AIBU to make these requests from my new employers?

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Hi there, I'm new to the UK and I need some advice :)

I moved here about a year ago when I got married and now I finally have a job. Yay!

I get 25 days holiday in a year and from my understanding I can't take all 25 days at the same time.

Now here is the thing- all my other colleagues are from the UK or within the EU and so they have families that live a one or two hour flight away. Visiting family is not an issue for them because they can even do it over the weekend. However, my family lives a 9 hour flight away from London and so I would need to take at least 10-14 days off in order to be able to visit them. It doesn't make sense for me to spend close to £700 on a ticket to visit them for 2 days. Furthermore, most of my time would be spent travelling anyway.

So I want to request that I be given around 14 days of my holiday allowance at the same time so that I can plan a visit back home to meet my mum, sister and grandparents. My family means a lot to me and my grandma has been really sick lately. I would hate it if I couldn't visit them every year :( :( I don't mind what time of the year I am given these days off and I don't even care if it is paid leave. I just want to have some time to be able to visit my family.

Is this an unreasonable request? I am very unfamiliar with UK employment rules and I'd love some advice. :)

Thanks!!

A two-week holiday is very normal in the UK - it would be unusual for an employer to have a problem with that. Some people even take three weeks at once, particularly if there is a quiet period at work when it makes sense to take time off.

Not unreasonable at all IMO, especially as you are willing to take it outside of popular i.e. school holiday, times. Just ask in rather than demand.

Traditionally people always used to take 14-day holidays (we did when I was a child). It seems less usual now, but I have lots of colleagues who still take a 14-day summer holiday with a couple of days either side to pack/unpack etc. I don't see that it would be an odd request, but depending on your employer and the type of job they may or may not grant it I suppose!

Oh, I would love to be able to take three weeks off!! 25 days is my paid allowance. Even if I had to take unpaid holiday to meet my family, I'd do it.

No, two weeks off at a time is fairly common, you'd normally take 10 days of annual leave, and by using a weekend at either end you end up with two full weeks away from work. You can even extend it a bit by using bank holidays / Christmas etc, depending on what industry you work in. I'd approach the subject cautiously though, as it doesn't look great if the first thing you talk about when you start a new job is how soon you can take holiday!

This is a job in banking and it's a very famous bank that I have got a job with.

No, I won't bring it up right now. I was going to wait at least a couple of months before I talked about it.

OP, 25 days is five weeks. Don't count the weekends.

you could end up with 16 days to see family/travel if you take 10 working days off in a row from a Monday-Friday, due to the three weekends (one before, one in the middle, one in the end), thus only taking 10 days of the 25 but having a two week break :)

You may find a bank may be less amenable to long holidays, depending on your role, but nothing ventured nothing gained!

Yes, I thought you were talking about nearly three weeks. In a Mon-Fri job 14 days away equals 10 days leave which is normal, even in popular holiday periods like summer or Easter.

OP - If you start your holiday on a Saturday and come back on a Sunday, you will get 16 days off work while only using 10 days annual leave. You bosses will be fine with you booking two weeks off - so long as you can be flexibel about when so you don't leave them overly stretched.

You may find a bank may be less amenable to long holidays, depending on your role, but nothing ventured nothing gained!

It's too late now but what you could've done was to tell your new employer, when you were at the stage where you were negiating pay and start date etc, that you already had a holiday booked. They would probably have honoured that. You'd still have had to use leave for it obviously but it would already been in the calendar, without you having to raise the issue after you had started.

I do realise banks aren't amenable to longer holidays, but I'm just trying to figure out what they expect of me here. I can't give up visiting my family because my employers aren't understanding. Given the circumstances, I am hoping they will be a little flexible.

Any idea what my options are if they refuse?

Marjorie, this isn't a one time thing. I have a three year contract with these people and I intend to visit my family once every year. And since I do get 25 days holiday every year, I am just wondering what good that will be if I can't take 14 days or so at a go.

x-posts aplenty .

I worked for a major bank until recently - they were fine about two weeks holidays, in fact any holiday so long as it was agreeable to managers. They also offered things like flexi-leave (saving up holiday from one year to the next), additional unpaid leave and the ability to buy extra days of leave.

It is all role dependent and manager dependent, but there is no stigma at all in asking. Think of it as an adult negotiation - rather than begging for a special favour.

14 days is a funny number. Do you actually mean 10 days which will give you two full weeks away?

Where are you from OP? Taking 10 days leave (ie being absent for two whole working weeks consecutively) is quite normal here. I'd be surprised if that request was refused.

Yes, 14 days is two weeks isn't it? Ideally I would like a month off to see my family but I don't think that will be possible.

My DH used to work for a bank that insisted all staff book at least 10 days in a block at least once a year as it helped alleviate against stress etc.

Hmm.... a plan forms

So could I potentially take TWO holidays in a year of ten days each?

14 days is two weeks - but you only use your annual leave for working days. So taking a 7 day week off, only costs you 5 days annual leave (monday - friday).

That's why you can have up to 16 days out of the office but only use 10 days annual leave.

Do you come from a country where people tend to take very short holidays? I have friends in Japan and the US who have trouble taking even a whole week off, while plenty of French people I know take three or even four weeks off in a row in the summer.

The UK is pretty much in the middle in terms of holiday expectations, but really, trying to take two weeks off is absolutely normal and even three weeks would be fine in most companies.