Employers have adopted a “generous approach” to holiday allowances, with the average entitlement six days above the statutory minimum.
The 2011 XpertHR annual leave report found that the average number of days’ holiday given to staff was 34 days, inclusive of bank holidays. The statutory minimum for full-time employees is 28 days.
The report also found that, over the past three years, 73% of employers that made changes to their annual leave arrangements increased entitlement for employees.
More than half (53%) of these organisations said that this was in order to keep up with competitors or demonstrate good practice.
Charlotte Wolff, author of the report, commented: “The XpertHR research finds that employers are taking a generous approach to annual leave, which is a relatively low-cost benefit for employees and can provide a useful way to boost terms and conditions at a time when pay awards are low.”
The survey of 461,513 employees at 335 organisations also found that basic leave entitlement was higher in the public sector. On average, public sector employees received 29 days on average, excluding bank holidays, compared with 25 days in manufacturing and production companies and 26 days in other private sector organisations.
The full results of the annual leave survey are available on XpertHR.
