Over a third of Irish workers fail to use all of their annual leave last year. 

• The 2025 Annual Leave Report by FRS Recruitment has found that over a third of Irish people failed to make full use of their holiday entitlements last year
• Male workers are less likely to take all their holidays than their female colleagues
• Around three out of five people are in favour of a 4-day work week, even if it means a reduction in salary

More than one-third of Irish workers (35%) failed to make full use of their holiday entitlements in 2024.

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

Our 2025 Annual Leave Report, shows that almost 1 in 4 people (23%) failed to take 5 days of annual leave or more last year, which represents a week’s paid leave.

The survey of almost 2,000 Irish workers found that men were more likely not to use all of their annual leave entitlements. Just over 40% of male respondents admitted they had unused holidays last year, compared to less than a third (31%) of female respondents. Of the male respondents who said they did not used all their holidays last year, almost two-thirds (64%) admitted 5 or more days went unused.

For one in ten people (11%), the longest period of annual leave they took was less than a week, while 38% stated their longest break was 2 weeks. Less than a third (30%) of respondents said the longest period of annual leave they took was 1 week, while 21% said they took more than 2 weeks annual leave last year.



Travel

The 2025 Annual Leave report also found that almost two-thirds of people (64%) said they used their annual leave for foreign travel last year, an 18% increase compared to the previous year’s figure and the most common reason cited. Meanwhile, 44% of respondents used their holiday leave for domestic travel.

Workers have also been taking more holidays due to family and health reasons. 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, up from 9% a year ago, while 9% used it due to illness – up from 4%.

Holiday Payments

The 2025 report also found that fewer employers opted to offer payment in lieu of unused annual leave days last year. Only 9% of workers were offered this option in 2024, down from 27% the previous year.

However, fewer workers reported that they lost their annual leave days if they went unused by year-end. Just 11% said they lost unused annual leave days – a significant drop from the 24% of respondents last year who said they lost holiday days. More than 40% of workers said they can carry annual leave days into the following year if they go unused.

Meanwhile, a majority of people (59%) responded that they would be in favour of a 4-day working week, even if it impacted on their salary.

A total of 1,987 people took part in the survey used to compile the FRS Annual Leave Report. FRS Recruitment is one of Ireland’s leading recruitment agencies with 10 offices nationwide.

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. That annual leave allocation continues to be a defining feature of the employment experience - a point of negotiation, expectation, and, increasingly, reflection on how we balance work and life.

“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.

“The debate around future leave policies remains active. Six in ten employees would support the introduction of unlimited leave, and a similar proportion would back a four-day working week, even if it meant adjusting salaries. These attitudes show a workforce eager for flexibility and new ways of organising work.”