Many don’t use up leave

Just over half of employees in a poll undertaken for the CSP physiotherapists’ union said they ended their year with leave left to take.

The union is calling on employers to recognise the benefits of staff taking their proper holiday entitlement to remain healthy and productive at work. The survey of 2,000 full-time employees found that those who did not take all their holidays felt that this left them more tired (29%) and stressed (26%).

One in three respondents told the survey that they had more than one week left over and almost a quarter (23%) said they had more than two weeks left. Overall, 51% reported that they had ended the last leave year with annual leave still left to take.

The top reason people gave for not taking all their holidays was “too much work and deadlines” reported by 30%, with 23% not being able to leave as there was no one to cover their work. Other reasons for not taking holidays included pressure at work not to take time off (14%) and job security (9%).

Sue Rees, chair of the CSP council, said: “This is a real concern because not taking leave to tackle workload is a short-term solution that could become a long-term health problem.

“Employers need to encourage their staff to use their full allowance because a healthy, motivated workforce is a productive one.”

www.csp.org.uk/press-releases/2014/05/30/one-three-workers-leaves-more-week-holiday-unused