'Eye-opening' amount of annual leave not taken by Laois workers

More than a third of Laois people did not take all their annual leave last year according to to research on annual leave undertaken by FRS Recruitment which has offices in Portlaoise.

The agency found that 36% of people in Laois didn’t take all their holidays last year. This is below the national average, with 42% of people around the country failing to use up all their leave last year.

FRS, which has offices in The Cube found that about a quarter of Laois employees didn’t take 5 days of annual leave or more, which in employment terms represents a week’s leave. About 20% didn’t take 4 days while 13% had 3 days which went unused. Some 18% also opted against using up 2 days of leave and 17% had 1 day of their holidays remaining.

The FRS Recruitment Annual Leave Report also had a range of other findings about how people in Laois make use of their holiday entitlements and the various employment policies in place around the use of annual leave.

It found tht almost 2 in 3 people in Laois used annual leave for foreign travel last year and another while almost three quarters used it for domestic travel. A further 32% used it for family reasons, 21% for personal reasons and 5% due to illness.

For almost a quarter, the longest period of annual leave they took last year was less than a week. In the case of 34% their longest break was one week and 36% took two weeks of holidays. Only 7% say they took a break for longer than two weeks.

Before taking annual leave, a majority (51%) of all Laois employees say they have to give their employer two weeks’ notice. Another 41% must provide one month’s notice and a further 8% in Laois only have to tell their work about their leave plans one week or less in advance.

Some 2 in 5 people in Laois say unused annual leave is carried into the following year and 1 in 4 (27%) receive a payment in lieu. However almost a fifth of Laois employees (18%) say their leave is lost if it is not used.

When it comes to other types of leave taken, 3 in 10 people (28%) in Laois say they took sick leave last year, 18% took care leave, 1 in 4 (24%) took maternity/ paternity leave, 2% took study leave and 1% took leave due to a bereavement.

Just under 2 in 3 people in Laois (64%) would like their employer to introduce unlimited leave, while 4 out of 10 people (45%) in the county would also be in favour of a 4 day work week, even if it impacted on their salary.

A total of 1,886 people took part in the survey used to compile the FRS Annual Leave Report. FRS Recruitment is one of Ireland’s leading recruitment agencies with 10 offices nationwide. They are part of the multimillion euro social enterprise co-operative, FRS Co-Op.

Speaking about the research, Lynne McCormack, General Manager with FRS Recruitment said: “Holidays and annual leave are such an important part of professional life for employees in Laois and their employers. Yet before now there haven’t been many statistics available showing how it is used and the various policies associated with annual leave in the workplace. MORE BELOW PICTURE. 

Staff from FRS at the Laois Jobs Fair in 2023. Pic: Alf Harvey

“With this research, we in FRS Recruitment wanted to take a closer look at how annual leave is being treated and get a sense of how widely different leave policies are applied. Holidays are a key point of negotiation between Laois employees and their employers and are vital in maintaining work/ life balance. They play a significant role in how we manage the many demands on our time outside of work. So it is useful to get a practical sense of how they are actually being used.

“What was surprising was the number of people who are not making full use of their leave, both in Laois and around the country. Even more eye opening are the number of days leave that haven’t been used, with 5 days or more not being used by 1 in 4 people in Laois last year. Work wise, effectively that’s a week of holidays going unused for those people.

“Not using their annual leave may suit those in Laois who are able to carry their leave into the following year, or who receive payment in lieu. However, there is a sizeable number of people locally and nationally who face losing any days that go unused.

“When we do holiday, it is also interesting to consider the length of breaks we take. The most popular choice nationally and in Laois was two weeks in one go, which would traditionally have been seen as the standard, main holiday of the year. Yet for 1 in 4 people, their longest break was less than one week.

“In FRS Recruitment we have also seen a number of candidates interested in the concept of ‘unlimited leave’. While this has gained some traction in the US, it isn’t a common policy in Ireland. Yet a sizeable number of people in Laois and nationally would like to see it introduced by their employers, despite the significant proportion of the employees who aren’t using up their allocated leave as it currently stands. A majority of people would also support a 4 day work week, even though it may impact on their salaries.

“The use of holidays and annual leave is clearly evolving, both from a policy perspective and in terms of what we do with that time. Longer term this will have implications for how we view our days off and how they are managed by our employers too,” Ms McCormack concluded.