One million employees don’t take all their holiday leave each year

More than a million workers will fail to take their full entitlement of leave this year, according to a report.

It found workers will give up a total of 6.2 million days of annual leave, with the average of unused holiday standing at five days.

This equates to a potential £500 million of ‘free’ work for their employers, which, according to an economist will boost the output of the economy by about two percent.

The report also showed that the main reason employees are shunning their remaining holiday entitlement is due to pressures at work and are failing to appreciate that taking a break could make them more productive and, in turn, boost the economy in the long term.

The research, commissioned by price comparison website TravelSupermarket, found that more than one in four of those who will shun their remaining holiday entitlement (28 percent) will do so due to pressures at work.

Nine percent of the 2,020 people polled also said they would feel guilty about taking the leave because their work would have to be taken care of by their colleagues.

A further three percent said they would be concerned about how taking time off would look to their employer, while the same proportion said they didn’t want to miss out on anything interesting or beneficial at work in the time they would be away.

Vicky Redwood, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said: ‘Given that there are about 250 working days in a year, getting an extra five ‘free’ days of work out their employees could in theory boost the output of the economy by about two percent.

‘That said, if workers are less productive as a result of not getting enough of a break from work, taking all of their annual leave could perversely end up boosting output in the economy.’

Bob Atkinson, travel expert for TravelSupermarket said: ‘As we head out of a double dip recession it’s no surprise that people are wary to take all their leave, especially if they feel pressure and uncertainty at work.

‘Despite having so much annual leave left, many of us still have no idea how to make best use of the time.

 根据一项报告，英国超过百万的职员今年没能休完年假。

研究发现，按没休掉的年假平均5天来计算，英国职员总共放弃了620万天年假。

这相当于雇主免费得到5亿英镑的工作价值，据一名经济学家称，这将让经济产出提升2%。

该报告还显示，员工不用完年假的主要原因是工作压力，以及他们没有意识到休假能提高自己的生产力，从长远来看能促进经济发展。

该研究是由比价网站TravelSupermarket委托开展的，研究发现，超过四分之一（28%）没休完年假的员工之所以不休是因为工作压力。

另外，接受调查的2020人当中，有9%称他们对休假感到内疚，因为他们的同事将不得不干他们那份工作。

还有3%的人说，他们担心的是雇主对自己休假的看法，另有相同比例的人说他们不想在自己休假期间错过任何有趣的事情或是工作上的福利。

经济研究机构Capital Economics的英国首席经济学家维基•瑞德伍德说：“考虑到一年约有250天工作日，雇员免费多干5天工作在理论上能让经济产值提升2%。

“另一方面，如果员工因为没能休够假导致生产率下降，把年假休完反而最终会提高经济产出。”

TravelSupermarket的旅游导师鲍勃•艾特金森说：“在我们从双谷经济衰退中走出来时，人们对于休完年假有所迟疑并不奇怪，尤其是他们在工作上感到压力和不确定的情况下。

“尽管余下这么多年假没休，许多英国人仍然不知道如何充分利用年假。”