Kilkenny employees could be eligible for extra time off work

One in two people (49%) in Kilkenny didn’t take all their holidays last year, according to research on annual leave undertaken by FRS Recruitment. This is above the national average, with 42% of people around the country failing to use up all their leave last year. 

One in four people (24%) in Kilkenny didn’t take five days of annual leave or more, which in employment terms represents a week’s leave.

Meanwhile, 14% didn’t take four days, 17% had three days which went unused, 15% also opted against using up two days of leave and 16% had one day of their holidays remaining.

The FRS Recruitment Annual Leave Report also had a range of other findings about how people in Kilkenny make use of their holiday entitlements and the various employment policies in place around the use of annual leave.

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Almost two in three people (64%) in Kilkenny used annual leave for foreign travel last year and another two in five (44%) used it for domestic travel. A further 4% used it for family reasons, 2% for personal reasons and 3% due to illness. 

For more than one in four people (27%) in Kilkenny, the longest period of annual leave they took last year was less than a week. In the case of 29% their longest break was one week and 42% took two weeks of holidays. Only 2% say they took a break for longer than two weeks.

Before taking annual leave, a majority (53%) of all Kilkenny employees say they have to give their employer two weeks’ notice. Another 40% must provide one month’s notice and a further 7% in Kilkenny only have to tell their work about their leave plans one week or less in advance.

One in three people (37%) in Kilkenny say unused annual leave is carried into the following year and one in four (27%) receive a payment in lieu. However almost a third of Kilkenny employees (32%) say their leave is lost if it is not used.

When it comes to other types of leave taken, one quarter of people (25%) in Kilkenny say they took sick leave last year, 22% took care leave, one in four (24%) took maternity/ paternity leave, 2% took study leave and 2% took leave due to a bereavement.

More than four out of ten people in Kilkenny (44%) would like their employer to introduce unlimited leave, while over half (53%) in the county would also be in favour of a four day work week, even if it impacted on their salary. 

A total of 1,886 people took part in the survey used to compile the FRS Annual Leave Report. FRS Recruitment is one of Ireland’s leading recruitment agencies with 10 offices nationwide. They are part of the multimillion euro social enterprise co operative, FRS Co-Op.