Manufacturing industry executives across the sector are cutting holidays, working longer and taking on bigger loads as they attempt to make themselves ‘recession proof’ – so says a survey by the Chartered Management Institute released today.

As redundancy rates have doubled to three per cent over the last year and 23 per cent of respondents rate their positions as ‘insecure’, 29 per cent said they would prefer to work through their holiday allocation in exchange for cash and 14 per cent will not use their full allowance regardless.

For those that do take time off, a third will check their work emails while away and 31 per cent will pick up voicemails. A fifth will use the time for ‘background reading’ and developing new skills.

“There is clearly a fear that ‘out of sight means out of mind’ but without a proper break individual performance can suffer and employers will notice mistakes more than they will absence through holiday,” warned Jo Causon of the CMI, “individuals need to recognise this and use holiday time to recharge their batteries,” she added.

Extensive workloads were to blame for 27 per cent who don’t take time off while 52 per cent said they did not want to let clients down or further burden their colleagues. Staying focussed on a major project was also cited by those choosing to waiver breaks.