Are you using up all your annual leave?

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

The Hard Shoulder, with Ciara Kelly and Shane Colman. On Newstalk, with Kea.

Shane Colman (0:10)

Now, will you use up your annual leave this year? According to new research, nearly or actually over 40% of us in Ireland don't use up all our leave. We're joined by HR and dispute expert from Woodview HRM, Louisa Meehan. Louisa, why are we not taking our full annual leave? It seems extraordinary.

Louisa Meehan (0:31)

Well, there's lots of different reasons as to why people don't take it. Sometimes it's choice. So somebody might have a big event next year, a wedding, a new baby, a trip that they want to do. And so they might want to carry leave forward into next year. So it can be a choice. And sometimes people don't take it because they don't get the opportunity. So that can be personal in that they feel that they need to be at work. It can be that sort of sense of having a big project or something that they're doing whereby they feel that they can't take their leave. And in some situations, organizations can knowingly and unknowingly put pressure on people to, I suppose, to be more present and make it difficult to take leave.

So there's a lot of different reasons as to why people don't take it. Some of them are within their choice and some are not.

Shane Colman (1:21)

Do we know, is there a difference, for example, between private sector and public sector between indigenous Irish firms and multinational firms? Do we have that kind of breakdown?

Louisa Meehan (1:31)

That isn't in the research, to my knowledge, certainly from what I've seen. In my experience, I think it's more to do with the role that somebody is in rather than the sector that they're in as such. So where people are in very high-pressured roles and where there's a really strong sense of commitment to the work that they're doing, they're more likely to end up in a position whereby they find it more difficult to take their leave.

There's also some organizations both in the private sector and the public sector where some individuals can have 30 days annual leave. So 20 is the statutory and for a lot of the listeners, they'll have 20 days annual leave for those that work full-time. But there are some industries and sectors where people will get more annual leave than that. And there are some of those industries where people can work up time and lose so it might be that this week I'm particularly busy and I work up an extra day which I can take next week or I can add it in so that will impact on my need to take annual leave. So there's lots of different working patterns and ways in which individuals work.

Shane Colman (2:36)

Okay, can you understand why people do it or do you think it's just generally a bad idea?

Louisa Meehan (2:42)

I think annual leave is incredibly important. I do understand it, you know, for example, the year I got married or when I have two boys. So when I was having my children, I absolutely held on to as much annual leave as I could because those are, you know, once in a lifetime or twice in a lifetime when you have two boys events. So in those situations, I do understand it completely.

Shane Colman (3:03)

Were you able to roll over that leave? Is that how it worked?

Louisa Meehan (3:06)

Yeah, I could bring some of it forward. Yeah. So that's how it worked. And it was with permission and it was all organized and all of that kind of stuff. Yeah. I didn't go off and do it on my own.

Shane Colman (3:14)

That's slightly different to not taking your leave, though, isn't it?

Louisa Meehan (3:18)

It is different, but it would fall into the 43%. That's the piece that, you know, that 43% includes all kinds of life reasons as to why somebody might not take it. That's different to, you know, just not bothering or feeling that you can't. And there are certain people in certain roles whereby it's very difficult to take leave. So if you're an obstetrician working down in one of the maternity hospitals, it's going to be tricky to take all of your leave because of the line of work that you're in.

But even in a situation like that, it's incredibly important that you do take annual leave and that you do step away from work. There's a health and safety element to it. It's about your health and your well-being. And it is better for the organization and for the work that you're doing that you step away from work and have that period of rest. So there's lots of benefits to it.