70% of workers unhappy with holiday leave

SEVEN out of 10 workers are unhappy with the amount of paid holidays they receive and half said they would take a pay cut for more days off, a survey has shown.

The IrishJobs.ie survey also found that 43% took one week or less for their main holidays and 65% said their workload increased when they took leave.

Ireland has one of the lowest holiday entitlements in the EU with the minimum statutory holidays allowed under EU law of only 20 days. Public holidays increase the number to 29.

The average minimum annual leave in the EU is 23 days, or 34 days including public holidays.

The Netherlands, Britain and Romania have 23 days, with the number of days increasing to 34 when public holidays are added on.

So Irish workers’ holidays are five days below the average EU minimum.

Almost 40% of workers said their work increased greatly because they are having two weeks’ work before and after their annual leave.

Work pressures extended into holiday time — nearly a third of people felt stressed by their job on holiday and about the same amount took work-related calls.

While most taking part in the survey said location was not influenced by work, 4% said they travelled to a different time zone or remote location so they could not be contacted.

Marketing manager with IrishJobs.ie Valerie Sorohan said there was an obvious lack of balance between the workload/pressure and quality time away from work.

And, she said, the survey also showed that money was no longer the sole motivator for workers.

“What is uncovered here is a significant gap between employee well being and holiday entitlements,” she said.

“An increase in holidays to at least the EU average could have a positive effect on morale and, in turn, productivity.”

And while 92% of companies allow breaks of two weeks or more, the trend of taking short holidays of a week or less could be attributed to the huge workloads employees face when they take annual leave.

Despite 70% feeling rejuvenated after their holiday, only 19% were happy to return to work while 25% said they were now looking for a new job.

Ms Sorohan said employers should realise that their workers were their greatest asset and take action to ensure that leave-taking is structured in a way that the work burden is shared and holidays are stress-free.

Most other European countries have a higher number of holidays with Finland and France enjoying a minimum of 44 and 40 holidays each year, including public holidays.

More than 400,000 jobseekers make more than 780,000 visits to IrishJobs.ie every month.

The number of job vacancies on the site has increased from 7,000 in 1999 to today’s figure of more than 45,000.