Employees avoid annual leave because of cost-of-living pressures

And although it may be seen as a good thing in regard to staff shortages, the leave entitlements owed to employees could negatively impact businesses with the accumulation of leave liabilities.

The ELMO Employee Sentiment Index found that 75 per cent of Australian workers are avoiding taking annual leave due to the cost-of-living pressures and demanding workloads and that almost 25 per cent of employees have accrued more than the yearly leave entitlement, meaning businesses may be risking millions of dollars in leave liability. 

The index provides a quarterly update of sentiment among more than 1,000 geographically dispersed Australian workers over 18 years about their attitudes, actions and concerns in the workplace over the past three months, in addition to their plans and expectations for the future.

The Q3 index found that almost two-thirds of employees in Australia (64 per cent) are choosing to work from home to save money on transport costs and food and workers are now also working half an hour longer per week compared to last quarter, putting in an average of 33.4 hours a week during Q3 — the highest it has been all year.

Looking at the gender split, men are working an additional 4.7 hours per week compared to women (men, 35.7 hours; women, 31.0) and employees in Queensland are working an hour a week more than the rest of the country.

However, Gen Z would still like to work more hours as a quarter (24 per cent) said they aren’t working enough (Millennials, 15 per cent; Gen X, 14 per cent; and Baby Boomers, 17 per cent).

Surprisingly, just under half of Australian employees were encouraged by the economy to seek a pay increase in Q3, up 4 per cent from last quarter.

Additionally, more Australians are feeling secure overall as perceived security increased across the board, with job and industry security experiencing the highest growth (increases of 18 per cent and 19 per cent respectively). In regard to job, industry and organisational security, the number of employees feeling secure has increased by around 5 per cent across the board.

The latest quarterly report found that Australian workers are taking a legitimate sick day in slightly lower numbers, with a 1 per cent decrease from the peak levels of Q2. There was a similar drop in the number of employees arriving at work feeling unwell, which is particularly common among Gen Z employees (34 per cent).

A similar number of employees felt burnt out in Q2 and Q3 (both 42 per cent) which is also on par with this time last year. The number of employees who have taken annual leave has increased to almost a third (32 per cent) or over three and a quarter million (3.380) Australian employees, just under the peak of Q1 earlier this year (33 per cent).

Two out of five (40 per cent) Millennials have taken annual leave in the last quarter making them the generation that takes the most leave (Gen Z, 24 per cent; Gen X, 31 per cent; and Baby Boomers, 23 per cent).

And the cost of fuel and transport has seen around two-thirds of Australian employees who can work from home do so to save money, with two in five (43 per cent) saving on transport costs and three out of 10 (30 per cent) saving on food spending.

Younger generations and those who work in the financial/insurance services are more likely to work from home to save money (Gen Z, 73 per cent; Millennials, 73 per cent; Gen X, 59 per cent; Baby Boomers, 46 per cent; financial/insurance, 90 per cent; and national average, 63 per cent). On the other end of the spectrum, one in five (20 per cent) Australian employees who can work from home go into the office to save money. Around an eighth choose the office to save money on electricity (13 per cent) and to avoid online shopping (11 per cent).