A recent survey claims that British workers are so fixated with taking the holiday that they want to take, when they want to take it, that they will go to almost any lengths, even employing devious or underhand tactics, to secure a specific timeslot.
Attempting to beat colleagues to prime holiday weeks by booking holidays more than six months in advance is one common strategy, but failing that individuals are prepared to lie and tell colleagues that a holiday has already been booked when it has not. Other ploys to take the time off when required include calling into work sick, pretending a family member is sick, and even inventing a fictitious honeymoon.
A survey of around 1,000 workers that was conducted by holiday booking company, Skyscanner, showed that one in every three employees have booked vacations more than six months in advance in order to get the time off ahead of their colleagues. This had resulted in around 24 percent of travellers resorting to lies or underhand methods to get the leave for the period they wanted, including 4 percent who faked a family emergency, and others who had claimed to be snowed in, or that they had to attend the funeral of a close friend.
Sam Poullain, the spokesman for Skyscanner, a UK-based flight search engine which conducted the survey, said, ‘With many companies prohibiting staff from taking leave at the same time, people can go to surprising lengths to ensure they get their holiday leave when they want it. Our survey reveals that there are many of us who are willing to be quite ruthless in the battle with their colleagues for time off.’
