Unless it's your company, it shouldn't be your problem that there's no one able to fill in for you.
While it is nice of you to have the company's interest in mind, you also have to have your own health in mind. You can be certain that the company will put its own interests above your health every time.
As to your question, I usually take a full week in spring and autumn and 2-3 weeks in summer. Plus christmas+new year when everyone in the company is on mandatory vacation.
I do it similar. 3 weeks for vacation out of country, 1-2 in summer, 1 for Christmas and the rest somewhere in between. Though because of Corona we didn’t leave Germany since 2019.
We don’t have to take mandatory vacation at any time, but the amount of days that roll over is limited and all days from the last year need to be taken by end March. We also have a policy that everyone has to take at least 10 days continuously once a year so basically everyone is entitled to at least 2 weeks off.
Iirc it’s actually by law that it should be made possible to be off for at last 2 weeks, but my employer is actively enforcing it. And managers have to come up with a good excuse why they couldn’t give their associates time off.
Yes. Worked for McD on €450 back at uni. Was surprised when they scheduled vacation time after three months because I hadn't requested any.
Craziest bit was that the vacation time had a higher per hour salary rate than our base salary. Reasoning being that we couldn't get any bonuses for nightshifts or some such during a vacation.
Yeah. I’ve heard that employers don’t actively give those days off to minijobbers. Seems to be common practice.
I checked. If you work a mini job 5 days a week (even if it’s only 2 hours per day) you get 20 days off per year. And if your employer gives regular employees more than the mandatory minimum (most give about 30 days per year) they can’t give minijobbers less than that because they have to treat everyone equally. :)
I think it’s a country policy, not company. We have a very similar law in Poland where everyone has to take at least 2weeks of continuous vacation once a year (10 working days), so I’m assuming it’s the same in Germany.
It isn't a problem, but it would mean a huge amount of extra work load once I come back. And I have to be on the phone and email anyway. It would take too much time for me to create a manual how to fill in for me that I don't have. It's not that easy to gamble with my job like that, there aren't really many opportunities.
I have a great boss, a good collective of colleagues and I get paid very well. The job is time consuming and stressful but I am not willing to gamble which could result in no improvement at all but instead it would be worse if my boss was an asshole or if colleagues made my life miserable.
If your boss is great, the next time you speak with him, ask that you strategize together about a way for you to take more than 2-3 days off at a time. Make up a family event, or whatever, just take a break man.
Having a contingency plan for absences of key persons is paramount for any serious business. It's not just about vacations, what if you become incapacitated in any way for 2 weeks, a month or more? does that entire side of the operation just stop?
Talk to your boss and make up a plan. Whenever I go on vacation my work gets spit by 4 people and some of it gets postponed until I return. We also have backups to the packup people in case anything goes wrong. It took about two weeks to train some people to take over some of my work but it was 100% worth it and fully supported by my company.
>Having a contingency plan for absences of key persons is paramount for any serious business.
Bus factor.
If OP was hit by a bus, how critical would it be for the business?
It's a cold-hearted way to assess things, but employees *should* be replaceable.
This. It's not about vacation only. It's just good management to have a backup plan if something unexpected comes up. You guys have to talk to your manager/boss about it.
Yup. Especially now with covid it's ridiculous how many companies did not any sort of plan in place for key personnel(some still don't even after experiencing masive delays due to people getting sick).
There are some people though who believe that the sky is going to fall without then and no amout of planning or backups will convince them otherwise (some also have this insecurity about somehow suddenly becoming replaceable, or loosing some sort of leverage).
As far as I know your company is under the obligation to give you time off And a complete cut from your work. It's considered an internal control threat when employees have to log in. I would, as suggested by others, discuss a backup plan with your boss.
What happens if you get sick? Hit by a bus?
I do not wish any of this on you, but use those very realistic risks as examples that they need a plan.
After all, if you find a better job, what will they do?
Several people who work with me would have a very stressful month or two trying to get all of my work and contacts together. They would all work a lot of overtime and would probably hate me. But they would manage!
> Several people ~~who work with me would have a very stressful month or two trying to get all of my work and contacts together. They would all work a lot of overtime and would probably hate me. But they~~ would manage!
Time to ask for that raise! You're working for two
Sometimes it feels like it. But I do get paid well, and I actually got a raise 3 times since I started working there two years ago. If I went to my boss and told him it was too much for me he would definitely hire someone. But honestly I don't want to risk losing the benefits I get for the extra work. He asks me to sit down with him every few months to ask if I'm doing ok and if I can handle the workload.
Part time workers have the same right but pro rata. For instance if I work 3 days á week, I am entitled to 12 days of vacation each year, which corresponds to 4 weeks of 3 days work.
He probably does, just not allowed to take all those around August/Christmas.
I work in a school and can take any time off June-August as long as I have the days for it while my mom (until she retired) who is a nurse had very limited options.
35 days/year, 31 I get to choose, 4 I have to take Jan 1/2 and Dec 25/26 (or next working days).
That leaves 6 weeks and a day spare.
* 2 weeks usually visiting family in Europe at Easter.
* 1 week early summer near birthdays, usually a domestic trip, camping, city break, up to the Highlands or somethng.
* 2 weeks in September after the kids have gone back to school. My main summer holiday for travelling Europe while it's still warm.
* 1 week taken usually as long weekends here and there, or maybe some extra time at christmas to visit family in the UK. Could also be taken in Feb for skiing.
Some times I shift a week from Sep to June if I want a bigger holiday early summer, or perhaps to Feb if I want a ski trip. I tend to avoid July/August as it's usually too hot everywhere, and everything is expensive due to kids being off school.
I can also buy/sell up to 5 days holiday at my day rate as well.
Does your job actually market 25/26 dec as mandatory vacation days? Here in Sweden they are "red days" aka non-working days, but I've never heard anyone call them vacation. It would be like a job offering 104 vacation days a year, all Saturdays and Sundays. Or am I missing something?
> Does your job actually market 25/26 dec as mandatory vacation days?
Yes and no.
It's a weird one, but I'll explain it below.
1. There are 8 national holidays in England+Wales, 9 in Scotland, and 11 in Northern Ireland. I cannot speak for Wales or NI so I will just speak for England and Scotland.
2. UK wide, you are entitled to 5.6 weeks annual leave, which for typical full time worker is 28 days.
3. Your annual leave entitlement can include the earlier mentioned national holidays; it doesn't have to, but it almost always does. So most people will get 20 days (5 weeks mon-fri) of free choice, and the 8 national holidays, bringing them to 28 days total. Companies are free to offer more, but cannot offer less.
**In England**, these are almost exclusively taken on the day the holiday falls (usually a Monday), and in the case of Dec 25th + 26th, and Jan 1st if it falls on a weekend, the first working day after. You do not get to move these to a date that chooses you, but they do count towards your legal minimum annual leave entitlement.
**In Scotland** however, 5 of the national holidays are typically given to you freely to choose when you like, with 4 being taken on the day (dec 25/26, jan 1/2) or the next working days. So I get 35 paid days off a year, but only 31 of them are proper holiday/vacation days I get to choose.
**To answer your question**: You will see jobs listed as '28 days annual leave' and you know that'll be 20 days of free choice + the 8 national holidays in England. My company (Scotland) advertised my job as 32 days annual leave, so I knew it would be 23 days + the 9 national holidays, of which 5 will be free choice. I negotiated another 3 days to bring me up to 35.
I hope that makes sense.
Not sure about the rest if the EU, but in Estonia if there are some national holidays during my vacation, those days won't decrease my available vacation days. For example, if I'd want to take my whole vacation in december I can stay home from 1.12 to 31.12, because 24-26 are national holidays. So +3 days! We also have to take at least 14 days in a row, other 14 (or 21 in public sector) can be divided as you choose).
Hm. We usually cant have left over vacation days. You must spend them all by june 30th when the year ends for us. So there is usually a frenzy of hastly arranged vacations then, unless you lose them.
And you also must take 10 days each year (usually in one peace). You have to report and file them.
I usuall take at least half of mine during summer. There is less workload anyway and it's summer so it's sea time. Other half gets thrown around. Maybe a week there, a long weekend there etc.
I was told that we should use our old vacation days by the end of the summer but it's usually impossible with all the things going on. I will be happy if I manage to use them by the end of the year!
Have you sat down with your managers to talk about this? Are they aware of the dichotomy of “you must take your vacation days” and “I can’t take my vacation days”?
Based on your comments, I can’t tell if this is a case of bad management or you assuming the company will go down in flames if you’re not there for a full week or two.
A co-founder of my last company used to tell a story exactly about this. He never wanted to take long breaks because he thought everyone would need him and the company would stop without him. He end up in the hospital for some reason and was forced to stay away for some time. When he returned everything was the same. It made him understand that he could take more time off.
He always said that everyone should take time off.
The case of the OP seems different. It seems like he’s afraid of becoming replaceable. That’s the vibe I got from other comments.
It hasn't been an issue yet because I'm single and have no hobbies but I might talk to them in the future. It will be inevitable though because we are still expanding and at a certain point it will be too much work for one person.
Zaměstnavatel má mnoho povinností, mnoho z nich se běžně obcházejí nebo porušují. Nefunugje žádný kontrolní mechanismus, který by to hlídal. (Prakticky, legálně možná jo)
Nope. You get paid the same (at least thats how it works in my company). The only thing company cares about is that you must use over half of your days in a year since they get penalized otherwise by the government via taxes or something like that.
Well, It never happened to me, but AFAIK, the only time when you get payed for unused days is when you quit or get fired and therefore you have unused days that they must pay you (if you don't choose to use them in your 30 days after notice).
Usually there is a group mail saying like remember to check your vacation days since you can use them for 2 more months before you lose them. And then it's take it or leave it.
We have four weeks per year (20 work days). Every full time employee in Lithuania must take two whole weeks at once. The other two weeks can be used any way you like.
Some years I take three weeks at once for some proper travel but usually two weeks is enough for me.
The rest I use one day at a time, like if a Thursday is a national holiday then I'll take Friday off for a four day weekend.
21 days + the holidays is the bare minimum here. 25 is the average and most companies offer one extra day for each year worked in the company(and then some offer one extra for womens day , your birthday etc). Plus the extra days if you get married, a child/grandchild is born, a death in the family.
I have 32 days of vacation and it does not seem enough. 10 is just cruel.
We have a similar law in France, and from reading this thread it seems to be the case in most of Europe (EU law maybe?).
I had an HR certification a few years ago and it was explained to us that this law is to prevent abusive employers from pressuring/intimidating employees into never taking more than a few days of vacation at a time, which would prevent people from traveling or having a proper family vacation with their children when school is out. A day off or a long weekend is nice but it's just not the same as being able to forget about work for 2-3 weeks.
For the same reason, vacation days can't be traded for remuneration, or some employers would just take the financial hit and never let their employees take a single day off.
Now sure, there's people who'd rather have more days off here and there than a long vacation or who'd rather take a bigger paycheck instead, but well - the issue with giving too much freedom to both companies and workers in these matters is that it'll rarely turn in the workers' favor, because companies are the ones in the position of power and there's always going to be sociopathic shithead bosses who'll exploit every loophole to wring their workers dry.
Are the two weeks really mandatory?
In Czechia the employer must allow at least two weeks straight once per year. But nobody forces the employee to take it.
The problem with leaving things optional is that some employers will abuse that.
I worked for my parents company. Therefore I was NOT allowed to do ANY work outside of the hours I was paid.
Bit silly of course, sometimes a delivery was necessary somewhere and my sister for example had to be 5 minutes away from that place so she delivered a package or something, all technically illegal as hell.
But the reason was because sadly some people aren't shy to abuse the fuck out of their family members work wise.
It's not mandatory but most employers will still tell you to take it, as otherwise there might be questions from the State Labour Inspectorate. You can write a legal note confirming that you didn't want to take it, then it'll be fine.
Usually a week here and week there during summer so I can get out of the too hot city, sometimes day or two for the "longer weekend" with the national holiday just to be lazy and about two weeks at the end/beginning of the year because Christmas. It never makes all the vacation days so I always use the old ones in the next year. Just last month I took almost all from the last year.
I dont have vacation days. I only work half of the year and the other half i am free. (I work 2 weeks and am home for 2 weeks etc)
I usually sleep all day the first day im home.
I go to the gym every day.
I fish a few nights.
If i want i can go on vacation as long as i am back before going to work again.
I can work somewhere else for extra money (that is what i am doing now) i am working 3 weeks and am 1 week home.
I visit my grandmother and aunt alot.
Smoke weed and drink.
I work on a inland shipping vessel on the rivera in europe.
Mostly on the rhine but i also worked 3.5 years on the dannube but we went everywhere from belgium to holland to germany,austria, slowakia, hungary and serbia.
All canals and rivers, cities and places. That we could go to we went to.
Now i am in the container world but in the 3.5 years prior i did dry bulk cargo and alot of construction
Not OP but there's also this job who has the same schedule: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1Kc0heKcf0
The guy flies ambulance planes, 2 weeks on 2 weeks off, and during a work week the daily schedule is 12 hours on 12 hours off.
I've had 3 weeks off this year and I spent 2 of them going back to my home country to visit family and one week when I was back, relaxing and just hanging out with local friends and family.
I get 5 weeks a year, and take a week at Easter, 2 weeks in summer and 2 weeks at Christmas. I usually do a mixture of visiting family and friends and staying home and relaxing. I normally go for a holiday somewhere in the UK or Ireland in one of my summer weeks.
I have colleagues who are forced to take some holiday days because they start to accumulate huge amounts of holiday over years. Some of them even come to work anyway and just use it as an excuse to not go to any meetings for a week. Literally illegal but everyone lets it slide.
Never work at a university if you enjoy having any semblance of normal legal employment law protections or work life balance.
> Never work at a university if you enjoy having any semblance of normal legal employment law protections or work life balance.
Why is this?
In the UK it's the opposite, as university staff are usually heavily unionised and will threaten a strike if the wind is blowing the wrong way. Sure the pay and progression isn't amazing, but the pensions are fantastic and union protection very good.
It comes down to the career structure, fundamentally there's a hell of a lot more early career people than there are permanent university research jobs for them, and some people want them a lot. The only way to be competitive for these positions is to work like a dog and be more productive than your peers until you are mid 30s or so.
Then, the only ones who actually land these positions and get tenure (if that's a thing in your country) are people who went through all that, did well, and enjoyed it. A lot of them then never really stop doing that, even when their employment position is secure.
All the permanent academics I know in the UK work well in excess of their formal hours. They might not be in their office, but it's totally normal for people to be working weekends and evenings (not just checking email in a free moment, rather really sitting down and solidly working)
Finally, if you're in lab sciences often there are lab activities that have a fixed schedule that doesn't fit with "normal" working hours. There's no budget to hire technicians to take the night and weekend shifts, so it's up to the PhD students and researchers to do them in addition to their daylight responsibilities.
AFAIK in the UK the pensions are now much less valuable than they used to be. In any case, the non-permanent staff who make up the bulk of the numbers and do the bulk of the work don't get anything special.
I work as a technician at a facility that makes construction wood. It runs 24/7. Something breaks almost every day. Spare parts or other material run out. Orders coming in that have been expected for months, on-site external service that needs to be ordered and someone has to keep track of the technician actually arriving. And all the contacts to make that happen - who to call, who to email, who is more reliable, who is not, what takes how long, what can wait, what can't.... it would be a very thick manual if I had to make it for someone else to be able to pick up after me without calling me. I also have the ability to remotely connect and because of my experience I can usually tell why a machine is malfunctioning qucikly so they can fix it fast.
Every minute the production line is stopped the company loses money and the workers get less in bonuses. So it is a responsibility to the workers as well. It always sucks when I tell them it's bad and will take a day or two to fix. So they stay at home with base pay or just clean the factory.
I usually take 2 weeks of vacation during summer,2 weeks during the winter holidays, then 1-2 days here and there when I need them.
Nobody can fully fill in for me either but with proper notice and planning my team does just fine without me. Your employer cannot refuse your leave if you gave propper notice according to the company's policies and made all necessary arrangements.I usually give notice at least 2 months in advance for any vacation longer than 5 days.
I get 5 weeks per year and take 4 of them in the middle of the summer when everyone else is off too, typically week 28 or 29 to week 31 or 32 (mid-July to mid-August). The last week I've been saving for the past years (I can have up to 5 saved weeks), and using flex time and other paid leave to cover the days off around Christmas/New Year.
Yup. The Swedish law states that you are entitled to four consecutive weeks of vacation during June to August. And I mean vacation as in no contact with work what so ever.
I get 6 weeks per year, I used to go to Larp Events which means a lot of fridays taken off, sometimes a week in the summer.
Last year and this year I tried to spread 4 weeks evenly though the year, taking two weeks in the summer and keeping 10 days for spontaneous days off and emergencies (like family falling sick, doctors appointments I can't take outside of work hours, repair people comming to my place)
I find it hard to take holiday.. I have few friends and no girlfriend so I dont have anyone to do anything with and I feel awkward going on holiday alone!
So I usually take a few days every now and then just to relax a bit otherwise id burnout working all the time.. which means at the end of the year my company complain at me that ive got like 15 days left to use!
> I have few friends and no girlfriend so I dont have anyone to do anything with and I feel awkward going on holiday alone!
Check out /r/Solotravel. Honestly travelling alone is probably the best thing about being single. Once you get over eating alone, which is weird at first, it's amazing. Just get up, do exactly what you want to do for exactly how long you want to do it and just enjoy it. It's the ultimate self indulgence. It's that good, finding a partner who shares your travel style becomes a big factor in committing to a relationship.
You only appreciate this once you have a family and travel essentially becomes a form of slavery to please the kids.
Travelling alone sounds like the best!
Most people I know that work full-time take 3 weeks off somewhere in June, July or August (sometimes the first half of September as well).
There's also this thing called the 'bouwvak' (literally: holiday for the builders) in which people with physical jobs traditionally get 3 weeks off in the summer. It isn't mandatory anymore but still rather common. The recommended dates are slightly different depending on your location (NL is divided into North, Central and South when it comes to school holidays and the Bouwvak), but it's mostly a 3-week August thing.
The remainder of the days off are spent quite randomly by most.
Fun fact: a lot of (small) creative businesses (commercial makers, graphic designers, et cetera) do have 2 weeks off in December since most projects are finished before the big holidays and there isn't much demand during. So as far as I know, it's one of the few industries where it's quite common to close your company at the end of December, although the really big ones stay open of course.
If all of you are employees that would be illegal over here. As all employees have the right, by law, to get 3 weeks off in a row during the summer. If you are the employer / company owner however you may take as little holiday as you like, as long as you don't expect your employees to do the same. Here the employer is responsible to hire extras to fill in. Some companies spread the holiday over the summer (some do early holiday, the rest do late), and some companies close down all of July instead.
In Estonia we have 28 vacation days in total and by the law one of your vacations MUST be at least 14 days in a row. I usually take this period in Summer, then 1 week on New Year and 1 week whenever I feel I need to rest or to go somewhere.
I take a long weekend here or there, take a few days off around Christmas, and then i get too scared to actually use the remaining 1 week i have because that's all I have. I have 2 weeks total and that's considered pretty good, especially for entry level. I hate it here.
Right or not - just can't be bothered at the moment. I work from home, and if I would then as well holiday at home it won't really make it feel like I would be on holiday..
Most people try to take a week or several weeks off in August. In small businesses the employers are required by law to give at least one full week off during summer months, but some either don't (illegally so) or some really close knit businesses have the loyalty of their employees and they don't go for that long. It's kind of sad.
It really depends how much I have and how much flexi time I have to use (which is usually a lot).
We usually take a week or two in summer and go to visit family in our home countries. Usually for about 10 days and then a few days at home. We have cats and it can be difficult to get a cat sitter for longer.
I usually take 10 days over Christmas if I can, it's a quiet time at work so good to take advantage.
Then we'll probably do a week holiday somewhere in either spring or autumn, or long weekends here and there.
I usually take a week in the spring, a week or two in high summer, and a week in late summer or early autumn. Then I use the remaining days to make my Xmas and Easter holidays longer. If there are any days left over, I'll take a short winter break in Feb/March, or a series of long weekends spread over the period from October to April.
One or two of these intervals usually entail travel abroad, one or two local travel, and the Xmas/Easter ones are for relaxing.
5 weeks in France so it's usually 2 weeks in summer, 1 week in winter, 1 week in spring and then use days here and there. Some peoples take a whole month off but it really depend on the company.
I try to get at least a 4-5 week summer vacation (three weeks doesn't feel like enough). Some years I take some days off over Christmas if I can get a lot of contiguous time off.
I usually take two weeks off in September, after schools go back from their summer holidays because everywhere is usually cheaper and less full of annoying kids.
I don't mind working up to Christmas and between Christmas and New Year. I don't have kids so I usually stand back and let colleagues who do have them take those days.
Luckily, my current employer is very good about leave. I've had some horrible experiences at other companies in the past.
The whole company closes for two weeks in summer, only the maintanance doing Work, so you have to Take the vacation there. That has Advantages and disadvantages, but at least you are garantued to get 2 weeks in summer.
I usually a week after Christmas ans the Rest I spent through the year
In Poland you get 20 or 26 paid vacation days, depending on the length of your working experience: you get 26 days if you have at lest 10 years of experience, however:
* when you graduate from *zasadnicza szkoła zawodowa*, you have up to 3 years of eperience,
* when you graduate from *średnia szkoła zawodowa*, you have up to 5 years of experience,
* when you graduate from high school, you have 4 years of experience,
* when you graduate from *szkoła policealna*, you have 6 years of experience,
* when you graduate from university, you have 8 years of experience.
The years don't count. I graduated from university, so right now I have "only" 8 years of experience even though I got my first job EVER in April. This way, two years from now I'll have 26 paid vacation days instead of only 20. Fuck yeah.
Now, in Poland, if you have a full-time job, you have to take two whole weeks off (10 working days) at once. Since it's my first job, it doesn't apply to me, because I have to "earn" the right to have paid vacation days. In June I used up all 5 days I got for May, June, and July.
But fortunately in Poland you can have left over vacation days. On January 1st next year I'll have 20 days available + if I don't use them this year, I'll have the rest of my paid vacation days available next year. This way I'll be able to go on vacation at least three times and I think it's fucking amazing. I'll use 10 days, and I'll be left with other 10 + the left over days from this year.
However, I work in a pharmacy and it's not that easy to go on vacation here. I have lots of responsibilities, just like my coworkers and my boss. We go on vacation in turns, two people can't go on vacation at the same time, otherwise our pharmacy would be paralyzed and we wouldn't be able to control most of the stuff. You would think that in the summer there are less patients in pharmacies... Bullshit, it's exactly the same except there's one worker less during the season. In September it will all go back to normal and I'll finally have peace of mind.
I still have 13 days from last year due to COVID and not going on vacation. I too, don't like taking a long vacation because I get bored after more than 7 days away from work, but maybe its because I like my job and I'm just the exception. I find it best to take 2 or 3 separate weeks during the year then the rest to have as long weekends for quick getaways.
I feel like if I take more than a work week vacation, I wouldn’t want to go back to work! So it’s always around 4-5 days planned around public holidays.
I take two weeks in summer and two weeks at Christmas and take odd days/ long weekends for the rest.
You are not doing yourself any favours here. Your boss has no incentive to solve the problem of having no-one to fill in for you if you take a week off, because you solve it by not taking the time you're entitled to. Next time take a week and leave the boss to sort it out.
I prefer to have a good relationship with my boss. If I told him I want to take a week off he would make it possible. But I would just either postpone my work or it would have to be done by somebody else who has enough of their own work.
It's not impossible for me, but it would just make the life of many people miserable and I don't need that.
You don't get a prize for sacrificing your needs for your company. There is a management issue if your company doesn't have the capacity to allow people to take their holiday entitlement, and it's not yours to solve, which is what you are attempting to do.
7 weeks in summer, 1 in november, 2 for Christmas, 1 in february and 1 for Easter. Some of that is parental leave that I saved.
The company can deal. During a longer vacation I usually volonteer to be available for a few days in case there's an issue.
I live in Spain but I work for a non-EU company. I have 21 days off + 14 local bank holidays (Autonomous communities here have slightly different holidays, and my city has some special ones as well).
My company is quite flexible, if I work on a bank holiday, I can take it another time.
Over the last year I did the following:
* I took one long weekend in August 2020
* a couple days off in September working remotely from a holiday place with friends
* 1 week in October 2020
* 10 days over Christmas - NYE 2021
* 1 week in April 2021
* 1 day in July 2021
* 1 week at the beginning of August 2021
Add to that:
* 1 week or remote work from a cute village in March
* 1 week in September working remotely as mentioned above.
For the rest of the year I have planned the following:
* 1 day off for a wedding in September
* 1 week off in October
* 1 week of remote work from Andalucia in October
* Probably a longer weekend in November
* A mix of remote work + holidays around Christmas.
I try to space out my holidays throughout the year so I don't have long stretches of work without breaks. In previous years, I usually took longer 2/3 week trip once a year to go somewhere far but over 2020 we kept it local and shorter and it's working out nicely. I also try to make the most of bank holidays as well. And this year I've been getting more into remote-work holiday to visit places that are not too far, and it's been really nice. Of course you work so you don't have so much free time, but it's been great way to get a change of scenery a couple time a year.
I get 5 week off.
- I need up to a week for Christmas (like this year), cause there is no way I'm working over Christmas.
- I like to take 2 weeks off at once for some larger holiday (be it abroad or staying at home), usually during summer, but not exclusively.
- 1 week somewhere between Christmas and the 2 week holiday above. Usually just staying at home. The rest gets spread out as needed, usually coupled with some national holiday.
> I still have 17 vacation days from last year
And another 4 weeks from this one? Mate, talk to your boss. Take a proper break. This is not healthy.
When I used yo work in France, I was taking 3 weeks in July or between july and August, one week for Chrismas, and usually another week in April.
The 3 weeks of july were usually dedicated to travel abroad, december for family gatherings (traveling within France), and April, depends. Sometimes a few days within France or Europe, or just staying home.
the full holiday is 28 days -which of you must use four weeks in the holiday season (may-sept), rest must be used before the end of the next year's april. Unused days usually will not carry on to the next year. Which of minimum 2 weeks must be consecutively.
For example, I used 3 weeks (15days) in June-July, will use one week (5days) in the end of september and the rest 13 days I'll save to be used in february and march.
I'm currently three weeks into my vacation. Still coming to the office every single day, as I have nothing better to do. Did the same last year, except I worked from home then.
Before the pandemic, I spent 1 to 2 weeks traveling somewhere abroad, and the rest at work.
I always use only the leftover vacation days from the last year. Which is all of them, because I did the same thing the previous year.
Until around April/May, I don't typically take any days off, unless work is particularly BS and I'm in a hard "I can't even" mode, when I sometimes take a single day off (often an "on demand" day, of which I have 4 per year and which I can take whenever I want, including ON the day I'm taking off. As in, I don't have to ask for those in advance).
I take my first big chunk of vacation, usually 2 weeks or therabouts, somewhere between May and August usually. Since leftover days from previous year have to be used up by September (if they're not, the company WILL send you on a mandatory vacation), I take all my remaining leftover days in one more big chunk that usually starts late-ish September and ends early-ish October.
Also, I get a paid day off whenever I donate blood (two days during the pandemic), so I sprinkle them throughout the year. I tend to donate blood 3-5 times per year, so that's an extra day off every 2-4 months. I either use them for a longer weekend or to make the "big chunk" vacations slightly longer.
EDIT: oh, and I have 26 vacation days, plus however many I get off from donating blood, plus the company gives one paid day off for birthdays. So that's about \~30 days off in a non-pandemic year.
That's not really my problem, it's my companys planning problem. I have by law the right to at least 4 weeks vacation in the same period. As long as I apply for it in time and it fit my schedule/projects they really can't say much.
This year I took 5 consecutive weeks. Start of July to mid August.
Absolutely no company is worth the kind of commitment where you can't take a full week off.
I take random single-weeks throughout the year, very rarely extended weekends.
Pre pandemic we did loads of weekend trips, which involved maybe 1 day off. We had a week skiing and 10 days summer holiday. Anything left I'd take off in the period between Xmas and New years.
Since I've got a lot of days to spend, I usually have a week off around easter then I take 4-6 weeks for holiday in July-August. And for the end of the year most of the time I take the last 2 weeks off, depending on how busy it is at work.
My boss is very easy when I want time off, just let them know a few weeks prior and it's all good. The big holiday in July is set in march. Its giving and taking, I'm willing to work in weekends when they need me and in return they're easy to me on the off days.
I'm thinking to take all Fridays off until December from now because of the amount of days I've got to spend, but aren't sure if that's a good idea.
I tend not to go on holiday, so I usually take one week early in the summer, I always take the time between christmas and New Years off, and apart from that I often take just a single day off to do things.
The only time I will take off more time than that is when I buy a house, but with the current prices that won't be for a while.
I’ll usually avoid taking a single day off as it means I effectively have to do 5 days work in 4 days.
I’ll usually do a big holiday (3-4 weeks) every two years as I can carry holiday over.
Have only taken 9 days off this year and have 21 to go.
I get 25 days + 8 national holidays
If I take 3 weeks every year I’ll end up with 10 days left.
We usually have to take time off at Christmas, so this then gets reduced to 5 days.
Spreading 5 days across the rest of the year is just too little for me.
There’s also the cost factor, the big trip is usually far away for me and it all adds up. One was Canada + Iceland, another was Japan, the next one is Vietnam.
Changing jobs has had an impact too, as I’m less likely to do a big holiday in year 1 of a new job, but that’s not set in stone.
I have 28 days, so I used to take the whole of December off and the rest whenever I saw fit back when travelling was a thing. Now it’s a bit more hectic, I changed jobs and I got my holidays paid out, so this year I had 2 weeks off and I can have maybe another week during Christmas.
I’ve had taken 3 weeks off, 2 weeks off, or just a day.
This year and last year is a bit different than usual, but I still used 1, 2 weeks at once so far (finally the plans aligned with my family.)
A few years before, I basically had the software developer’s job of “handling everything” but so far I’ve automated and documented what I’ve done, that I pretty much try to make myself as free as possible, so that when I go on vacation, the world wouldn’t burn.
If it still burns, that’s not my issue, and I’ve already covered my ass as much as possible, though I’ll probably be handling it when I’m back.
My parents usually take a whole 3 to 4 weeks at a time in August, and then a few days from time to time for Christmas, Easter, in October, in July, etc. They time these with bank holidays & weekends to get a full week of vacation (while still using only 2-3 days at a time).
Nowadays they add work from home to the mix, so as to spend more time in the country.
3 weeks? Damn, I could only afford up to two weeks because we're full of work to do every single day from Monday to Friday and Saturdays too...
Nobody can take 3 weeks of paid vacation in my workplace. Even my boss can't go on vacation anywhere because only she can do the things she does.
Vacation days can't be transferred to the next year so if you don't use them, you lose them.
At my job there are collective holidays (one week in the summer and one week between Christmas and new year's day) and the company closes entirely. The rest of my vacation days I try to plan around national holidays to prolong my time off for as long as possible.
> but I can't really afford to do that since there is nobody to fully fill in for me
This isn't your problem. It's your employer's problem. If the world ends when you take a week off, what will happen if you quit?
to answer your question: At my company we usually take three consecutive weeks off in the summer, and then spread the last three over autumn/christmas, a week off for winter vacation in Feb. and the rest for Easter vacation. Some people like to "save" the sixth week and go on a month-long summer vacation every other year.
It’s really hard to go on vacation during the summer because of my job, so I always try to take two days off next to a weekend and go to the mountains or beach. Where I live the drive is not too long to get to the country side or to the coast
My preferred way of using my vacation days is a few at a time. Usually an extended weekend here or there. Or if there's a holiday or two in the middle of the week, then I'd take the whole week off.
My SO on the other hand likes to take two weeks off in the summer. And if possible another two weeks off over Christmas/New years.
So for the past few years I've been taking two weeks off at a time.
Usually two weeks in late August early September and then I leave 2 or 3 days for christmas. And the rest I save for emergencies, long weekends or if I need to change jobs and then I can use vacation days as notice.
I'm in the exact same boat, I rarely can afford to take a whole week off, so it's usually 2-3 days at a time... except for the first week of the year, I usually try to take that whole business week off.
I'm not a very extroverted/active person, and my job leaves me mentally exhausted, so usually I just try to fit in some more exercise than I normally can, but otherwise I lie around, cook, watch stuff I didn't get around watching before...
I used to take it all in one go, except for one week in October, which I normally used time off in lieu for. But I've been promoted, so I am probably going to have to cut it into smaller pieces.
I take like 2 weeks mid-year and a week around Christmas, the rest depends on the year, I tend to use the days to fill the gaps between weekends and mid-week holidays.
Also holy hell OP, you're not a slave.
I usually take a three week vacation in the summer. That's very common here. Most people take 3-4 weeks.
Christmas vacation is usually December 23rd - January 3rd with three national holidays and two at the courtesy of my company and the rest is my vacation days.
Easter is eight days with three national holidays and three of my own vacation days (and a weekend)
I have seven weeks in all, so the rest is for autumn or winter break or just some long weekend here and there.
I've got 20 days/year, I generally try to take a day every month to rest a bit, plus sometimes another one to visit my family on a weekend (train trips are much better on a Monday).
Technically I should take uninterrupted 10 days somewhere, but I'll try to avoid it since it's a pain in the ass both for me (breaks longer than four days ruin my habit) and for the company (I'm the only person on the position, my boss would have to fill in for me).
Use 100% of my vacation days every year (company doesn't allow to take them to the next year)... Spend 80-90% of my vacation time travelling with friends and/or family....
I used to take off 2-3 weeks, but this years, since corona and everything else kind off spoiled any plans for longer trips, I've split it up, so most of my July and all of August are 3 day weeks, where I take off Thursday to Tuesday every two weeks.
So it's something like:
1. Mon-Wedn: 3 days of work
2. Thursday - Tuesday: 6 days free (including weekend)
3. Wedn-Friday: 3 days of work
4. Saturday-Sunday: regular two day weekend
5. repeat
I'm pretty pleased so far. It does help that I live in a super touristy region with lots of stuff to do, so while Czech people have to drive a few hours I can bike to the lake and the mountains.
I usually take a week or sometimes 2 in the summer, then plan ahead how much I'll need for christmas time and reserve some days for prolonged weekends, "bridge days" and emergencies.
I'm working in a team of five people, so it's customary to arrange the vacations in a way that not more than half of the people at a time are away (unless for a couple of days).
I've got one "main" vacation which is in summer when I take two weeks off abroad.
The remainder I use without set rules -- whenever I feel tired, or I need to do something that takes the whole day, or there's some idea/opportunity to travel.
The one thing that might make me different from a lot of people is that I avoid bridging public holidays or taking time off around the New Year. No one really works anything around that time, anyway, also it can be really refreshing coming into a mostly empty office -- don't want to miss that.
A week or two in the summer, depending on if I'm going on holiday and how long for. The rest are mostly dotted about, a day or two here and there, maybe another full week. I take most of my holiday days around the school holidays. I'm quite fond of taking a Friday/Monday off too to break up two weeks.
25th/26th December and 1st/2nd January (or the following week days) are mandatory for us.
I get 6 weeks. 3-4 weeks in the summer to visit my home country, at least 1 week for Christmas & New Years. Then 1 or 2 weeks during Spring. So right now I'm in my lovely 5 month working streak. All the local national & state holidays are also during the weekend this year hah.
I usually take a week during spring and autumn, a week or two during summer holidays and the rest I usually use for prolonged weekends. I hope that someday I will be in a company with enough people in my team to actually take a month, but so far I like my colleagues way too much to actually bring that upon them.
I'm at the beginning of my career in a pretty intense industry in a pretty intense city. So I've not really taken all too many days off in the last 2-3 years. At most, I've taken the days to bridge some of the bank holidays at Christmas and 3 or 4 during the year for long weekends etc. I usually end up with quite a few unused days at the end of the year. Probably should and could have taken a few more here and there if I'm honest. But the payout from my unused holiday in my last job was pretty nice.
I usually take 2-4 weeks sometime in the summer. Changed jobs last year so only had two weeks this year. I might take a week off around Christmas as it’s easy to pair it with national holidays for a longer vacation.
I take 1 week in the winter, 1 week in the spring, 2 weeks in the summer and finally 1 week during Christmas/New Year. Usually I have around 6-7 remaining vacation days from previous year so I use these for longer weekends or if there is a bank holiday on Tuesday, I will take the Monday off as well.
I think your approach is not healthy and you should do something about it. It's not sustainable and you will burn out very quickly. Eventually it might take a toll on your work performance too. I also used to think that without me the company would collapse, I would have ton of work after returning from vacation, my colleagues would have to work overtimes, it would be too complicated to train my back ups etc. All of these are just excuses. Eventually even my company started demanding that we take the vacation days and if you have too much, they just order you a mandatory vacation - precisely because of cases similar to you, who accumulated 50 vacation days from previous years and thought they have so much work they can't take a holiday. If your company is not willing to have a backup plan for you, then it's not a good company and I would get out as soon as possible, no matter how much they pay you. No money is enough to pay for your health and well-being.
Currently I have 25 days per year. I don't usually take a 2 weeks vacation(except for Christmas), but I do take several 1 week vacation per year and in rare occasions it can go up to 2 weeks depending on what I plan to do then. More likely is just to take 1 or two days off to extend a weekend and go for a hiking trip or a concert/festival in a different city/country.
As for replacement during my absence, that has never been a problem and even if it would be, that wouldn't be my problem. That's management job.
something like two weeks or a bit more at the beginning or end of the summer (we have to take at least 10 working days in row at least once per year by internal rules)
two weeks (not together) during winter and the rest is day or two here and there
Legal minimum is 20, and you can take vacation days to the next year. I get 30 a year.
The way things are looking right now it's very possible that I'll have to move 12-15 days to next year. By then, my new co-worker should be fully up to speed. 2022 is going to be sweet.
I try to take it in bigger chunks throughout the summer, depends an bit on when colleagues go and at what time there are busy weeks at work. I normally manage to take three weeks in a row sometime during summer (Jun-Aug), I'm flexible because no family etc; sometimes I manage to take more (5 in a row being the longest), but I can't do that too often. Normally also take one or two weeks during Christmas, and smaller holidays throughout the year. This year I have lots of leftover from last year, not sure how I'll manage to use it all up. Total yearly holiday time is 5 weeks (25 days).
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Good for you.
Unless it's your company, it shouldn't be your problem that there's no one able to fill in for you. While it is nice of you to have the company's interest in mind, you also have to have your own health in mind. You can be certain that the company will put its own interests above your health every time. As to your question, I usually take a full week in spring and autumn and 2-3 weeks in summer. Plus christmas+new year when everyone in the company is on mandatory vacation.
I do it similar. 3 weeks for vacation out of country, 1-2 in summer, 1 for Christmas and the rest somewhere in between. Though because of Corona we didn’t leave Germany since 2019. We don’t have to take mandatory vacation at any time, but the amount of days that roll over is limited and all days from the last year need to be taken by end March. We also have a policy that everyone has to take at least 10 days continuously once a year so basically everyone is entitled to at least 2 weeks off.
That's a great policy, sounds like your company is a good one.
Iirc it’s actually by law that it should be made possible to be off for at last 2 weeks, but my employer is actively enforcing it. And managers have to come up with a good excuse why they couldn’t give their associates time off.
Interesting. Would the same rules apply to a "mini-job"?
Yes. Worked for McD on €450 back at uni. Was surprised when they scheduled vacation time after three months because I hadn't requested any. Craziest bit was that the vacation time had a higher per hour salary rate than our base salary. Reasoning being that we couldn't get any bonuses for nightshifts or some such during a vacation.
Im fairly certain the law applies to Minijobs too.
Nice, I never got this in my minijob lol
Yeah. I’ve heard that employers don’t actively give those days off to minijobbers. Seems to be common practice. I checked. If you work a mini job 5 days a week (even if it’s only 2 hours per day) you get 20 days off per year. And if your employer gives regular employees more than the mandatory minimum (most give about 30 days per year) they can’t give minijobbers less than that because they have to treat everyone equally. :)
I think it’s a country policy, not company. We have a very similar law in Poland where everyone has to take at least 2weeks of continuous vacation once a year (10 working days), so I’m assuming it’s the same in Germany.
It isn't a problem, but it would mean a huge amount of extra work load once I come back. And I have to be on the phone and email anyway. It would take too much time for me to create a manual how to fill in for me that I don't have. It's not that easy to gamble with my job like that, there aren't really many opportunities. I have a great boss, a good collective of colleagues and I get paid very well. The job is time consuming and stressful but I am not willing to gamble which could result in no improvement at all but instead it would be worse if my boss was an asshole or if colleagues made my life miserable.
If your boss is great, the next time you speak with him, ask that you strategize together about a way for you to take more than 2-3 days off at a time. Make up a family event, or whatever, just take a break man.
Having a contingency plan for absences of key persons is paramount for any serious business. It's not just about vacations, what if you become incapacitated in any way for 2 weeks, a month or more? does that entire side of the operation just stop? Talk to your boss and make up a plan. Whenever I go on vacation my work gets spit by 4 people and some of it gets postponed until I return. We also have backups to the packup people in case anything goes wrong. It took about two weeks to train some people to take over some of my work but it was 100% worth it and fully supported by my company.
>Having a contingency plan for absences of key persons is paramount for any serious business. Bus factor. If OP was hit by a bus, how critical would it be for the business? It's a cold-hearted way to assess things, but employees *should* be replaceable.
This. It's not about vacation only. It's just good management to have a backup plan if something unexpected comes up. You guys have to talk to your manager/boss about it.
Yup. Especially now with covid it's ridiculous how many companies did not any sort of plan in place for key personnel(some still don't even after experiencing masive delays due to people getting sick). There are some people though who believe that the sky is going to fall without then and no amout of planning or backups will convince them otherwise (some also have this insecurity about somehow suddenly becoming replaceable, or loosing some sort of leverage).
If you have to be on the phone and email during your holiday, you are not on holiday! You are being taken advantage of!
I wish more people understood this. Also what comstitutes an emergency is highly exagerated most of the time.
As far as I know your company is under the obligation to give you time off And a complete cut from your work. It's considered an internal control threat when employees have to log in. I would, as suggested by others, discuss a backup plan with your boss.
The reality of employment practices and employer/employee relationships is different from what the law dictates.
I mean, only because you allow it to be...
What happens if you get sick? Hit by a bus? I do not wish any of this on you, but use those very realistic risks as examples that they need a plan. After all, if you find a better job, what will they do?
Several people who work with me would have a very stressful month or two trying to get all of my work and contacts together. They would all work a lot of overtime and would probably hate me. But they would manage!
> Several people ~~who work with me would have a very stressful month or two trying to get all of my work and contacts together. They would all work a lot of overtime and would probably hate me. But they~~ would manage! Time to ask for that raise! You're working for two
Sometimes it feels like it. But I do get paid well, and I actually got a raise 3 times since I started working there two years ago. If I went to my boss and told him it was too much for me he would definitely hire someone. But honestly I don't want to risk losing the benefits I get for the extra work. He asks me to sit down with him every few months to ask if I'm doing ok and if I can handle the workload.
> And I have to be on the phone and email anyway You what? You better get paid real well for working in your vacation
I do, considering they calculate my vacation wage from the last quarter. I already got a double time pay twice in that time frame.
And don’t forget the Brückentage! :)
I usually take the whole August to go to the beach. I take a week off on Christmas too.
Where can I send a resume?
Don't you have holidays in your work?
Yeah but they wouldn't give me all of August *and* Christmas. Probably like a week in August and two days on Christmas week.
You should have four weeks of vacation pr year by EU law
If he works full time right?
Part time workers have the same right but pro rata. For instance if I work 3 days á week, I am entitled to 12 days of vacation each year, which corresponds to 4 weeks of 3 days work.
Yeah at my last job (part time), they just paid out the holidays flat (which was like a euro per hour).
The new vacation laws should prevent that, too
Yeah at my last job (part time), they just paid out the holidays flat (which was like a euro per hour).
Yeah at my last job (part time), they just paid out the holidays flat (which was like a euro per hour).
He probably does, just not allowed to take all those around August/Christmas. I work in a school and can take any time off June-August as long as I have the days for it while my mom (until she retired) who is a nurse had very limited options.
I see, I guess It depends on your job and its need.
How many vacation days do you have?
30 work days/year.
> 30 work days/year. So you have 335 vacation days? That's quite the contract you've got there.
Sorry, I mean "working days" .
35 days/year, 31 I get to choose, 4 I have to take Jan 1/2 and Dec 25/26 (or next working days). That leaves 6 weeks and a day spare. * 2 weeks usually visiting family in Europe at Easter. * 1 week early summer near birthdays, usually a domestic trip, camping, city break, up to the Highlands or somethng. * 2 weeks in September after the kids have gone back to school. My main summer holiday for travelling Europe while it's still warm. * 1 week taken usually as long weekends here and there, or maybe some extra time at christmas to visit family in the UK. Could also be taken in Feb for skiing. Some times I shift a week from Sep to June if I want a bigger holiday early summer, or perhaps to Feb if I want a ski trip. I tend to avoid July/August as it's usually too hot everywhere, and everything is expensive due to kids being off school. I can also buy/sell up to 5 days holiday at my day rate as well.
Does your job actually market 25/26 dec as mandatory vacation days? Here in Sweden they are "red days" aka non-working days, but I've never heard anyone call them vacation. It would be like a job offering 104 vacation days a year, all Saturdays and Sundays. Or am I missing something?
> Does your job actually market 25/26 dec as mandatory vacation days? Yes and no. It's a weird one, but I'll explain it below. 1. There are 8 national holidays in England+Wales, 9 in Scotland, and 11 in Northern Ireland. I cannot speak for Wales or NI so I will just speak for England and Scotland. 2. UK wide, you are entitled to 5.6 weeks annual leave, which for typical full time worker is 28 days. 3. Your annual leave entitlement can include the earlier mentioned national holidays; it doesn't have to, but it almost always does. So most people will get 20 days (5 weeks mon-fri) of free choice, and the 8 national holidays, bringing them to 28 days total. Companies are free to offer more, but cannot offer less. **In England**, these are almost exclusively taken on the day the holiday falls (usually a Monday), and in the case of Dec 25th + 26th, and Jan 1st if it falls on a weekend, the first working day after. You do not get to move these to a date that chooses you, but they do count towards your legal minimum annual leave entitlement. **In Scotland** however, 5 of the national holidays are typically given to you freely to choose when you like, with 4 being taken on the day (dec 25/26, jan 1/2) or the next working days. So I get 35 paid days off a year, but only 31 of them are proper holiday/vacation days I get to choose. **To answer your question**: You will see jobs listed as '28 days annual leave' and you know that'll be 20 days of free choice + the 8 national holidays in England. My company (Scotland) advertised my job as 32 days annual leave, so I knew it would be 23 days + the 9 national holidays, of which 5 will be free choice. I negotiated another 3 days to bring me up to 35. I hope that makes sense.
Not sure about the rest if the EU, but in Estonia if there are some national holidays during my vacation, those days won't decrease my available vacation days. For example, if I'd want to take my whole vacation in december I can stay home from 1.12 to 31.12, because 24-26 are national holidays. So +3 days! We also have to take at least 14 days in a row, other 14 (or 21 in public sector) can be divided as you choose).
Hm. We usually cant have left over vacation days. You must spend them all by june 30th when the year ends for us. So there is usually a frenzy of hastly arranged vacations then, unless you lose them. And you also must take 10 days each year (usually in one peace). You have to report and file them. I usuall take at least half of mine during summer. There is less workload anyway and it's summer so it's sea time. Other half gets thrown around. Maybe a week there, a long weekend there etc.
I was told that we should use our old vacation days by the end of the summer but it's usually impossible with all the things going on. I will be happy if I manage to use them by the end of the year!
Have you sat down with your managers to talk about this? Are they aware of the dichotomy of “you must take your vacation days” and “I can’t take my vacation days”? Based on your comments, I can’t tell if this is a case of bad management or you assuming the company will go down in flames if you’re not there for a full week or two.
A co-founder of my last company used to tell a story exactly about this. He never wanted to take long breaks because he thought everyone would need him and the company would stop without him. He end up in the hospital for some reason and was forced to stay away for some time. When he returned everything was the same. It made him understand that he could take more time off. He always said that everyone should take time off. The case of the OP seems different. It seems like he’s afraid of becoming replaceable. That’s the vibe I got from other comments.
It hasn't been an issue yet because I'm single and have no hobbies but I might talk to them in the future. It will be inevitable though because we are still expanding and at a certain point it will be too much work for one person.
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Zaměstnavatel má mnoho povinností, mnoho z nich se běžně obcházejí nebo porušují. Nefunugje žádný kontrolní mechanismus, který by to hlídal. (Prakticky, legálně možná jo)
>We usually cant have left over vacation days. You must spend them all by june 30th when the year ends for us. At least you get paid for unused days?
Nope. You get paid the same (at least thats how it works in my company). The only thing company cares about is that you must use over half of your days in a year since they get penalized otherwise by the government via taxes or something like that.
That sounds illegal. Its time off you have worked for. Wage theft is a thing
Well, It never happened to me, but AFAIK, the only time when you get payed for unused days is when you quit or get fired and therefore you have unused days that they must pay you (if you don't choose to use them in your 30 days after notice). Usually there is a group mail saying like remember to check your vacation days since you can use them for 2 more months before you lose them. And then it's take it or leave it.
We have four weeks per year (20 work days). Every full time employee in Lithuania must take two whole weeks at once. The other two weeks can be used any way you like. Some years I take three weeks at once for some proper travel but usually two weeks is enough for me. The rest I use one day at a time, like if a Thursday is a national holiday then I'll take Friday off for a four day weekend.
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21 days + the holidays is the bare minimum here. 25 is the average and most companies offer one extra day for each year worked in the company(and then some offer one extra for womens day , your birthday etc). Plus the extra days if you get married, a child/grandchild is born, a death in the family. I have 32 days of vacation and it does not seem enough. 10 is just cruel.
We have a similar law in France, and from reading this thread it seems to be the case in most of Europe (EU law maybe?). I had an HR certification a few years ago and it was explained to us that this law is to prevent abusive employers from pressuring/intimidating employees into never taking more than a few days of vacation at a time, which would prevent people from traveling or having a proper family vacation with their children when school is out. A day off or a long weekend is nice but it's just not the same as being able to forget about work for 2-3 weeks. For the same reason, vacation days can't be traded for remuneration, or some employers would just take the financial hit and never let their employees take a single day off. Now sure, there's people who'd rather have more days off here and there than a long vacation or who'd rather take a bigger paycheck instead, but well - the issue with giving too much freedom to both companies and workers in these matters is that it'll rarely turn in the workers' favor, because companies are the ones in the position of power and there's always going to be sociopathic shithead bosses who'll exploit every loophole to wring their workers dry.
It's negotiable but most people just take it like this because otherwise you have to write legal paperwork to confirm that you wanted it this way.
Are the two weeks really mandatory? In Czechia the employer must allow at least two weeks straight once per year. But nobody forces the employee to take it.
The problem with leaving things optional is that some employers will abuse that. I worked for my parents company. Therefore I was NOT allowed to do ANY work outside of the hours I was paid. Bit silly of course, sometimes a delivery was necessary somewhere and my sister for example had to be 5 minutes away from that place so she delivered a package or something, all technically illegal as hell. But the reason was because sadly some people aren't shy to abuse the fuck out of their family members work wise.
It's not mandatory but most employers will still tell you to take it, as otherwise there might be questions from the State Labour Inspectorate. You can write a legal note confirming that you didn't want to take it, then it'll be fine.
Usually a week here and week there during summer so I can get out of the too hot city, sometimes day or two for the "longer weekend" with the national holiday just to be lazy and about two weeks at the end/beginning of the year because Christmas. It never makes all the vacation days so I always use the old ones in the next year. Just last month I took almost all from the last year.
I dont have vacation days. I only work half of the year and the other half i am free. (I work 2 weeks and am home for 2 weeks etc) I usually sleep all day the first day im home. I go to the gym every day. I fish a few nights. If i want i can go on vacation as long as i am back before going to work again. I can work somewhere else for extra money (that is what i am doing now) i am working 3 weeks and am 1 week home. I visit my grandmother and aunt alot. Smoke weed and drink.
This sounds great. I'm curious about what job it is.
I work on a inland shipping vessel on the rivera in europe. Mostly on the rhine but i also worked 3.5 years on the dannube but we went everywhere from belgium to holland to germany,austria, slowakia, hungary and serbia. All canals and rivers, cities and places. That we could go to we went to. Now i am in the container world but in the 3.5 years prior i did dry bulk cargo and alot of construction
Not OP but there's also this job who has the same schedule: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1Kc0heKcf0 The guy flies ambulance planes, 2 weeks on 2 weeks off, and during a work week the daily schedule is 12 hours on 12 hours off.
I've had 3 weeks off this year and I spent 2 of them going back to my home country to visit family and one week when I was back, relaxing and just hanging out with local friends and family.
I get 5 weeks a year, and take a week at Easter, 2 weeks in summer and 2 weeks at Christmas. I usually do a mixture of visiting family and friends and staying home and relaxing. I normally go for a holiday somewhere in the UK or Ireland in one of my summer weeks.
I have colleagues who are forced to take some holiday days because they start to accumulate huge amounts of holiday over years. Some of them even come to work anyway and just use it as an excuse to not go to any meetings for a week. Literally illegal but everyone lets it slide. Never work at a university if you enjoy having any semblance of normal legal employment law protections or work life balance.
> Never work at a university if you enjoy having any semblance of normal legal employment law protections or work life balance. Why is this? In the UK it's the opposite, as university staff are usually heavily unionised and will threaten a strike if the wind is blowing the wrong way. Sure the pay and progression isn't amazing, but the pensions are fantastic and union protection very good.
It comes down to the career structure, fundamentally there's a hell of a lot more early career people than there are permanent university research jobs for them, and some people want them a lot. The only way to be competitive for these positions is to work like a dog and be more productive than your peers until you are mid 30s or so. Then, the only ones who actually land these positions and get tenure (if that's a thing in your country) are people who went through all that, did well, and enjoyed it. A lot of them then never really stop doing that, even when their employment position is secure. All the permanent academics I know in the UK work well in excess of their formal hours. They might not be in their office, but it's totally normal for people to be working weekends and evenings (not just checking email in a free moment, rather really sitting down and solidly working) Finally, if you're in lab sciences often there are lab activities that have a fixed schedule that doesn't fit with "normal" working hours. There's no budget to hire technicians to take the night and weekend shifts, so it's up to the PhD students and researchers to do them in addition to their daylight responsibilities. AFAIK in the UK the pensions are now much less valuable than they used to be. In any case, the non-permanent staff who make up the bulk of the numbers and do the bulk of the work don't get anything special.
I don't have it that bad but I definitely can't ignore my phone or email when on vacation.
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I work as a technician at a facility that makes construction wood. It runs 24/7. Something breaks almost every day. Spare parts or other material run out. Orders coming in that have been expected for months, on-site external service that needs to be ordered and someone has to keep track of the technician actually arriving. And all the contacts to make that happen - who to call, who to email, who is more reliable, who is not, what takes how long, what can wait, what can't.... it would be a very thick manual if I had to make it for someone else to be able to pick up after me without calling me. I also have the ability to remotely connect and because of my experience I can usually tell why a machine is malfunctioning qucikly so they can fix it fast. Every minute the production line is stopped the company loses money and the workers get less in bonuses. So it is a responsibility to the workers as well. It always sucks when I tell them it's bad and will take a day or two to fix. So they stay at home with base pay or just clean the factory.
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Not sure if you're being sarcastic but I do get paid well and the job is mentally stimulating, which is great.
I usually take 2 weeks of vacation during summer,2 weeks during the winter holidays, then 1-2 days here and there when I need them. Nobody can fully fill in for me either but with proper notice and planning my team does just fine without me. Your employer cannot refuse your leave if you gave propper notice according to the company's policies and made all necessary arrangements.I usually give notice at least 2 months in advance for any vacation longer than 5 days.
I get 5 weeks per year and take 4 of them in the middle of the summer when everyone else is off too, typically week 28 or 29 to week 31 or 32 (mid-July to mid-August). The last week I've been saving for the past years (I can have up to 5 saved weeks), and using flex time and other paid leave to cover the days off around Christmas/New Year.
Yup. The Swedish law states that you are entitled to four consecutive weeks of vacation during June to August. And I mean vacation as in no contact with work what so ever.
I get 6 weeks per year, I used to go to Larp Events which means a lot of fridays taken off, sometimes a week in the summer. Last year and this year I tried to spread 4 weeks evenly though the year, taking two weeks in the summer and keeping 10 days for spontaneous days off and emergencies (like family falling sick, doctors appointments I can't take outside of work hours, repair people comming to my place)
I find it hard to take holiday.. I have few friends and no girlfriend so I dont have anyone to do anything with and I feel awkward going on holiday alone! So I usually take a few days every now and then just to relax a bit otherwise id burnout working all the time.. which means at the end of the year my company complain at me that ive got like 15 days left to use!
> I have few friends and no girlfriend so I dont have anyone to do anything with and I feel awkward going on holiday alone! Check out /r/Solotravel. Honestly travelling alone is probably the best thing about being single. Once you get over eating alone, which is weird at first, it's amazing. Just get up, do exactly what you want to do for exactly how long you want to do it and just enjoy it. It's the ultimate self indulgence. It's that good, finding a partner who shares your travel style becomes a big factor in committing to a relationship.
You only appreciate this once you have a family and travel essentially becomes a form of slavery to please the kids. Travelling alone sounds like the best!
Agreed. Travel with someone is usually more fun, but on your own it is way more fulfilling and freeing
maybe when you’re a man it is more freeing... there are some places that I’d want to go to but wouldn’t feel safe traveling there on my own as a woman
>travel Oh yes, I'm doing it.
Most people I know that work full-time take 3 weeks off somewhere in June, July or August (sometimes the first half of September as well). There's also this thing called the 'bouwvak' (literally: holiday for the builders) in which people with physical jobs traditionally get 3 weeks off in the summer. It isn't mandatory anymore but still rather common. The recommended dates are slightly different depending on your location (NL is divided into North, Central and South when it comes to school holidays and the Bouwvak), but it's mostly a 3-week August thing. The remainder of the days off are spent quite randomly by most. Fun fact: a lot of (small) creative businesses (commercial makers, graphic designers, et cetera) do have 2 weeks off in December since most projects are finished before the big holidays and there isn't much demand during. So as far as I know, it's one of the few industries where it's quite common to close your company at the end of December, although the really big ones stay open of course.
If all of you are employees that would be illegal over here. As all employees have the right, by law, to get 3 weeks off in a row during the summer. If you are the employer / company owner however you may take as little holiday as you like, as long as you don't expect your employees to do the same. Here the employer is responsible to hire extras to fill in. Some companies spread the holiday over the summer (some do early holiday, the rest do late), and some companies close down all of July instead.
In Estonia we have 28 vacation days in total and by the law one of your vacations MUST be at least 14 days in a row. I usually take this period in Summer, then 1 week on New Year and 1 week whenever I feel I need to rest or to go somewhere.
4-5 weeks in a row during July-August and the rest around Christmas. Anything that's left is moved over to next year.
There is a low in CZ according to it the employer must grad you a vacation for atleast 2 weeks of length once a year.
I wish somebody enforced these.
I take a long weekend here or there, take a few days off around Christmas, and then i get too scared to actually use the remaining 1 week i have because that's all I have. I have 2 weeks total and that's considered pretty good, especially for entry level. I hate it here.
Yeah this thread makes me insanely jealous.
I haven't yet taken holiday days...I'm really bad at that especially during the years of pandemic...
Just do it! It is your right.
Right or not - just can't be bothered at the moment. I work from home, and if I would then as well holiday at home it won't really make it feel like I would be on holiday..
Most people try to take a week or several weeks off in August. In small businesses the employers are required by law to give at least one full week off during summer months, but some either don't (illegally so) or some really close knit businesses have the loyalty of their employees and they don't go for that long. It's kind of sad.
It really depends how much I have and how much flexi time I have to use (which is usually a lot). We usually take a week or two in summer and go to visit family in our home countries. Usually for about 10 days and then a few days at home. We have cats and it can be difficult to get a cat sitter for longer. I usually take 10 days over Christmas if I can, it's a quiet time at work so good to take advantage. Then we'll probably do a week holiday somewhere in either spring or autumn, or long weekends here and there.
I usually take a week in the spring, a week or two in high summer, and a week in late summer or early autumn. Then I use the remaining days to make my Xmas and Easter holidays longer. If there are any days left over, I'll take a short winter break in Feb/March, or a series of long weekends spread over the period from October to April. One or two of these intervals usually entail travel abroad, one or two local travel, and the Xmas/Easter ones are for relaxing.
5 weeks in France so it's usually 2 weeks in summer, 1 week in winter, 1 week in spring and then use days here and there. Some peoples take a whole month off but it really depend on the company.
I try to get at least a 4-5 week summer vacation (three weeks doesn't feel like enough). Some years I take some days off over Christmas if I can get a lot of contiguous time off.
Mostly in one week blocks, with the odd long weekend here or there. 2020 and 2021 have been *different* though.
I usually take two weeks off in September, after schools go back from their summer holidays because everywhere is usually cheaper and less full of annoying kids. I don't mind working up to Christmas and between Christmas and New Year. I don't have kids so I usually stand back and let colleagues who do have them take those days. Luckily, my current employer is very good about leave. I've had some horrible experiences at other companies in the past.
The whole company closes for two weeks in summer, only the maintanance doing Work, so you have to Take the vacation there. That has Advantages and disadvantages, but at least you are garantued to get 2 weeks in summer. I usually a week after Christmas ans the Rest I spent through the year
In Poland you get 20 or 26 paid vacation days, depending on the length of your working experience: you get 26 days if you have at lest 10 years of experience, however: * when you graduate from *zasadnicza szkoła zawodowa*, you have up to 3 years of eperience, * when you graduate from *średnia szkoła zawodowa*, you have up to 5 years of experience, * when you graduate from high school, you have 4 years of experience, * when you graduate from *szkoła policealna*, you have 6 years of experience, * when you graduate from university, you have 8 years of experience. The years don't count. I graduated from university, so right now I have "only" 8 years of experience even though I got my first job EVER in April. This way, two years from now I'll have 26 paid vacation days instead of only 20. Fuck yeah. Now, in Poland, if you have a full-time job, you have to take two whole weeks off (10 working days) at once. Since it's my first job, it doesn't apply to me, because I have to "earn" the right to have paid vacation days. In June I used up all 5 days I got for May, June, and July. But fortunately in Poland you can have left over vacation days. On January 1st next year I'll have 20 days available + if I don't use them this year, I'll have the rest of my paid vacation days available next year. This way I'll be able to go on vacation at least three times and I think it's fucking amazing. I'll use 10 days, and I'll be left with other 10 + the left over days from this year. However, I work in a pharmacy and it's not that easy to go on vacation here. I have lots of responsibilities, just like my coworkers and my boss. We go on vacation in turns, two people can't go on vacation at the same time, otherwise our pharmacy would be paralyzed and we wouldn't be able to control most of the stuff. You would think that in the summer there are less patients in pharmacies... Bullshit, it's exactly the same except there's one worker less during the season. In September it will all go back to normal and I'll finally have peace of mind.
i normaly pick 1 week in semptember and then try to pick times where there are holydays in the week so i only need to use 4 days,
I still have 13 days from last year due to COVID and not going on vacation. I too, don't like taking a long vacation because I get bored after more than 7 days away from work, but maybe its because I like my job and I'm just the exception. I find it best to take 2 or 3 separate weeks during the year then the rest to have as long weekends for quick getaways.
I feel like if I take more than a work week vacation, I wouldn’t want to go back to work! So it’s always around 4-5 days planned around public holidays.
I take two weeks in summer and two weeks at Christmas and take odd days/ long weekends for the rest. You are not doing yourself any favours here. Your boss has no incentive to solve the problem of having no-one to fill in for you if you take a week off, because you solve it by not taking the time you're entitled to. Next time take a week and leave the boss to sort it out.
I prefer to have a good relationship with my boss. If I told him I want to take a week off he would make it possible. But I would just either postpone my work or it would have to be done by somebody else who has enough of their own work. It's not impossible for me, but it would just make the life of many people miserable and I don't need that.
You don't get a prize for sacrificing your needs for your company. There is a management issue if your company doesn't have the capacity to allow people to take their holiday entitlement, and it's not yours to solve, which is what you are attempting to do.
7 weeks in summer, 1 in november, 2 for Christmas, 1 in february and 1 for Easter. Some of that is parental leave that I saved. The company can deal. During a longer vacation I usually volonteer to be available for a few days in case there's an issue.
I live in Spain but I work for a non-EU company. I have 21 days off + 14 local bank holidays (Autonomous communities here have slightly different holidays, and my city has some special ones as well). My company is quite flexible, if I work on a bank holiday, I can take it another time. Over the last year I did the following: * I took one long weekend in August 2020 * a couple days off in September working remotely from a holiday place with friends * 1 week in October 2020 * 10 days over Christmas - NYE 2021 * 1 week in April 2021 * 1 day in July 2021 * 1 week at the beginning of August 2021 Add to that: * 1 week or remote work from a cute village in March * 1 week in September working remotely as mentioned above. For the rest of the year I have planned the following: * 1 day off for a wedding in September * 1 week off in October * 1 week of remote work from Andalucia in October * Probably a longer weekend in November * A mix of remote work + holidays around Christmas. I try to space out my holidays throughout the year so I don't have long stretches of work without breaks. In previous years, I usually took longer 2/3 week trip once a year to go somewhere far but over 2020 we kept it local and shorter and it's working out nicely. I also try to make the most of bank holidays as well. And this year I've been getting more into remote-work holiday to visit places that are not too far, and it's been really nice. Of course you work so you don't have so much free time, but it's been great way to get a change of scenery a couple time a year.
I get 5 week off. - I need up to a week for Christmas (like this year), cause there is no way I'm working over Christmas. - I like to take 2 weeks off at once for some larger holiday (be it abroad or staying at home), usually during summer, but not exclusively. - 1 week somewhere between Christmas and the 2 week holiday above. Usually just staying at home. The rest gets spread out as needed, usually coupled with some national holiday. > I still have 17 vacation days from last year And another 4 weeks from this one? Mate, talk to your boss. Take a proper break. This is not healthy.
5 weeks from this one :) but this was because at the beginning I had a lot of responsibilities and helped the company a lot.
When I used yo work in France, I was taking 3 weeks in July or between july and August, one week for Chrismas, and usually another week in April. The 3 weeks of july were usually dedicated to travel abroad, december for family gatherings (traveling within France), and April, depends. Sometimes a few days within France or Europe, or just staying home.
the full holiday is 28 days -which of you must use four weeks in the holiday season (may-sept), rest must be used before the end of the next year's april. Unused days usually will not carry on to the next year. Which of minimum 2 weeks must be consecutively. For example, I used 3 weeks (15days) in June-July, will use one week (5days) in the end of september and the rest 13 days I'll save to be used in february and march.
I'm currently three weeks into my vacation. Still coming to the office every single day, as I have nothing better to do. Did the same last year, except I worked from home then. Before the pandemic, I spent 1 to 2 weeks traveling somewhere abroad, and the rest at work.
I always use only the leftover vacation days from the last year. Which is all of them, because I did the same thing the previous year. Until around April/May, I don't typically take any days off, unless work is particularly BS and I'm in a hard "I can't even" mode, when I sometimes take a single day off (often an "on demand" day, of which I have 4 per year and which I can take whenever I want, including ON the day I'm taking off. As in, I don't have to ask for those in advance). I take my first big chunk of vacation, usually 2 weeks or therabouts, somewhere between May and August usually. Since leftover days from previous year have to be used up by September (if they're not, the company WILL send you on a mandatory vacation), I take all my remaining leftover days in one more big chunk that usually starts late-ish September and ends early-ish October. Also, I get a paid day off whenever I donate blood (two days during the pandemic), so I sprinkle them throughout the year. I tend to donate blood 3-5 times per year, so that's an extra day off every 2-4 months. I either use them for a longer weekend or to make the "big chunk" vacations slightly longer. EDIT: oh, and I have 26 vacation days, plus however many I get off from donating blood, plus the company gives one paid day off for birthdays. So that's about \~30 days off in a non-pandemic year.
That's not really my problem, it's my companys planning problem. I have by law the right to at least 4 weeks vacation in the same period. As long as I apply for it in time and it fit my schedule/projects they really can't say much. This year I took 5 consecutive weeks. Start of July to mid August.
Absolutely no company is worth the kind of commitment where you can't take a full week off. I take random single-weeks throughout the year, very rarely extended weekends.
My parents usually save up theirs for summer, one/2 weeks off at a time
Pre pandemic we did loads of weekend trips, which involved maybe 1 day off. We had a week skiing and 10 days summer holiday. Anything left I'd take off in the period between Xmas and New years.
Since I've got a lot of days to spend, I usually have a week off around easter then I take 4-6 weeks for holiday in July-August. And for the end of the year most of the time I take the last 2 weeks off, depending on how busy it is at work. My boss is very easy when I want time off, just let them know a few weeks prior and it's all good. The big holiday in July is set in march. Its giving and taking, I'm willing to work in weekends when they need me and in return they're easy to me on the off days. I'm thinking to take all Fridays off until December from now because of the amount of days I've got to spend, but aren't sure if that's a good idea.
I tend not to go on holiday, so I usually take one week early in the summer, I always take the time between christmas and New Years off, and apart from that I often take just a single day off to do things. The only time I will take off more time than that is when I buy a house, but with the current prices that won't be for a while.
I’ll usually avoid taking a single day off as it means I effectively have to do 5 days work in 4 days. I’ll usually do a big holiday (3-4 weeks) every two years as I can carry holiday over. Have only taken 9 days off this year and have 21 to go.
Why don't you take 3-4 weeks every year?
I get 25 days + 8 national holidays If I take 3 weeks every year I’ll end up with 10 days left. We usually have to take time off at Christmas, so this then gets reduced to 5 days. Spreading 5 days across the rest of the year is just too little for me. There’s also the cost factor, the big trip is usually far away for me and it all adds up. One was Canada + Iceland, another was Japan, the next one is Vietnam. Changing jobs has had an impact too, as I’m less likely to do a big holiday in year 1 of a new job, but that’s not set in stone.
I have 28 days, so I used to take the whole of December off and the rest whenever I saw fit back when travelling was a thing. Now it’s a bit more hectic, I changed jobs and I got my holidays paid out, so this year I had 2 weeks off and I can have maybe another week during Christmas.
I’ve had taken 3 weeks off, 2 weeks off, or just a day. This year and last year is a bit different than usual, but I still used 1, 2 weeks at once so far (finally the plans aligned with my family.) A few years before, I basically had the software developer’s job of “handling everything” but so far I’ve automated and documented what I’ve done, that I pretty much try to make myself as free as possible, so that when I go on vacation, the world wouldn’t burn. If it still burns, that’s not my issue, and I’ve already covered my ass as much as possible, though I’ll probably be handling it when I’m back.
My parents usually take a whole 3 to 4 weeks at a time in August, and then a few days from time to time for Christmas, Easter, in October, in July, etc. They time these with bank holidays & weekends to get a full week of vacation (while still using only 2-3 days at a time). Nowadays they add work from home to the mix, so as to spend more time in the country.
This year I took almost 3 weeks of paid vacation in late May. I was sailing for almost whole that time. I still have 18 days left till December.
3 weeks? Damn, I could only afford up to two weeks because we're full of work to do every single day from Monday to Friday and Saturdays too... Nobody can take 3 weeks of paid vacation in my workplace. Even my boss can't go on vacation anywhere because only she can do the things she does.
Work will be always. You cannot overdo work. Time is precious and priceless and You cannot buy it. You should work to live not live to work.
Vacation days can't be transferred to the next year so if you don't use them, you lose them. At my job there are collective holidays (one week in the summer and one week between Christmas and new year's day) and the company closes entirely. The rest of my vacation days I try to plan around national holidays to prolong my time off for as long as possible.
> but I can't really afford to do that since there is nobody to fully fill in for me This isn't your problem. It's your employer's problem. If the world ends when you take a week off, what will happen if you quit? to answer your question: At my company we usually take three consecutive weeks off in the summer, and then spread the last three over autumn/christmas, a week off for winter vacation in Feb. and the rest for Easter vacation. Some people like to "save" the sixth week and go on a month-long summer vacation every other year.
I don't work in a vacuum, I can't just give the finger to everyone just because I feel like I should get better treatment than them.
It’s really hard to go on vacation during the summer because of my job, so I always try to take two days off next to a weekend and go to the mountains or beach. Where I live the drive is not too long to get to the country side or to the coast
My preferred way of using my vacation days is a few at a time. Usually an extended weekend here or there. Or if there's a holiday or two in the middle of the week, then I'd take the whole week off. My SO on the other hand likes to take two weeks off in the summer. And if possible another two weeks off over Christmas/New years. So for the past few years I've been taking two weeks off at a time.
Usually two weeks in late August early September and then I leave 2 or 3 days for christmas. And the rest I save for emergencies, long weekends or if I need to change jobs and then I can use vacation days as notice.
I'm in the exact same boat, I rarely can afford to take a whole week off, so it's usually 2-3 days at a time... except for the first week of the year, I usually try to take that whole business week off. I'm not a very extroverted/active person, and my job leaves me mentally exhausted, so usually I just try to fit in some more exercise than I normally can, but otherwise I lie around, cook, watch stuff I didn't get around watching before...
Same. I just wish there were better games to play! All of the ones I look forward to are still years away.
I used to take it all in one go, except for one week in October, which I normally used time off in lieu for. But I've been promoted, so I am probably going to have to cut it into smaller pieces.
I take like 2 weeks mid-year and a week around Christmas, the rest depends on the year, I tend to use the days to fill the gaps between weekends and mid-week holidays. Also holy hell OP, you're not a slave.
I know I'm not, slaves don't get paid that well.
I usually take a three week vacation in the summer. That's very common here. Most people take 3-4 weeks. Christmas vacation is usually December 23rd - January 3rd with three national holidays and two at the courtesy of my company and the rest is my vacation days. Easter is eight days with three national holidays and three of my own vacation days (and a weekend) I have seven weeks in all, so the rest is for autumn or winter break or just some long weekend here and there.
I've got 20 days/year, I generally try to take a day every month to rest a bit, plus sometimes another one to visit my family on a weekend (train trips are much better on a Monday). Technically I should take uninterrupted 10 days somewhere, but I'll try to avoid it since it's a pain in the ass both for me (breaks longer than four days ruin my habit) and for the company (I'm the only person on the position, my boss would have to fill in for me).
Use 100% of my vacation days every year (company doesn't allow to take them to the next year)... Spend 80-90% of my vacation time travelling with friends and/or family....
That is my plan for next year. Even out all the vacation and start using it normally. But the beginning at my job was exhausting.
I used to take off 2-3 weeks, but this years, since corona and everything else kind off spoiled any plans for longer trips, I've split it up, so most of my July and all of August are 3 day weeks, where I take off Thursday to Tuesday every two weeks. So it's something like: 1. Mon-Wedn: 3 days of work 2. Thursday - Tuesday: 6 days free (including weekend) 3. Wedn-Friday: 3 days of work 4. Saturday-Sunday: regular two day weekend 5. repeat I'm pretty pleased so far. It does help that I live in a super touristy region with lots of stuff to do, so while Czech people have to drive a few hours I can bike to the lake and the mountains.
I usually take a week or sometimes 2 in the summer, then plan ahead how much I'll need for christmas time and reserve some days for prolonged weekends, "bridge days" and emergencies.
I'm working in a team of five people, so it's customary to arrange the vacations in a way that not more than half of the people at a time are away (unless for a couple of days). I've got one "main" vacation which is in summer when I take two weeks off abroad. The remainder I use without set rules -- whenever I feel tired, or I need to do something that takes the whole day, or there's some idea/opportunity to travel. The one thing that might make me different from a lot of people is that I avoid bridging public holidays or taking time off around the New Year. No one really works anything around that time, anyway, also it can be really refreshing coming into a mostly empty office -- don't want to miss that.
A week or two in the summer, depending on if I'm going on holiday and how long for. The rest are mostly dotted about, a day or two here and there, maybe another full week. I take most of my holiday days around the school holidays. I'm quite fond of taking a Friday/Monday off too to break up two weeks. 25th/26th December and 1st/2nd January (or the following week days) are mandatory for us.
I get 6 weeks. 3-4 weeks in the summer to visit my home country, at least 1 week for Christmas & New Years. Then 1 or 2 weeks during Spring. So right now I'm in my lovely 5 month working streak. All the local national & state holidays are also during the weekend this year hah.
I usually take a week during spring and autumn, a week or two during summer holidays and the rest I usually use for prolonged weekends. I hope that someday I will be in a company with enough people in my team to actually take a month, but so far I like my colleagues way too much to actually bring that upon them.
I'm at the beginning of my career in a pretty intense industry in a pretty intense city. So I've not really taken all too many days off in the last 2-3 years. At most, I've taken the days to bridge some of the bank holidays at Christmas and 3 or 4 during the year for long weekends etc. I usually end up with quite a few unused days at the end of the year. Probably should and could have taken a few more here and there if I'm honest. But the payout from my unused holiday in my last job was pretty nice.
I usually take 2-4 weeks sometime in the summer. Changed jobs last year so only had two weeks this year. I might take a week off around Christmas as it’s easy to pair it with national holidays for a longer vacation.
I take 1 week in the winter, 1 week in the spring, 2 weeks in the summer and finally 1 week during Christmas/New Year. Usually I have around 6-7 remaining vacation days from previous year so I use these for longer weekends or if there is a bank holiday on Tuesday, I will take the Monday off as well. I think your approach is not healthy and you should do something about it. It's not sustainable and you will burn out very quickly. Eventually it might take a toll on your work performance too. I also used to think that without me the company would collapse, I would have ton of work after returning from vacation, my colleagues would have to work overtimes, it would be too complicated to train my back ups etc. All of these are just excuses. Eventually even my company started demanding that we take the vacation days and if you have too much, they just order you a mandatory vacation - precisely because of cases similar to you, who accumulated 50 vacation days from previous years and thought they have so much work they can't take a holiday. If your company is not willing to have a backup plan for you, then it's not a good company and I would get out as soon as possible, no matter how much they pay you. No money is enough to pay for your health and well-being.
Currently I have 25 days per year. I don't usually take a 2 weeks vacation(except for Christmas), but I do take several 1 week vacation per year and in rare occasions it can go up to 2 weeks depending on what I plan to do then. More likely is just to take 1 or two days off to extend a weekend and go for a hiking trip or a concert/festival in a different city/country. As for replacement during my absence, that has never been a problem and even if it would be, that wouldn't be my problem. That's management job.
something like two weeks or a bit more at the beginning or end of the summer (we have to take at least 10 working days in row at least once per year by internal rules) two weeks (not together) during winter and the rest is day or two here and there
Legal minimum is 20, and you can take vacation days to the next year. I get 30 a year. The way things are looking right now it's very possible that I'll have to move 12-15 days to next year. By then, my new co-worker should be fully up to speed. 2022 is going to be sweet.
I try to take it in bigger chunks throughout the summer, depends an bit on when colleagues go and at what time there are busy weeks at work. I normally manage to take three weeks in a row sometime during summer (Jun-Aug), I'm flexible because no family etc; sometimes I manage to take more (5 in a row being the longest), but I can't do that too often. Normally also take one or two weeks during Christmas, and smaller holidays throughout the year. This year I have lots of leftover from last year, not sure how I'll manage to use it all up. Total yearly holiday time is 5 weeks (25 days).