New YouGov research from around the world reveals that when it comes to holidays, British people are not shy about taking them. Out of 22 countries worldwide, spanning North America, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and Europe, British people are the most likely to say they will take all of their holiday leave this year.
75 percent of British worker claimed that they intended to take all of their holidays, while 64 percent said they would take all of it minus one or two days. These results come despite the median number of days of holiday leave given to British workers (27) being well above the average for the countries surveyed (21).
Americans take dramatically less holiday. Ironically, in one of the only places in the world where there is no statutory minimum holiday leave only 44 percent say they will take all or almost all of their days off this year. Our data shows on average Americans receive only one more day off (12) than Chinese workers (11).
There tends to be little correlation between the number of days off workers receive and the amount they end up taking. In Saudi Arabia and Algeria average workers get 30 days leave, yet only 51 percent and 48 percent respectively say they will take all or nearly all of it. However in Saudi Arabia, 21 percent of workers who say they won’t take all of their holiday this year cite pressure from their boss as a reason.
The most popular reason worldwide for not taking the full holiday allowance is wanting to carry some over to next year (34 percent choose this on average), followed by ‘I mean to but I never get round to it’ (14 percent) and ‘I don’t have enough reason to take holiday’. A commonly referenced reason for working harder – not wanting to appear lazy to colleagues and employers – is rarely chosen (6 percent on average), however in China this figure rises to 13 percent.
Robert joined the HRreview editorial team in October 2015. After graduating from the University of Salford in 2009 with a BA in Politics, Robert has spent several years working in print and online journalism in Manchester and London. In the past he has been part of editorial teams at Flux Magazine, Mondo*Arc Magazine and The Marine Professional.
