The focus of this year’s Go Home on Time Day is the threat to the “Great Aussie Holiday.”  Thanks to the rise of precarious work in all its forms, a growing share of Australian workers (about one-third, according to our research) have no access to something we once took for granted: a paid annual holiday.  Moreover, about half of those who ARE entitled to paid annual leave, don’t use all of their weeks – in many cases because of work-related pressures.  And recent decisions by the Fair Work Commission allowing for the “cash out” of annual leave, mean that this great cultural institution – the Aussie holiday – is very much in jeopardy.

We have updated our regular calculations of the value of workers’ time that is effectively “stolen” each year by employers through massive amounts of unpaid overtime regularly worked in all industries and occupations.