One in four people in Donegal didn't take all their holidays last year

One in four people (26%) in Donegal didn’t take all their holidays last year, according to research on annual leave undertaken by FRS Recruitment.

This is below the national average, with more than four out of 10 people (42%) around the country failing to use up all their leave last year.

One in five people (21%) in Donegal didn’t take five days of annual leave or more, which in employment terms represents a week’s leave. 6% didn’t take four days, 16% had three days which went unused, 30% opted against using up two days of leave and 13% had one day of their holidays remaining.

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

Eight out of 10 people (80%) in Donegal used annual leave for foreign travel last year and two out of three (65%) for domestic travel. A further 30% used it for family reasons, 10% for personal reasons and 8% due to illness.

For one in five people (18%) in Donegal, the longest period of annual leave they took last year was less than a week. In the case of 47% their longest break was one week and 32% took two weeks of holidays. Only 3% say they took a period longer than two weeks.

Before taking annual leave, more a little under half (46%) of all Donegal employees say they have to give their employer two week’s notice. Another 45% must provide one month’s notice and a further 9% in Donegal only have to tell their work about their leave plans one week or less in advance.

Three out of ten people (29%) in Donegal say unused annual leave is carried into the following year and more than one in four (28%) receive a payment in lieu. However over one in every five Donegal employees (22%) say their leave is lost if it is not used.

When it comes to other types of leave taken, 22% in Donegal say they took sick leave last year, 12% took care leave, one in five (18%) took maternity/ paternity leave, 2% took study leave and 3% took leave due to a bereavement.

Over two in every three people in Donegal (68%) would like their employer to introduce unlimited leave, while a majority (53%) in the county would also be in favour of a four-day work week, even if it impacted 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 Donegal 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.

“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 Donegal 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 Donegal and around the country. Even more eye-opening are the number of days leave that haven’t been used, with five days or more not being used by one in five people in Donegal 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 Donegal 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 for people nationally was two weeks in one go, which would traditionally have been seen as the standard, main holiday of the year. However, for one in four people around the country, 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 clear majority of people in Donegal and nationally would like to see it introduced by their employers, despite the significant proportion of people who aren’t using up their allocated leave as it currently stands. A majority of people would also support a four-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.