When it comes to booking annual leave there are two camps: the forward planners and the last-minute bookers.
But those with the foresight to book ahead might be onto something – doing so early means they can get the best dates secured before anyone else, and, if they’re savvy enough, they might have worked out how to maximise paid time off.
If you’re also looking to utilise annual leave, then we have a tip for you. To capitalise on the festive period, you can squeeze out a whole 11 days off, by requesting just four days of leave.
It’s all about booking leave around the bank holidays, if you’re lucky enough to get them off. This year, Christmas day and Boxing day fall on the weekend, so most companies will give you Monday December 27 and Tuesday December 28 as substitute bank holidays. Monday January 3 has also been designated a substitute bank holiday for New Year’s day.
So, all you have to do is take off:
Friday December 24
Wednesday December 29
Thursday December 30
Friday December 31
That means you can put on your ‘out of office’ on at the end of the day on December 23, and stay off work until January 4.
If you love the idea of hacking annual leave to make the most of it but missed out on Christmas dates, then worry not, we also have hacks for 2022.
Next year brings it with it lots of special dates – including the four-day Platinum Jubilee bank holiday. So, if you act fast, you could have up to 45 days off using just 18 days of annual leave.
If you’re someome who gets the average 25 days off, that means you’ll still have days to spare even after these hacks.
Happy days.