The UK is among the most generous countries in the world for holiday entitlements, according to Mercer research on benefits and employment released today.
British workers are entitled to 28 days statutory holiday, which rises to a possible 36 days off work if employers give staff the UK’s eight public holidays on top.
The research, which examined paid holiday across 62 countries, found that the UK had the highest amount of statutory leave, with Poland second (26 statutory days). Other countries had far fewer statutory days, with staff in the United States (none), the Philippines (5), China (10) and Thailand (6) particularly badly off.
However, the UK’s high ranking dropped dramatically once employment rules governing the treatment of bank holidays was taken into account. This is because UK companies are allowed to include the eight public holidays as part of the 28 day entitlement. Therefore, UK employees actually have fewer days’ holidays than their peers in the rest of Europe, where the general practice is for employees to take public holidays in addition to their statutory entitlement.
Austrian workers had the highest total potential leave with 25 statutory days off and 13 public holidays, while Malta has 24 days statutory entitlement with 14 public holidays, giving staff in both countries a possible 38 days off.
The Philippines and Canada had the lowest possible entitlements with 20 and 19 days, respectively, while employees in Columbia have the greatest number of public holidays (18 days), and people in Mexico (7) have the least.
Along with the Netherlands, the UK has the joint lowest number of bank holidays in Europe.
Wolfgang Seidl, head of Mercer’s Healthcare Consulting business, said: “Interest in the issue work/life balance continues to grow despite continued economic turmoil.
“Companies recognise that a healthy, happy workforce is a productive one and this feeds directly into the bottom line. How companies interpret holiday regulations provision is a major factor. With pay rises muted and often below the rate of inflation, companies are searching for other ways to motivate their staff.
“Companies that keep holiday provision as low as possible in order to reduce lost income from absent workers may find that their employees are less robust, in poorer health and crucially, less productive.”
The data comes from Mercer’s Worldwide Benefit and Employment Guidelines.
