Staff not taking all their annual leave may sound like a good thing for employers but in reality it can lead to stressed out, unproductive staff.
We look at why Brits aren’t taking all their leave and why it is so important.
Brits wasting their annual leave
In 2016 a whopping 163 million annual leave days went untaken, the equivalent of £17 billion of free work.
40% of Brits don’t take their full quota of annual leave each year with the average UK worker ending the year with five days leave still owing to them and so lost.
Even when we do take holiday, 44% of us are working whilst on vacation, 13% have been contacted by their boss during their leave and 20% by a colleague.
Reasons cited for not taking holiday include the fear of getting behind, the lack of anyone else to do the work, finding it hard to disconnect, wanting a pay rise and most worryingly being scared of losing a job.
But taking annual leave is important both for the employee and the business owner. Productivity can be boosted by as much as 40% when workers take their full quota of leave while without breaks employees become 65% less creative and this can lead to missed deadlines.
And when it comes to staff retention, only 17% of workers whose employer offers a good work-life balance are considering leaving their jobs within the next two years. In addition, employees who take their full annual leave entitlement are 28% less likely to take sick leave.
Sources: Airtours, Glassdoor, ACAS, International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, Hay Group
