59% of employees lie to secure best holiday dates

It’s not unusual for employers to restrict the amount of holiday time staff have off during busy times, especially during the Summer period and Christmas, to avoid a deserted office. But employees are getting increasingly sneaky in finding ways to secure their preferred dates off work before their colleagues.

A new survey of 1,000 employees released by londonoffices.com revealed that 59% of respondents say they’ve dishonestly insisted that that they need particular dates off from their boss to avoid missing out on the best-priced holiday packages.

Other results include 42% admitting to calling in sick rather than taking annual leave following a long weekend break. 31% of those surveyed said they make sure they book the days next to bank holidays before their colleagues to eek out their holiday allowances.

CEO of londonoffices.com, Chris Meredith, says managers need to be careful to make sure sneaky tactics don’t get out of hand: “It’s shocking that employees lie about losing money just to secure dates before their colleagues. It’s unfair to those employees that need to balance childcare with peak holiday times.