Three-fourths of Singaporeans willing to have their pay cut to enjoy holiday: study

More than 6 in 10 employees felt they were vacation-deprived in 2018.

Almost eight in ten full-time Singaporean employees said that they are willing to take a pay cut in exchange for one extra day of vacation, a study by travel platform Expedia revealed.

According to the latest Vacation Deprivation Study of Expedia, 63% of full-time Singaporean employees felt that they were vacation deprived--higher than the global average of 58%, and up from Singapore’s earlier results of 57% in 2017 and 41% in 2016.

This makes Singaporeans the sixth most vacation-deprived in the world, with the fourth most rapid increase globally. India and South Korea topped the polls, with 75% and 72% respectively saying that they need more holidays. This is followed by Hong Kong (69%), Malaysia (67%) and France (64%). India, Thailand and the US recorded the fastest increase with a 15%, 14%, and 9% jump, respectively.

Meanwhile, 88% of Singaporeans felt that they deserve more annual leave last year, although half of the polled did not use up their annual leave at all. Of these respondents, 39% said that they were unable to take time off work, 30% said they were saving for a long holiday, and 22% said they are unable to afford a vacation.

The sentiment is most prevalent amongst the younger generation, with 67% of aged 18 to 34 saying they were deprived of annual leave, compared to 65% of workers aged 35 to 49, and 52% aged 50 and above.

Thirty percent of workers polled said that they felt that their supervisors expected them to be available constantly, the third-highest globally after India and Malaysia.

The study also found that the employees’ mental health may be a rising issue, with seven in 10 Singaporean workers having taken at least a day off for their mental welfare or simply to relieve stress. On average, workers took three days off in 2018.

Expedia polled 11,000 full-time working adults across 19 markets, including 300 respondents in Singapore.