Four in ten Brits forgo more than a week’s holiday each year, amounting to £6.6 billion worth of unused leave.
Younger workers aged between 18 and 24 and those who work fully remote are most likely to sacrifice their annual leave, prioritising work commitments over taking a break, according to research by travel-focused employee rewards platform, Offwork.
In a survey of 1,000 full time UK workers, 41% reported typically having five or more days left by the end of the year. Based on the average hourly rate of £18.64, this equates to £6.6 billion worth of untaken holiday among 24.9 million full time employees.
Beyond rolling leave over to the next year, Brits often don’t use their full entitlement due to reasons such as personal choice, feeling they don’t need a break, heavy workloads, staff shortages or poor planning.
The data also reveals that employees sell an equivalent of £3.7 billion worth of holiday back to their companies each year, with 23% of those eligible choosing to sell five or six days.
Even when Brits do take a break, just over half feel guilty to some degree (51%). More than over a quarter (29%) will ‘always’ or often’ work extra time to make up for annual leave, and a similar amount will regularly think about work tasks when they’re out of office.
Ruth Kudzi, a psychology and neuroscience expert, who has written a global best-selling book called How to Feel Better, says disconnecting early is key to properly switching off.
She advises: “It sounds obvious, but the first step to switching off is to create boundaries with colleagues. Make clear handover documents and go through these with anyone you need to, ensuring there are no loose ends you will be chased for.
“Create a physical as well as a mental cut off from work so you feel different as you step into holiday mode and consider things like having a shower or bath, getting out in nature or doing some journalling, meditation or yoga to reduce levels of cortisol and adrenaline and help you unwind.
“Also, rather than thinking you’re the only one who can solve things, remind yourself that there are other people who can do that and reflect on how you can reduce the feelings of pressure/responsibility.”
Offwork’s research comes at a time when the UK Government is considering giving workers a legal ‘right to disconnect’, with employers banned from contacting staff outside hours. This is already the law in several countries including France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain.