BRITISH WORKERS TOO BUSY TO TAKE HOLIDAYS

According to a new YouGov survey of British workers’ attitudes to holiday and absence commissioned by Croner, a third said they did not take all of their annual leave allowance last year because their workload was too heavy to take the day(s) off.

While 13% said they felt they couldn’t take the time off and 4% were worried what their work would think if they took off the holiday.

Mike Allen, Croner Managing Director at Wolters Kluwer said: “This should be a real cause for concern for employers as the problem with not taking the prescribed time off leads to absence through sickness, which costs £609 per employee per annum according to CIPD research.

“Managing short-term absence such as holidays and sickness is a real challenge for UK business. Organisations need to focus on interventions and management of short term absence and holidays to ensure that employees have a healthy work/life balance. Critically, bosses also need to ensure that employees feel able to take annual leave without the fear of what they may return to.”