Wot If You Told Work to Take a Leap on Friday?

Wot if you wanted to tell work to take a leap on Friday?

Wotif.com finds Kiwis believe honesty is the best policy

AUCKLAND 27 February 2008: Forget everything you've learnt about leap years, Wotif.com, the self declared saviours of the short break, guardians of the getaway and protectors of the long weekend, have discovered the shocking truth that it's all a sham.

In their tireless search to find ways to take more getaways, Wotif.com's team were outraged to discover that this leap year, we have to work extra day and were not getting paid for it.

Wotif.com New Zealand Manager, Tania Witheford said: "Weekends and public holidays aside, Kiwis are going to put in 251 working days this year. Last year it was 250, and in 2006 it was just 249 days. And yet, if you're on a salary, you'll get paid exactly the same amount.

"As this is also the last day of summer, we started thinking of the best way to approach taking Friday off, and decided to find out what Kiwis thought by conducting a quick survey," she added.

Unexpectedly, the honest approach was the most popular way for survey respondents to get the day off, with 45% of respondents opting to simply tell the boss to bugger off.

The next preferred option was to tell a half truth, with 25% of respondents stating they would claim a mental health day (i.e. watching Dr Phil) in order to get out of work.

Perhaps being saved for when they are really needed, old favorites, 'the sickie' and 'family commitments' took 12% and 11% of the votes respectively, coming in third and fourth favorite.

Not surprisingly the elaborate lie was the least favoured option, with only 6% of respondents choosing to tell an elaborate tale of rescuing the grandma, dog and photo albums from a burning house.

Regardless of how they go about it, all of the Kiwis surveyed agreed they should claim this Friday back in some way, and are not the only ones who feel this way.

"Salary-paid workers world-wide face the same issue. Wotif.com also surveyed of over 400 Aussies to reveal the same sentiment as Kiwis," said Tania.

"We also discovered they work one more day than us every year, but we didn't tell them that part," she added.

- ends -

Notes to Editor
*Statistics were taken from over 300 Kiwis who responded to a poll conducted online by Wotif.com which asked respondents to select from the following options as their preferred way of asking the boss for the weekend off.

- Dear Boss - I believe you're expecting me to work on Friday 29 Feb, despite not paying me for the extra day in this leap year. Bugger that! I'm taking the day off. Enjoy your weekend as the response they would give.

- Dear Boss, I was driving home last night and passed a house that was on fire. Without hesitation I ran into the house and rescued the family's grandma, dog and prized photo albums. I feel fine, but the medics have insisted that I be monitored.

- Dear Boss, we're staging an emergency intervention for a cousin who has joined a cult. Hoping to be done by lunch, but if things are as bad as I think they are, I'll need to take the entire day off.

- Dear Boss, thanks again for lunch yesterday. While I did enjoy the calamari salad at the time, it wasn't as nice the second (or third) time around. I really wanted to get to work today, but I don't like my chances - I just hope the rest of the office is OK. See you Monday.

- Dear Boss, I am very stressed today and think it is best if I take a mental health day (watching Dr Phil).

About Wotif.com
Wotif.com sells accommodation online in more than 40 countries.

Our great rates, broad accommodation range, easy-to-use site and 24/7 Customer Service Centre have made us the most popular way for business and leisure travellers in Australia and New Zealand to book accommodation online. Every month our site attracts 2.75 million visits with customers making more than 170,000 bookings through our 28-day booking window.

We launched in Brisbane, Australia, in March 2000 and now have offices in Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom to support our growing international presence. Wotif.com is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, trading under the code WTF.

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