THREE out of ten people in Clare didn’t take their holidays from work last year while twenty percent of employees in the county did not take five days of annual leave.
Research on annual leave undertaken by FRS Recruitment has detailed that three in ten Clare people did not take their holidays last year which is below the national average of forty two percent.
One in five Clare people didn’t take five days of annual leave or more, which in employment terms represents a week’s leave. 7% didn’t take four days, 17% had three days which went unused, 29% opted against using up two days of leave and 11% had one day of their holidays remaining.
The FRS Recruitment Annual Leave Report also had a range of other findings about how people in Clare make use of their holiday entitlements and the various employment policies in place around the use of annual leave.
Almost three in five people (59%) in Clare used annual leave for foreign travel last year and one in three (32%) for domestic travel. A further 8% used it for family reasons, 9% for personal reasons and 4% due to illness.
For more than one in four people (27%) in Clare, the longest period of annual leave they took last year was less than a week. In the case of 31% their longest break was one week and 37% took two weeks of holidays. Only 5% say they took a break for longer than two weeks.
Before taking annual leave, almost half (47%) of all Clare employees say they have to give their employer two weeks’ notice. Another 44% must provide one month’s notice and a further 5% in Clare only have to tell their work about their leave plans one week or less in advance.
Three in ten people (29%) in Clare say unused annual leave is carried into the following year and four in ten (39%) receive a payment in lieu. However one in every five Clare employees (22%) say their leave is lost if it is not used.
When it comes to other types of leave taken, one in four people (26%) in Clare say they took sick leave last year, 23% took care leave, one in six (17%) took maternity/ paternity leave, 2% took study leave and 1% took leave due to a bereavement.
More than two in five people in Clare (46%) would like their employer to introduce unlimited leave, while a majority (53%) in the county would also be in favour of a four day work week, even if it impacted on their salary.
A total of 1,886 people took part in the survey used to compile the FRS Annual Leave Report Speaking about the research, Lynne McCormack, General Manager with FRS Recruitment said, “Holidays and annual leave are such an important part of professional life for employees in Clare and their employers. Yet before now there haven’t been many statistics available showing how it is used and the various policies associated with annual leave in the workplace.
“With this research, we in FRS Recruitment wanted to take a closer look at how annual leave is being treated and get a sense of how widely different leave policies are applied. Holidays are a key point of negotiation between Clare employees and their employers and are vital in maintaining work/ life balance. They play a significant role in how we manage the many demands on our time outside of work. So it is useful to get a practical sense of how they are actually being used.
“What was surprising was the number of people who are not making full use of their leave, both in Clare and around the country. Even more eye opening are the number of days leave that haven’t been used, with five days or more not being used by one in five people in Clare last year. Work wise, effectively that’s a week of holidays going unused for those people. Not using their annual leave may suit those in Clare who are able to carry their leave into the following year, or who receive payment in lieu. However there is a sizeable number of people locally and nationally who face losing any days that go unused. When we do holiday, it is also interesting to consider the length of breaks we take. The most popular choice for people in Clare was two weeks in one go, which would traditionally have been seen as the standard, main holiday of the year. Yet for 1 in 4 people, their longest break was less than one week,” she added.
