French workers use all their holiday entitlement, and rightly so

GOOD on the French for leading the world in using their holiday leave, taking all 30 possible days available to them.

At the same time, a full 90% of employed French adults either strongly or somewhat agree with the sentence, "I feel vacation deprived," well above the global average.

And despite the French enjoying their holiday periods, many are still connected to the workplace with 93% saying they "constantly, regularly or sometimes" check work emails and voice mails while on holiday.

The findings come from the 2013 Vacation Deprivation study, an annual analysis of vacation habits among 8,535 employed adults across 24 countries, produced by travel firm Expedia.

"No one retires wishing they'd spent more time at their desk," said John Morrey, vice president and general manager, Expedia.com.

"There are countless reasons that vacation days go unused – failure to plan, worry, forgetfulness, you name it. But rested employees are more productive employees, so taking regular vacations may well help the company more than failing to do so."