormack.
“Yet despite their importance, an increasing number of these sought after days of leave are going unused by employees. Of even greater note is the number of holidays that people are not taking,” she said.
“One in five of us say they did not take five days or more leave last year. Effectively that’s a week of holidays going unused,” Ms McCormack said.
Article Source – Over 40% of workers did not use full holiday entitlements last year – survey – RTE
