Them’s the breaks so use ‘em
When it comes to taking holidays, the Brits trump Kiwis every time, writes Josh Martin.
I’ve lived in the UK for just over two years, but it would have only taken me just over two days to proudly lament all the ways the Brits fall behind New Zealanders.
An antithesis of Bill Bryson’s Notes from a Small Island. But one aspect of the British way of life that blows Kiwis out of the water is their ability to properly shut up shop and go on holiday. Often.
At first I thought the culture of long weekends on the Mediterranean and frequently used holiday homes in Spain were perhaps more evidence of workshy Brits milking the system. Stoic, hard-working New Zealanders would never let our employers down with such frequent jet-setting.
Well I wish we would. For many of us, annual leave days simply roll over year after year and results in a fat pay-out when we move on to the next job.
The Brits instead have a use-itor-lose-it holiday law, to encourage this getaway culture leave does not typically carry over into the next year.
Some employers are more generous, but five point six weeks of annual leave is the legal minimum (Aotearoa offers four).
It also bans the holiday rate topup added to an hourly wage rate, so waged workers earn proper breaks as well.
Annual leave days owed are often taken as gardening leave at the end of employment and ‘‘selling’’ your entitlement is not the norm (many Kiwi companies allow staff to ‘‘cash in’’ a week of annual leave).
And so the frequent trips away commence. A culture of taking time out has flourished and the Brits are better for it. Research pollsters YouGov last year found the Brits not only get some of the most generous annual leave entitlements globally, but they are also the best at making the most of them. ’’Out of 22 countries worldwide, British people are the most likely to say they will take all of their holiday leave.
‘‘Fully 75 per cent say they will take all of it (64 per cent) or all of it minus one or two days (11 per cent ) – despite the median number of days of holiday leave given to British workers (27) being well above the average for the countries surveyed (21).’’
Now, HR whiners will (correctly) point out that the UK also has a long established productivity problem – its workers just don’t produce all that much in their working hours – and surely frequent holidays can’t be helping the problem? But, the opposite would be true and in it a lesson for New Zealanders chained to their desks.
A Businessweek survey found holiday deprivation by employers increases resentment and mistakes by workers. The lesson has been understood since Henry Ford cut his car factory output days from six to five after finding the breaks made workers more productive. The Brits have taken this idea and ran with it… all the way to the Costa del Sol.
Other than the fleeting days between Christmas Day and New Year there is no block period where Kiwi workplaces shut up shop en masse. Of course, it’s during this time that many are forced to take leave, but line managers I’ve encountered often raise an eyebrow when they see a three-week leave request anywhere else in the year. A shame when it takes a day or two to get to the other side of the world.
Perhaps I’ve been unlucky, but there is no ingrained culture of holiday taking that dominates like it does in the UK between July and August. Some will think the idea of a lapse on leave is a terrible idea and find hoarding holidays for a massive cash payout as a solid savings plan that could put a house deposit in reach.
But if it means missing out on seeing the world and feeling career burnout before you turn 30 then it’s a holiday habit we need to break.
'Now, HR whiners will (correctly) point out that the UK also has a long established productivity problem... and surely frequent holidays can't be helping the problem? But, the opposite would be true and in it a lesson for New Zealanders chained to their desks.'
Josh Martin is a London-based Kiwi journalist, who writes about travel, tourism, business, and consumer issues in between trips to places you’d rather be. Email josh.martin@fairfaxmedia.co.nz if you have a travel issue you’d like him to write about.