Companies offering holidays to retain staff

Organisations looking for ways to avoid redundancies are redeploying staff and offering them more holidays.

That is according to research published by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), which has revealed that companies are trying to incentivise workers with holidays to offset a lack of pay rises.

The research revealed that the average holiday entitlement has increased from 25 to 28 days annually.

Lord John Eatwell, chief economist at the CMI, said: "It is encouraging to see employers looking for ways to avoid redundancy rather than adding length to the dole queue without a second thought.

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"It shows that business is growing up because today, unlike in 1991, there seems to be more determination to retain skilled staff."

Lord Eatwell said that the shift in attitude could be due to the fact that companies have realised it is "far more cost effective" to retain existing staff than it is to rebuild "a talented team from scratch".

From 1st April 2009, the statutory leave entitlement for employees will increase from 24 days to 28 days.