More than a million workers will fail to take their full entitlement of leave this year, according to a report.

It found workers will give up a total of 6.2 million days of annual leave, with the average of unused holiday standing at five days.

This equates to a potential ￡500 million of ‘free’ work for their employers, which, according to an economist will boost the output of the economy by about two percent.

The report also showed that the main reason employees are shunning their remaining holiday entitlement is due to pressures at work and are failing to appreciate that taking a break could make them more productive and, in turn, boost the economy in the long term.

The research, commissioned by price comparison website TravelSupermarket, found that more than one in four of those who will shun their remaining holiday entitlement (28 percent) will do so due to pressures at work.

Nine percent of the 2,020 people polled also said they would feel guilty about taking the leave because their work would have to be taken care of by their colleagues.

A further three percent said they would be concerned about how taking time off would look to their employer, while the same proportion said they didn’t want to miss out on anything interesting or beneficial at work in the time they would be away.

Vicky Redwood, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said: ‘Given that there are about 250 working days in a year, getting an extra five ‘free’ days of work out their employees could in theory boost the output of the economy by about two percent.

‘That said, if workers are less productive as a result of not getting enough of a break from work, taking all of their annual leave could perversely end up boosting output in the economy.’

Bob Atkinson, travel expert for TravelSupermarket said: ‘As we head out of a double dip recession it’s no surprise that people are wary to take all their leave, especially if they feel pressure and uncertainty at work.

‘Despite having so much annual leave left, many of us still have no idea how to make best use of the time.

(Read by CJ Henderson. CJ Henderson is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)