One important part of the benefits package in a new job is the period of paid holiday - whether you spend it roasting on exotic sands, struggling with those DIY jobs or simply putting the red mist of emails to the back of your mind. There are always those less relaxing odd days too, spent waiting for some delivery van to arrive or nursing your sick child.
However you spend your holiday entitlement, it's a crucial part of work and daily life - so why do we feel embarrassed about taking what is rightly earned and an important part of keeping our work-life balance?
Recent phone calls to city workers during the summer months noted that colleagues would refer to an absent peer as being on 'annual leave' rather than on 'holiday'. Does it make 'annual leave' sound less like 'skiving' and more official than daring to take time away from work for some sort of pleasure?
British workers tend to work longer hours and have less holiday entitlement than workers in other EU countries and even further afield. It seems we feel it is not professional to be away from the office for pleasure - and yet the UK has one of the highest figures in the EU for 'sick leave'.
So what does it say in your employment contract - annual leave or holiday? Is annual leave entitlement the same as holiday entitlement? Why the two terms? And does this create confusion for workers?
'Annual leave' is not even in the Oxford English dictionary. Any sources of definition for 'annual leave' seem connected with law and regulations.
We believe the idea of annual leave started during the time of the Industrial Revolution when factory workers were allowed by generous mill owners to take a limited period of leave from work each year, which would traditionally be spent on a trip to the coast or countryside to get away from the smog and dirt.
It doesn't seem possible that the 'city bonus brigade' can no longer afford to take a 'holiday'. Perhaps 'annual leave' eases their guilt and makes it easier for us to bear while we just gaze longingly at pictures of sun and sand?
Tell us what you think in our holiday poll (to the left).
