According to research by HR and payroll platform Loket.nl and entrepreneur support company MKB Servicedesk, at least 43,5 percent of employees in the Netherlands have unused holiday leave every year. 

Leave days go unused by Dutch workers

Employees in the Netherlands are legally entitled to 20 days of leave. However, it is quite common for Dutch companies to offer between 24 and 32 days. Based on more than 1,2 million anonymised payslips analysed by the organisations, workers receive on average 27,5 leave days per year.

Most employers allow workers to carry unused days off through to the next year, however if not used after 6 months into the new year it expires. Dutch employers are also not allowed to pay out unused statutory leave. 

While the majority of people who work in the Netherlands use their full holiday entitlement, 43,5 percent do not, carrying over on average 1,8 days to the following year. However, some employees use even less leave, with 17,6 percent ending the year with five days or more unused and 3,7 percent who have over 10 days left.

Amount of leave in the Netherlands varies by sector and generation

There are large differences in the amount of leave that employees are entitled to based on the sectors in which they work. For example, metal industry workers get the most leave with 30 days - 2,5 days more than average. Other industries that have a higher number of days off include engineering, chemical, wood and packaging, and furniture and organ building. 

On the other hand, industries that receive lower-than-average leave include construction, publishing, and port classification, as well as workers in timber and retail. The amount of leave leftover also differs between sectors, with construction workers less likely to carry over leave, while butchers and taxi drivers leave more days unused.

An employee's age also has an impact on how much leave a person gets and how much they use. Understandably, as Baby Boomers (born before 1955) have been working longer and are more likely to have better employment conditions, they are also entitled to more leave with an average of 29,9 days. But because Gen Z workers (born between 2000 and 2015) have not been in work for as long, they are less likely to receive a lot of leave with an average of 26,6 days. Boomers also have the most leave left over at the end of the year (2,3 days), while Zoomers have some of the least (1,7 days).

Why do Dutch workers not use all their leave?

Leave is important for the well-being of workers and contributes to a good work-life balance. According to research by industrial psychologist Jessica de Bloom, when more leave is made available to workers, they are more likely to take more time off. The benefits of this include stress relief and preventing future strain.

We all know the benefits of taking leave so why do so many workers leave days unused? Some reasons include a heavy workload that makes it harder to take time off or even being unaware that there are leave days remaining. It is also possible that some workers save their leave days so they can take a longer holiday the following year.

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