MORE THAN ONE-THIRD of Irish workers didn’t take all of their annual leave in 2024, according to new research on holiday leave trends.

Despite the high figure, this was an overall improvement on last year’s report when 42% of workers failed to use all of their holiday leave.

The 2025 annual leave report from FRS Recruitment shows that almost one in four people failed to take five days of annual leave or more last year.

Men were more likely not to use all their leave, according to the survey of almost 2,000 Irish workers.

Over 40% of men said they had unused holidays last year, compared to 31% of women who responded.

Travel

The report found that when workers do take annual leave, the majority use it to travel abroad.

Almost two-thirds of people said they used their annual leave for foreign travel last year, an 18% increase compared to the previous year’s figure.

Workers have also been taking more holidays due to family and health reasons.

According to the report, 46% of people used annual leave days for family reasons – up from 15% the previous year.

A further 35% of respondents said they used their annual leave for personal reasons, while 9% used it due to illness.

The report also found that fewer employers opted to offer payment for unused annual leave days last year.

It asked people their opinion on a four-day working week, which the majority (59%) said they support.

Speaking about the research, Lynne McCormack, General Manager with FRS Recruitment said: “Holidays remain one of the most important considerations for employees when weighing up a new role or reviewing their contract.”

“This year’s findings show some positive movement: almost two-thirds of people (65%) took full advantage of their leave in 2024, up from 58% the year before.”

However, more than one in three employees still left days unused, with almost a quarter admitting they let five days or more go untaken. For some, these days are carried over or paid out, but for many, the time is simply lost.”