Indians Take Less Holidays Due to Work Pressure: Survey

As many as 65 per cent adults employed in India had holiday days left at the end of last year, since 55 per cent of them were extremely occupied with work, according to a survey conducted by the British Airways.

The global online survey was conducted in 12 markets, including the United States, United Kingdom, South Africa, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates. It was carried out in the period between Dec. 20, 2017 and Jan. 4, 2018, with 2,006 respondents in India, the Economic Times reported. Over 2,000 adults in each market were a part of this survey.

The survey found that 65 per cent employed adults in India are allowed a two-week vacation. However, as many as 42 per cent did not take a break as they were worried about their work load piling up, while 26 per cent could not take time off work.

As many 29 per cent of the Indian surveyed felt guilty about completely exhausting their holiday allowance, and nearly 97 per cent of them had rolled-over holiday days. A huge number of people, 92 per cent, ended up losing their leave days completely, as they did not avail them on time. The loss of days was recorded to be as many as five days or more for 34 per cent, and three to four days for 32 per cent.

According to the survey, 38 per cent of the respondents are of the opinion that two-week holidays are discouraged by their workplace, while 22 per cent feel that they will be judged by their colleagues if they take those many days off. Also, 29 per cent of employees are scared to ask for such a long break.

“Taking a break from the drudgery of the daily life is but essential. At British Airways, we truly understand the value and importance of a proper holiday, and that is why we are offering a variety of great value deals for travelers from India to go abroad to the UK, Europe and US to enjoy and unwind,” said Rob Williams, British Airways’ head of sales, Asia Pacific and the Middle East, reported ET.

The survey added that unavailed leave is a global phenomenon as majority of the workforce in places like Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore felt that holidays are not encouraged at workplaces, reported Travel and Tour World. As many as 72 per cent of the people in Singapore grumbled that they couldn’t fully switch off even when they were on a holiday and 59 per cent in Hong Kong desired to spend more time on a holiday.

Indians do not holiday abroad as much as people from some other parts of the world, according to another recent study. There is a huge potential in India in the leisure outbound category, it added. India currently contributes only 4.8 million leisure outbound trips, that make only 30 per cent of the total departures from India. The global average outbound leisure share is 53 per cent.