For the best work/life balance, how many weeks work until you take annual leave?

[ImEasyLikeSundayMorning]

The title probably doesn't make sense.

In an ideal world (as I do know those who are self-employed can't always take A/L) how many weeks straight would you work before you took a weeks annual leave?

Forgetting the fact that a lot of us have to take it in half term etc

I work term time only and always have so to me anything over 8 weeks sounds hellish!

In the ideal world.

I would do maybe 2- 2.5 days work. Or 3 mornings a week.

Maybe a weeks annual leave after every 2 weeks worked. And get all school holidays off.

The job would be really high paying and very low stress. Enjoyable and fulfilling.

In an ideal world, I'd say every 6 weeks. In reality, I only really take annual leave at Christmas and in the summer.

Every 6 weeks I try to have a few days off.

6-8 weeks

6-7 weeks

No more than 12.

I try to have a day off a month. So some time every school holiday and then 1 extra day in November and March when there are generally neither bank holidays or school holidays. Although I often choose to do my 2 company volunteering in these months.
We've always spread leave out like this to avoid kids having weeks in holiday club but now they are both secondary and we are both wfh at least some of the time we may review this.

I usually have a week every 8th week, but sometimes its a bit sooner or a bit later. It also leaves me with a few extra days leave which I use on things that come up adhoc, like supporting someone with childcare, or a social event.

I get 4 weeks and try to do April August October and December. It doesn't feel enough.

I think the school year does it perfectly- everyone needs a little rest after 7 weeks or so

I take 2 weeks at Christmas, Easter, summer and October. Think the shorts gap between is c9 weeks and longest is 12. Totally driven by school hols/child care.

I work 3/5 part time so a weeks holiday is 3 days for me. If I'm careful about using bankholidsys etc I can manage the 8 weeks a year.

I’m quite good at spreading leave beginning of year. I end up usually working from Sept to December without any time off - every year I promise myself to hold back a few days! Never do!! Always end up knackered by Christmas!! Husband does Jan till easter usually - fine if it’s March hates late April Easter’s!

7 or 8 weeks is enough for me. I need a week off after that

I get 4 weeks annual leave so even if I spread them out and only ever had a week at a time it'd be every 12 weeks.

Next year it's almost all already booked in; Working Jan straight through to end of April then a week off. Another week off early July. 2 weeks off October.

My annual leave is riven by school holidays.

So a day or so in February, a week in April, maybe a day in May, two weeks in Summer, a week in October.

The rest depends on my other colleague with a school age child, our holiday plans, DD's mocks/exams and if we have anything planned where I may need an extra day.

I hate taking random days off, I never do anything proper with them and it just feels a waste of annual leave.

I think it depends on your shift pattern; on how many hours a week you work; on how well you relax in your down time (be that evenings, weekends, or whatever your working hours allow).

But it also depends on how you like to use your holiday.
I'd be quite happy to go for months without taking annual leave if I were looking forward to a long break where I use my AL together - say you were saving it for a big long haul trip somewhere.

I can still relax at weekends.

I work term time only and the kids get quite long holidays so I tend to work for around 6 weeks. This one is 7 though but it’s also my favourite one!

I try to go no more than three months, especially outside summer. Hence rarely having more than one week off at a time, and not having a long break over Christmas.

I rarely take a week off in one go (probably once every couple of years or so). Far prefer to take a single day each time and have lots of long weekends instead.

Timing is important too. Was just talking to DH about a week off between now and Christmas as we both hate having lots of time off over Christmas. If you don't have lots of family to visit, a long Christmas break can be a dark and dreary waste of leave.

i have at least one day off in every school holiday so that probably works out as every 7-8 weeks. I would hate to work for months without a fun thing to look forward to.

Same but anything over 7 weeks seems an eternity for me!

I work in a private school so we tend to have a holiday around every 6-7 weeks, we are lucky that we get longer holidays than standard schools, 3 weeks Easter, 4 weeks Christmas and 8 for summer, by the last week of term we are counting down the days

Last year I worked 50 weeks with 2 off at Christmas. Pants and I would periodically have a really unproductive week too. I'm not capable of that anymore.
Ideally with 4 weeks leave it's got to be 1 March, 1 July and 1 end of August for the school holidays and 1 in December.