If you feel like everyone around you is always on leave, you might be right. New data from Deel shows that full‑time workers in Singapore take more paid time off (PTO) than their peers across Asia‑Pacific – and are also the most likely to use every last day of their annual leave.
Deel analysed platform data from more than 4,500 full‑time workers in APAC who requested time off in 2025. Singapore came out on top with a median of 19 vacation days taken, ahead of Hong Kong (16.5 days), Australia (16 days), Indonesia and Malaysia (15.5 days each), and South Korea (15 days).
On paper, the typical Singapore worker had a median vacation entitlement of 18 days. In reality, many went beyond that by dipping into rollover days from previous years instead of letting them go to waste.
Singaporeans don’t just take more leave – they also make fuller use of it. In 2025, 57% of Singapore workers on Deel used all of their entitled vacation leave, and 77% used at least 80%. Both figures were the highest among the APAC markets analysed. In Hong Kong, the shares were 43% and 69%; in Malaysia, 51% and 69%, respectively.
More time-off flexibility means more breaks
In Singapore, workers with flexible vacation policies took a median of 20.75 days off, compared with 19 days for those on fixed entitlements. A similar pattern showed up in Australia, India, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, where workers on flexible arrangements tended to take more vacation than peers on fixed policies.
Indonesia was the main exception, with workers on fixed leave taking more vacation days than those on flexible policies. It’s a reminder that the policy on paper is only part of the story.
Workplace norms, manager expectations and how easy it is to plan around absences still shape whether people feel able to switch off.
Singaporean’s preference for OOO – the longer, the better
The data also hints at different “holiday styles” across the region.
Across all markets analysed, one‑day breaks made up most vacation requests – the classic mental health day or quick Friday off. But once people took more than one day, differences emerged.
Hong Kong workers were more likely to take two‑day breaks, which could reflect a preference for short getaways or tacking extra days onto long weekends.
Singapore workers, by contrast, were more likely than Hong Kong workers to take longer stretches of four days or more, pointing to a stronger tendency towards planned long holidays and extended break time.
Research has consistently linked longer, uninterrupted breaks with lower burnout risk and better mental wellbeing. This suggests that Singapore’s pattern of taking longer stretches of leave may offer a stronger buffer against overwork than short, fragmented breaks.
Engaging employees with PTO policies
Taken together, the findings suggest that attitudes towards PTO are shifting across the region – and that Singapore workers are at the forefront of that change.Lauren Thomas, Economist at Deel, said “In Singapore, we see that when people have both access and permission, they actually use their leave – and they use it in ways that help them properly switch off. Longer, planned breaks are becoming a feature of how people work, not an exception.”
“For employers, that means PTO can’t just sit in the handbook. It has to be part of how you design work, plan capacity and think about wellbeing. The companies that treat time off as a strategic lever, and not just an admin line item, are the ones that will be better placed to keep people healthy and businesses running smoothly.”
As workforces become more distributed and competition for talent intensifies, understanding how employees use their time off is no longer a nice‑to‑have insight – it is central to building resilient, sustainable teams.
For HR and business leaders, the next step is turning those leave patterns into better decisions about staffing, wellbeing programmes and the overall employee experience.
