IRELAND’S WORKFORCE works longer hours than the global average – and gets fewer days off in return, a global poll has suggested.

A survey of over 8,600 workers by travel website Expedia also found, however, that Irish workers are the most likely to take up their entire allocation of annual leave – with the average worker taking 95 per cent of their holiday entitlement, ahead of a global average of 75 per cent.

The poll said the average Irish working week extended up to 40 hours, longer than the average expressed in other countries, while the usual leave entitlement of 21 days was less than the majority of other European countries.

The Irish are almost among the most insistent on getting away once holidays are booked: while half of global respondents said they had cancelled planned holidays, 65 per cent of Irish respondents said they had never cancelled a holiday after it was booked, compared to only 28 per cent in Taiwan.

Further, a clear majority of Irish respondents – 70 per cent – said they deliberately ‘switched off’ the moment they left for a holiday, while only 9 per cent said it took them a day or two to unwind.

This compares to the South Koreans and Japanese, 20 per cent of whom say their holidays are almost over before they begin to wind down and disconnect from work.

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