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Original poster

Annual leave at Christmas

281 replies

Miamarshmallows · 16/12/2020 22:11

If you work/had a job, how much time did you take off at Christmas?
My friend posted on Facebook just now with 'Imagine having this Friday off until the 4th Jan, how funny is that?" and everyone responded with laughing emojis. I'm guessing because it's a rarity to have 2 weeks off for Christmas? Except it isn't. I know many colleagues spread their leave out but I always had 2 weeks off at Christmas. Just wondered if I was in the minority?! Obviously it's different for keyworkers etc.

OP posts:
DroopyTree · 17/12/2020 08:32

Dh is military and his last day was the 11th and he goes back round the 7th. He was away for 7 months missing Christmas last year though.

My office closes between Xmas and NY but we can't also take annual leave to top it up.

NoIDontWatchLoveIsland · 17/12/2020 08:34

I always leave 3 or 4 days of annual leave so that together with the bank holidays and weekends, I usually have a 10 day stretch off work over christmas

LBOCS2 · 17/12/2020 08:36

Our company took the decision to close between Christmas and the NY, with no additional leave requirements. It means I'm off from the 23rd-4th and carrying forward 10 a/l days into next year.

amusedbush · 17/12/2020 08:37

I’ve worked in universities since 2012 and I don’t think I could ever give up my long Christmas break! Usually the days in between Christmas and New Year come out of our annual leave allowance automatically but this year we’re getting extra ‘rest days’ and we’re not losing AL for the non-holiday days. I finish up tomorrow until the 5th January (Scotland so extra day off).

Waxonwaxoff0 · 17/12/2020 08:38

I work in manufacturing, we close over Christmas. How much time off we get depends on how the dates fall. This year we finish on the 23rd and go back on the 4th. We have to take it out of our annual leave though.

DailyPotion · 17/12/2020 08:41

I work in school now but when I had a proper job Wink I always worked up to Christmas Eve and 2/3 of the days between Christmas and New Year. We weren't allowed to book the whole period as annual leave.

Peachy1381 · 17/12/2020 08:41

Depends on the sector you work in. I know people in retail or who are medics for whine it’s a day, maybe two if you’re lucky. I work in BC an office and as long as you have the leave left to take two weeks is standard. We even have a few closure days over Christmas.

Ideasplease322 · 17/12/2020 08:41

I like going in between Christmas and nee year - it’s quiet and I can actually get some work done without constant meetings, phone calls and emails.

DickAndSizzy · 17/12/2020 08:46

I work in IT and will have 2 days off (23/24 Dec). That'll combine with the weekend and Bank Hols to give me 6 days off. Don't think I've ever had much more than that, tbh. IT never stops so it's quite normal to have people working and/or on call 24/7 365.

But I also don't tend to take 2 weeks off at any point in the year - I prefer it spread out a bit more than that.

Serendipity26 · 17/12/2020 08:52

In the past, 2 weeks but this year just a week as expecting to be busy in New Year. Frontline worker

WhatAreWordsWorth · 17/12/2020 08:53

I finish on Friday but will be working 29th & 30th Dec.

I work in ecommerce and this time of year is notoriously busy. We need ‘cover’ for every day over Christmas, so we rarely manage to get the whole period off (apart from one woman on my team who always seems to wangle 23rd - NY off while everyone else has to work at least 1-2 days Hmm )

I plan to make a move away from ecommerce next year as I’m sick of Nov and Dec being the most stressful months of the year. I’ve only ever had the whole period off once and it was blissful.

Isitbedtimeyet4 · 17/12/2020 08:53

I work in education so I’m off until Jan 4th, but my husband is working 7am until 5pm Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day because his work doesn’t allow annual leave over Christmas and you’re only able to have the day off if it falls one one of your contracted days off. Most people I know have roughly a 4 days to a week off though

PhilCornwall1 · 17/12/2020 08:55

Always had two weeks, but this year I'm going to be having just a few days shy of a month off.

emmathedilemma · 17/12/2020 08:58

Our offices close the days between Xmas and New Year which we have to take out of our annual leave. A lot of people have school age kids so take holidays to align to those and most seem to be finishing on Friday for 2 weeks. My friend who's a teacher was shocked I was having 2 weeks off which I thought was a bit rich from someone who gets that every few months!

GintyMcGinty · 17/12/2020 08:58

We are closing for 3 weeks. People need to use 7 days leave and the rest is gifted.

Normally we shut for 2 weeks but everyone is knackered this year and needs the break.

User415373 · 17/12/2020 08:59

Sounds like your friend is making a passive aggressive comment towards an industry - teachers probably.

Sceptre86 · 17/12/2020 09:03

It fully depends what kind of keyworker you are and in which particular industry. In mine I will be working boxing day and the 2nd of January which is a holiday in Scotland. I was not able to book the 2nd of Jan as leave. I am also not allowed to book the 10 days before Xmas and any holidays in December are at the discretion of the manager. At my previous company there was a blanket ban of any leave in December. I have had to work xmas eve and new years eve before this year they fall on my non working days so I am at least thankful for that.

Ragwort · 17/12/2020 09:06

I've always worked in retail or hospitality so have always assumed I'd be working most of the time. Even when I had a Head Office job in retail I was one of the few who went in to provide support for our shop teams ...... it suits me fine and unless you can get away I really don't particularly like that 'dead' time between Christmas and New Year - different if you have young DC. My DH has to take AL and he really doesn't want to.

I shall be off Christmas Day and Boxing Day but we will open again on the Sunday and NYD but I do have volunteers offering to do those dates. I manage a charity shop now and plenty of people are willing to come in unpaid for those days.

PinkFlamingo888 · 17/12/2020 09:06

I finish 7am Christmas morning - 29th. Just how my rest days have fallen this year. Next year I’ll be working the whole way through. I can put in for AL but I’m the newest so probably the least likely to get it!

Moo678 · 17/12/2020 09:08

I’m a doctor and this year I have from 23rd-4th jan off. This is because last year one of my colleagues took 4 wks annul leave over Xmas and NY and is now paying me back! There are 4 of us in the department and we can theoretically take as kick leave as we have over festive period but there needs to be somebody around to cover so we have to work it out amongst ourselves.

Heatherjayne1972 · 17/12/2020 09:11

I’m off from 23 Dec-2 jan.

I choose not to work between Christmas and new year I’m fortunate that I can choose this - Using 1 day A/L

AdditionalCharacter · 17/12/2020 09:13

DH is a key worker and I work in care. He is off from Christmas Eve until 4 January. I don't have any time off but my rota means I'm off Christmas Eve and Christmas day at least.

ExeterMummaMia · 17/12/2020 09:13

Not a keyworker.. not even remotely - I work in an office .... but never have the option to take the whole xmas period off.

I've managed to get Xmas eve approved this year, and will get the Xmas bank hols. But that's it. It'll be the 1st xmas eve in 10 years I have managed to be off - except for once when I was on maternity leave so didn't have to contend with the office politics about who gets what time off over xmas (that year was bliss!). To make it slightly fairer we all try and cover each other so that people have a chance to try and take at least 1 day each off over the xmas period - unfortunately xmas eve and NYE are usually the hot favourites!

TheDaydreamBelievers · 17/12/2020 09:14

@Moo678 your example answers another posters Q about how key workers can be off for a while - we are the same in my job. Its key that at least a couple of our profession are in to do the scheduled and emergency stuff, but it's a reduced service over the holidays, so they dont need all of us. We work it out between us who is in on what days.

SelfIcellation · 17/12/2020 09:15

Haven't RTFT.

I work shifts on the Tube. We are allocated leave in 5 "periods". All grades are allocated a period, in which the weeks are allocated. You can only change your allocated leave by swapping with a person with those weeks in that period. (Hope that makes sense). So for example, I swapped my P2 Summer leave in September with a colleague who preferred to holiday in September, which is P5.

This results in getting Christmas week off guaranteed every five years.

No services run on Christmas Day so we all take an annual leave day for that, unless our rostered rest days fall on Christmas Day in which situation we get an extra day to use in the New Year.

This year my long weekend in the roster falls on Friday 25th to Monday 28th so I consider myself lucky. The pay-off for that is that I'm on nights from Tuesday 29th, but if I swapped my shifts I'd get a worse deal, only one extra day, for example.

DH is a postie. He has a flexible working arrangement not to work Saturday so he's got the same as me, Friday to Monday off. Locally it was agreed the posties will get Boxing Day off anyway, but they lose an extra day's annual leave.

DH's oldest friend is in the corporate world of property development. He builds massive tower blocks for foreign investors in London. DH got a text last Monday to say his friend will be off work until the 6th January. We had a good laugh about that! Grin