Work addiction, financial pressures and job insecurity are ruining the average Australian's annual holidays- the traditional job-stress antidote for one of the Western world's hardest-slogging workforces.

So claims online travel company Expedia, which has been producing an annual global Vacation Survey for eight years. This year's survey covers 10 countries, including Australia.

And Australians have topped their American and European counterparts for being the worst at taking full holiday leave by holding onto an average of three days out of their average 18-day entitlement.

Interestingly, work addiction is blamed as one of the main reasons for Australians not taking their full leave.

More than a third (34%) of the survey respondents cited work commitments as being too great for them to take a full break.

More than one in 10 (11%) said they feel guilty taking time off work for a holiday and 5% said they suffer "work anxiety" when they take a holiday.

And here's another insight into the working lives of about 700,000 Australians: 7% of employees surveyed said they fear for their job security when they take a holiday. That means these people are scared of being sacked, demoted, etc while they are on holidays or when they return.

That's some holiday.

Toughening economic times are also responsible for leave stalling. Just over a quarter (26%) of the Australians surveyed claimed financial reasons for not taking full leave entitlements. They blamed the credit crunch and higher interest rates for affecting their holiday plans for 2008.

You can now safely add the soaring cost of petrol.

According to the survey, most of us don't leave work behind when we go on holidays.
 
Nearly two-thirds of people surveyed (62%) said they remain in contact with work while holidaying.

Two-thirds of the workforce represents more than six million people.

An amazing 57% of those surveyed remained contactable by work via mobile phone when on holiday and an equally surprising 41% keep watch for work emails.

The very idea of an annual holiday does not exist for many Australians. The Expedia survey revealed that nearly a third (31%) of Australian workers take holidays less than once a year and 13% less than every five years.