By Simon Quicke

11 July 2008

Summer is meant to be a time when the industry slows down and thoughts turn to sunnier climes before the hard work starts again in the fourth quarter.

But this year the doom and gloom that emanates from the credit crunch has created a level of disquiet. Instead of holidaying, the industry will be hard at work over the next few weeks, looking over its shoulder to make sure the management has noticed.

In the past few days a number of surveys have been issued that paint a picture of a workforce wracked with paranoia and prepared to cancel
holidays because of job insecurity. It depends of course on the security and size of the business but it seems to be harder for those operating at the SME end of the market.

According to the latest monthly business omnibus from Continental Research, 12 per cent of people in small companies are facing a long summer without a break, with most small business bosses not even considering anywhere near a fortnight for a break.

Vicky Whiting, associate director of the business and finance team at Continental Research, says those people running SMEs are feeling the pressure and there is a clear difference in response to economic conditions depending on company size.

Following in the wake of those findings, the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) revealed that those operating in the IT sector would continue to work even if they did take a holiday because of the fear of being missed by management.

According to the CMI, a third of IT executives will not use their full holiday entitlement this year and employers have noticed an increase in concerns about restructuring and job insecurity.

Even those that do take a break tend to take work with them and
47 per cent of the survey respondents admitted to checking email and voicemail while on holiday.

A spokesman at the CMI said that it would be a mistake if people in the channel did not take holiday.

“The reaction is understandable. However people who are continuously working are going to be tired and make mistakes, and are more likely to be noticed by those on holiday. Plus it is a legal right,” he said.

He added that the IT sector was not alone in feeling that it could not take holidays, with the sales and defence areas also displaying the same level of job insecurity.

One of the problems for staff is the proliferation of technology, like the Blackberry, that can be used to keep someone in touch with emails even when they are on holiday.

Credant Technologies took its clipboards to the City and asked workers there whether they would be relaxing on a holiday.

The resounding answer was that emails would be checked and laptops would be in the hand luggage. A quarter of those asked said they would be checking emails and a third intended taking a laptop with them to continue working.

In a statement, Michael Callahan, senior vice-president and chief marketing officer at Credant, which specialises in encryption, said that as well as causing stress to people who should be on holiday, taking technology was also a security risk.

“Employers must face up to the fact that their employees’ diligence, or paranoia, for that matter, could be putting the company at risk,” he said.
For some of those working on the front line, the pressure on holidays came not from paranoia but the pressures of maximising trading hours and coping with rising fuel costs and currency fluctuations.

Mike Lawrence, managing director at Bentpenny, said it was becoming harder for people to take a break because of the margins, pressure on time and the current economic climate.

“Everyone has stopped booking holidays because they can’t afford it. If you are taking a fortnight off in the summer and you have the enforced break at Christmas you risk losing 10% of your working year,” he said.

Another reseller said that a factor having an influence was the strong euro, which was keeping people at home, and like many of his colleagues he would skip the fortnight away and take ad hoc short breaks around the UK.