Construction Workers Use The Least Amount Of Holiday Allowance
Posted by Sue Anderson, 20th Sep 2016
Employed or self-employed, we all look forward to our holidays - whether we're heading abroad with our partner, travelling around the UK to explore some of our own sites and attractions, or staying at home and spending quality time with our loved ones. Either way, we're all entitled to annual leave with work, so you'd be daft not to use it, right? Apparently not for some British workers...
We ran a survey with 3,172 Britons in full-time employment who were all entitled to 28 days paid annual leave as standard with their employment contracts - all in all we had an even number of respondents from 30 different employment sectors taking the survey.
Firstly, we asked all respondents how many days of their holiday allowance they had used in the last full working year. Once we got the results and divided them up per sector, the results showed that construction workers used on average just four days of their allowance, closely followed by those in healthcare who used just five days. Other sectors making it into the top five of least used annual leave were retail (7 days), media and journalism (8 days) and marketing (10 days).
All sectors that averaged out to using less annual leave days than they were entitled to last year were asked if they'd managed to use them all up in the end, to which 34% admitted that no they hadn't. Of these, over half (57%) said they'd lost all of the annual leave that they didn't use.
When asked why they hadn't used all of their holiday days in the previous working year, almost all respondents (86%) admitted it was because they'd just been too busy to take the time off, whereas a small minority (4%) admitted it was because they didn't want to take the time, or felt it wasn't needed.
As well as showing the sectors where employees were least likely to use up their holiday, the results of the survey also highlighted which sectors were most likely to use up all of their holiday, and more. Those in the hair and beauty sector confessed to using 35 days per year, those in travel and tourism used 32 days and those in recruitment used 30 days. These were closely followed by hospitality (29.5 days) and sales (28.5 days).
We wanted to know how, when entitled to 28 days as standard, these sectors were able to get away with using more holiday than was granted to them in their contracts. According to the results, 57% had accrued more for time off in lieu, whilst 23% admitted they'd simply asked the time off and been granted it, whether paid or unpaid.
Ultimately you're entitled to the 28 days off, so why wouldn't you take it? You don't have to go abroad, you can stay at home if you prefer, just take the time off - you're effectively being paid not to go to work for 28 days of the year. Have some 'you' time, do the odd jobs around the house that you've always wanted to do but never had the time, or go and visit those friends and relatives you've been meaning to visit.
Or you can jet off to somewhere hot (or cold, if you prefer) and truly get away from it all. We know what we'd prefer to do.
Those In Construction Use Less Than A Week's Holiday
We ran a survey with 3,172 Britons in full-time employment who were all entitled to 28 days paid annual leave as standard with their employment contracts - all in all we had an even number of respondents from 30 different employment sectors taking the survey.
Firstly, we asked all respondents how many days of their holiday allowance they had used in the last full working year. Once we got the results and divided them up per sector, the results showed that construction workers used on average just four days of their allowance, closely followed by those in healthcare who used just five days. Other sectors making it into the top five of least used annual leave were retail (7 days), media and journalism (8 days) and marketing (10 days).
A Third of Britons Don't Use All Of Their Annual Leave
All sectors that averaged out to using less annual leave days than they were entitled to last year were asked if they'd managed to use them all up in the end, to which 34% admitted that no they hadn't. Of these, over half (57%) said they'd lost all of the annual leave that they didn't use.
When asked why they hadn't used all of their holiday days in the previous working year, almost all respondents (86%) admitted it was because they'd just been too busy to take the time off, whereas a small minority (4%) admitted it was because they didn't want to take the time, or felt it wasn't needed.
Hairdressers and Beauticians Take 35 Days Off
As well as showing the sectors where employees were least likely to use up their holiday, the results of the survey also highlighted which sectors were most likely to use up all of their holiday, and more. Those in the hair and beauty sector confessed to using 35 days per year, those in travel and tourism used 32 days and those in recruitment used 30 days. These were closely followed by hospitality (29.5 days) and sales (28.5 days).
We wanted to know how, when entitled to 28 days as standard, these sectors were able to get away with using more holiday than was granted to them in their contracts. According to the results, 57% had accrued more for time off in lieu, whilst 23% admitted they'd simply asked the time off and been granted it, whether paid or unpaid.
Use It or Lose It
Ultimately you're entitled to the 28 days off, so why wouldn't you take it? You don't have to go abroad, you can stay at home if you prefer, just take the time off - you're effectively being paid not to go to work for 28 days of the year. Have some 'you' time, do the odd jobs around the house that you've always wanted to do but never had the time, or go and visit those friends and relatives you've been meaning to visit.
Or you can jet off to somewhere hot (or cold, if you prefer) and truly get away from it all. We know what we'd prefer to do.
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