By Andrew Lowcock
Australians’ reluctance to take leave and go for a holiday could be jeopardising some businesses’ financial futures, but some companies are implementing initiatives to make sure their employees take a break.
Since Tourism Australia’s ‘No Leave, No Life’ campaign began two years ago, the country’s leave stockpile has fallen, but still remains at a whopping 118 million days, valued at nearly $34 billion.
Companies with a large leave liability can often be seen as a risk, and employees who decide to quit without taking their leave can blow a hole in the wage budget.
A few current and former business leaders told Tuesday’s Australian Financial Review (no online version) how they encourage their staff to take leave and reduce their business’s leave liability.
Ann Sherry, chief executive of Carnival Corp (the owner of cruise operator P&O), says her company organises for managers to receive leave accrual reports each quarter, and are asked why their staff aren’t taking leave.
“From a risk-management point-of-view, people not taking leave…it’s not good for the business because people get tired, but also it’s not good management practice to have people working, working and working,” Ms Sherry says.
Leighton Holdings has limited leave so no person is allowed to accrue leave of more than six weeks before being told to take a holiday; a policy that has been “strongly enforced” according to Leighton CEO Wal King.
WorkCover NSW keep their leave balance down through a range of initiatives, like allowing workers to complete a full-time workload over four days, offering extra leave without pay and having flexible starting and finishing times.
Businesses in different industries may have different ways of encouraging staff to take leave, depending on the demographic and characteristics of the staff group. The ‘No Leave, No Life’ toolkit will help all businesses to get started in this sphere.
