Thousands need to take annual holidays!
Australians have 70 million annual leave days or 14 million weeks stockpiled – tens of thousands of employees need a holiday!
“Annual leave accrual has become one of the hottest workplace and social issues around, ” says Scott Morrison, Managing Director, Tourism Australia.
A study released this week will be the basis of the ‘No leave no life’ employee pilot program developed by Tourism Australia in partnership with the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI).
The pilot program will involve the 11 Australian companies who participated in the research – AAPT, National Australia Bank, SA Health, Swimming Australia, Colonial Tram Car Restaurant, Paslode Australia, Visa, Blackmores, Opera Australia and Gilbert & Tobin, in addition to three companies who have chosen not to be named because they want to wait until their program is rolled out internally.
The research findings were consistent across 13 large, medium and small companies, public and private, employing more than 300,000 employees ? annual leave stockpiling has become entrenched workplace behaviour.
Around 40 per cent of respondents cite workplace issues as the most significant barriers, while less than 25 percent said that they accrued leave due to personal issues.
Annual leave stockpiling has critical ramifications for businesses, individuals and the economy. Australians using 20% of their accrued annual leave on interstate holidays would result in:
14 million extra leisure nights ? an increase of 14%
$2 billion increase in leisure expenditure ? an increase of 12.5%
There is a ‘No leave, no life’ program website and info available about the challenges facing domestic tourism.
3 Comments
?No leave, no life?… So true! I have just been telling my husband this to encourage him to go on a holiday. But when you run your own business, it seems alot harder to leave for a decent break.
It IS a lot harder when you run your own business but missing out on holidays/dreams can lead to huge regret later on. Years ago a woman friend was stretched to breaking point looking after 3 little ones on her own. Her doctor ordered a break…she said I can’t…he said if you end up in hospital you’ll organise things, so do it NOW!! Can you apply the same approach I wonder? Or can the organisational structure change to allow for holidays?
I agree.. just need to convince husband! I have so many friends in the same boat – with their partners working for themselves and not wanting to take much time out, due to the added responsibility of running their own business.