Some Firms in the UK are now offering workers free holidays in bid to stop them from leaving

A business is paying for employee holidays and part of their weddings in a bid to get them to stay.

After a year in which inflation has run at double digits and the cost of living has caused real difficulties for many people, security a good pay rise is more important than for a long time. As of June, if you’re not getting a pay rise of around 8%, then you’re earning less money than you did last year.

In a bid to convince employees to stay in such tough economic times, East Anglian company Hughes Electrical has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on employee perks over the past year.

The firm, which employs more than 600 people, has started contributing £500 to staff weddings and civil partnerships, as well as setting up a £250 junior ISA for new babies, Eastern Daily Press reports.

It has stumped up more than £250,000 on two holiday lodges at Kelling Heath in North Norfolk, and at the Wild Duck Holiday Park near Great Yarmouth. Any member of staff, except senior management, can apply to have a week’s holiday in one of the lodges for free.

Employee Adam Callingham, who works in Hughes Warehouse in Thetford, spent a week with his family at Kelling Heath earlier this year.

Mark Wardell, managing director, added: “We see the introduction of the lodges as the icing on the cake as it offers staff the opportunity to enjoy a great holiday. We have achieved tangible benefits, not only with excellent internal feedback – but staff turnover is down and considerably below the average for our industry.”

If you’re company isn’t offering similar benefits but you like the idea of free holiday, then it may be worth checking out Climate Perks. If you can convince your firm to sign up to the non-profit, you can get extra annual leave if you head on holiday on green-modes of transport.

Some of the firms which have signed up include Wholegrain Digital, Julie’s Bicycle, Bristol Credit Union, Friends of the Earth, Direct Ferries, Triple Bottom Line Accounting, 39 Essex Chambers, the Brunel Museum and Third Sector Accounting.

Amy Cameron told the Mirror how she managed to spend just 10 days of annual leave on a 12-day trip to Majorca because her company Glimpse is signed up to Climate Perks. As she had foregone flights and booked herself onto a train instead, the creative ad agency agreed to extend her holiday with two extra paid days off.

The additional leave left the 36-year-old feeling like the extra cash she spent on the train over the cost of a flight was worth it, and not just because it’s much better for the environment. “You can actually enjoy the journey,” Amy told The Mirror. “People make the mistake of swapping like for like and try and fire straight down to Barcelona on the train.

“You can do that, but I like to enjoy the journey. [My boyfriend and I] went in the evening from London to Paris, spent a night and had dinner there, and then went from Paris to Barcelona the next day where we had dinner before taking the overnight ferry to Majorca.

“We left on Thursday evening and arrived at 6am on Saturday. It was so nice. We turned the journey into part of the holiday. On the train from Paris to Barcelona we saw all the flamingos in the Camargue. There’s also a restaurant car you can sit in.”

Amy argues that taking the train is much more luxurious than going by plane because “flying hasn’t been glamorous since the 80s”. She added: “People underestimate how long flying takes. In reality you have to get to the airport two hours before because it’s never where your holiday is.”