The importance of annual leave….
Almost all UK employees are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave each year (which may include bank holidays). But not everyone chooses to take it! So why is it important to take leave and how you can help your team to take a well-deserved break….
Spending time away from work is essential for our mental health. In the UK over 800,000 people suffer work-related stress, depression, or anxiety. This can lead to long-term stress which causes burnout, exhaustion, negative thinking and reduces productivity.
People who take breaks from work will be more productive, having taken some time to rest. Annual leave is a health and safety measure, working without proper rest and recovery is linked to injuries and accidents in the workplace.
So why don’t employees take leave?
Many people don’t use their full allowance, despite the benefits. There are lots of reasons why employees may find it hard to take their leave, here are a few below.
Key reasons why employees don’t take their full entitlement.
- They are too busy to take leave.
- They worry about giving extra work to their colleagues.
- They worry their work won’t be covered and they will come back to a mountain of work to get through.
- They may think they need to show extra commitment by being at work all the time.
- They use work as a distraction from other issues such as problems in their personal life.
Top 5 tips to promote annual leave
- Encourage your team to take leave and explain they shouldn’t feel bad about doing so.
- Lead by example, regularly take holiday yourself.
- Put plans in place for reassigning work while people are on holiday.
- Emphasise that many productive and high performing people take holidays.
- Instead of using words like “leave” or “holiday”, try reframing time off as an opportunity to recharge or reset.
Alongside promoting the above, companies really should support the importance of not checking on work while on holiday. This means encouraging people to turn off their work phone and ignore any work emails during their time off.
Annual leave is not an optional extra, its an essential requirement to support your employees health and wellbeing.
So enjoy the bank holiday, everyone needs time to rest, relax and recharge….
