Are your employees taking enough leave?
There's no question that we all love taking time off work, with holidays giving us time to relax and return to work refreshed and ready to go.
However, if Roy Morgan's research is anything to go by, it seems Australians are not following through with their vacation plans. This research suggests much of the nation's annual leave remains unused. While some may simply be saving it for a longer break later on, those who feel pressured to keep working could find themselves becoming stressed, compromising productivity.
With these leave days considered a debt the company owes to its workers, businesses are bound to feel the pinch in the long term.
How much leave do Australians have?
The average amount of leave Australians have left unclaimed stretches into the weeks, according to Roy Morgan Research. On average, full-time workers have 21 days of leave that is yet to be used.
This accounts for 123 million days of leave owed to full-time employees across the country. Male workers dominate these statistics, possessing an individual average of 22 days. Female employees, on the other hand, have 18 days of leave spare.
The research found these averages are dragged up by a smaller proportion of the workforce, with 11 per cent currently sitting on somewhere between four and five week's worth of leave. Another 28 per cent currently have more than five week's worth saved up, meaning they are well overdue for a holiday.
The average amount of leave also differed between industries, with wholesalers leading the charge on 25 days of leave per employee. At the other end of the scale, construction workers only had 14 days to spare on average.
On a positive note…
However, Roy Morgan Research found that despite these figures Australians are still taking leave fairly regularly.
"With the average full-time leave allowance being four work weeks per annum, this would suggest that people are not taking much time off," explained Group Account Director Angela Smith.
"Yet contrary to what their leave balances might suggest, our data reveals that Australia's full-time workers do take holidays. In the last 12 months, 75 per cent went on at least one trip."