Ecommerce & annual leave: how much holiday do your employees need?

Aug 1, 2019 8:00:00 AM

A big essential within the ecommerce industry is annual leave. It’s the chance for professionals to unwind, take a step back from a hectic industry and really embrace a better work-life balance.

How many annual leave days will they need to do this? Would a lack of focus on the importance of annual leave put potential ecommerce superstars from joining your team? We’re sure there are plenty of reasons why a lower number of holiday days are offered in certain companies but are discussions happening to change this?

How important is annual leave to ecommerce professionals?

Do ecommerce professionals consider annual leave when finding a new role, or staying in their current one? The answer is simple…yes, they do.

Looking across the industry, the number of days for annual leave that is considered generous is 25 days. When consulting our 2019 ecommerce salary survey & insights report, we were surprised to see only 35% of our respondents receive more than 25 days of holiday. However, it has remained in the top five benefits received by our questionnaire respondents for the last four years!

What’s interesting to note, is that 35% in 2019 is the highest we have seen for this company benefit. It has always hovered around 30% – 35%, so we can see there hasn’t been much of an increase at all for this as a company benefit. Now let’s look at what our respondents think is essential in a role.

While we didn’t offer ‘x number of annual leave’ as an answer, there are two responses in the top 5 that would relate to this topic. Feeling valued and respected has been number one for five years now – this relates to getting the respect and rewards for hard work done throughout the year. Incentives need to be in place, especially annual leave, which gives your team the chance to relax and take a rest during the year. Company culture has also been a mainstay in our top five, and once again it means the company have to offer an environment that attracts, and retains, the top ecommerce talent.

Why your team need their rest time

45% of ecommerce professionals complete two to five hours of overtime a week…and only 53% of these respondents are happy with their work-life balance. We know this a busy industry, but should we have people doing so much overtime on a weekly basis? It’s time to encourage teams to stop overdoing it and awarding them ample downtime.

How can you offer an alternative to annual leave allowance?

If there looks like there won’t be a discussion about increasing annual leave any time soon, it’s time to start brainstorming! What can management and senior business leaders do to counteract a potential lack of annual leave days and reward their staff accordingly?

  • The ability to buy annual leave: Here at cranberry towers, we work with many brands and retailers. This is a benefit we are seeing become more common, as it gives employees the peace of mind to know that if they do need to rinse through their annual leave, there are other options for them should they need some extra days.
  • Days in lieu of overtime: When we asked our respondents how they feel management could encourage a better grasp on work-life balance, this was one of the answers. Could it be worth discussing ways to repay hard work with an afternoon off…or perhaps even a day of the employee’s choice?
  • Offer flexible working: Another recommendation from our salary survey respondents! In fact, 58% of our respondents consider this important or essential when it comes to picking a new role.

A balanced team is a happy team!

That’s right! With so much competition in such a busy industry, you need your employees to be at the top of their game. If they’re not, they might just go somewhere where they will be. When it comes to hiring ecommerce talent, you definitely won’t want your competitors securing the best people because they offered five days of annual leave more.

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