Is 20 days annual leave enough for you?

[Rainydays55]

For those if you who have 20 days annual leave plus bank hols - is that enough for you or do you find yourself needing more?

I have 29. Y'all need to be negotiating for way more. 20s a joke, even our lowest is 25.

I presume unlimited leave is actually unpaid leave

@Borris

I presume unlimited leave is actually unpaid leave

Nope

@WoodenReindeer

I dont get how unlimited leave works either. Couldn't you end up working just 2 days a week on full pay, or have a week off every month? I'd love unlimited time off!

The rule is "act like an adult" so it's obviously within reason. It's common in software development where so long as goals are delivered, you can turn up when you want, wear what you want and do things how you want. This is just an extension of that.

Works well. With people who act like adults, ofc.

@WoodenReindeer

I dont get how unlimited leave works either. Couldn't you end up working just 2 days a week on full pay, or have a week off every month? I'd love unlimited time off!

You could if you could fit your full time job into those days

I did similar my first 6 months back from mat leave, effectively worked pt on ft salary

Wow. I so should have gone into software!

@Borris

I presume unlimited leave is actually unpaid leave

No. Honestly, those schemes to get more women in the tech industry? This is why. We got all the perks over here and half the time I talk about them I'm just told I'm making it up. WFH used to be such a mythical thing.

Why dont they require 2 x as much work then? Why are they paying ft wages for something that can be done in half the time?

@WoodenReindeer

Wow. I so should have gone into software!

Or any other industry where some workplaces offer unlimited leave...

What other industries offer it?

My last job was 20 days but 3 had to be saved for Xmas, so 17 to choose from. It never felt like enough & always felt stressful trying to plan holidays to maximize the days off booked.

I now have 23 days & can decide if I want Xmas off or not & those 3 extra days make a lot of difference.

Will be useful for advising my daughters although they are not currently looking at computing.

I wouldn't take a job offering that. I have 32 and thing that's ok.

20 days in the UK tells me all I need to know about an employer, and if I had options I'd not work for them.

I don't know why there are faces. I'm guessing most people have never heard of unlimited leave. I certainly haven't. It sounds amazing.

Have literally never seen any job offering anything like this

I get 16.8 now I'm part time and already it's not enough. Got 28 when I was full time and that wasn't enough either.

No, I changed jobs around a year ago and went from somewhere where I had 33 days as standard (partly due to length of service) plus bank holidays and the option to ‘buy’ up to an additional 10 days to somewhere where I get 20 plus bank holidays. I work Mondays too so a lot goes on them. I’m really struggling with it, it’s costing me a lot on holiday childcare and I find I’m having to take odd days here and there to cover when I need it for childcare rather than taking a proper break. I’m planning to bring it up in my next appraisal as it’s not working for me and I may need to look elsewhere for a better balance.
(I left the job with the good holiday allowance because of other issues with the culture so it was the right thing to do to leave, but the holiday thing has been a much bigger problem than I expected)

@WoodenReindeer

Why dont they require 2 x as much work then? Why are they paying ft wages for something that can be done in half the time?

Many jobs don't operate like the checkout at aldi

I get 28 days plus Bank Holidays.

I'll be honest and say that WFH makes leave stretch much further now. If I needed an afternoon off before I would book hours out of the office that would come off my leave. Now I just start a bit early and work like a demon until lunch to get what I need done done, don't arrange any meetings for after 2 and put my 'Do Not Disturb' on Teams 🙊

No, don’t think it’s enough for anyone to allow any kind of work-life balance.

I’ve dropped from 33 working PT to 25 working FT and that’s not enough and I struggle. I can buy 5 more which I always do but it’s a bit of a kicker paying for less holidays than I used to get anyway.

@WoodenReindeer

What other industries offer it?

Most creative agencies I work with have some form of unlimited leave, start ups increasingly offer it

As do scale ups

I work for a large multinational so they have most of the regular perks and in addition the unlimited leave

Yes.

Actually, should have said, that is standard where I live (not UK), and most people seem okay with it. Honestly, if you can't cope with the hours you work then work less hours - do you seriously think life should be one long (paid) holiday?

[quote elp30]@BritWifeInUSA

Many, many companies in the US only have 10 days holiday a year, before national and/or state holidays.

I have always worked for private companies all over Texas, New Mexico and Georgia where 10 days was the norm and 15 days were granted after three or five years.

My niece works for the government so her holiday entitlement is higher.

You having a minimum of 20 is more unusual, for a private company.

[/quote]
I’m not saying your experience isn’t valid, but I disagree that 20 days is “unusual” here. Maybe it’s because I’m in a deep blue state but I do not know anyone and have never seen a job advertised here with less than 15 days to start with. My husband is on 15 days and he’s in his first year in a manual labor job. It’s more than the minimum, of course, but I don’t know any companies here in this state offering only the minimum (just the federal holidays). Especially in the current climate.

Texas has always been different…

Nope. If I was looking at a job advert and it said 20 days hols, without the opportunity to buy extra (and enough additional salary to do that), I wouldn't apply.