Workplace Wellbeing: Put rest first to be at your best

Busyness has come to be seen as a badge of honour, but when it’s relentless to the point where you don’t take all your annual leave, it becomes counterproductive

Meg Dunphy, head of engagement and policy at CIPD Ireland

Almost two in five Irish workers didn’t take their full holiday leave last year. The 2025 Annual Leave Report, a survey of almost 2,000 workers, also found that 24% left five or more days of paid leave unused — effectively an entire week.

Meg Dunphy, head of engagement and policy at CIPD Ireland, is one of these employees. The 43-year-old from Kilkenny will end the year with three days’ leave remaining.