We should get more legal annual leave.

[Theworried2]

Even though we currently get 5.6 weeks leave as a minimum for full time employees plus weekends, this still means we spend 64% of days in our working lives in work.

Surely to ensure better mental and physical health, this amount should be raised (perhaps closer to the 13 weeks children get at school).
it doesn’t make sense that as soon as you leave education, your free time dramatically reduces.

At the very least, to reduce additional costs for employers, everyone should have a legal minimum weeks (e.g.5 per annum) of unpaid leave if they want it. This shouldn’t just be confined to parents.

if people are properly rested, productivity may rise which could help solve the UK’s productivity puzzle.

I quite fancy 15 weeks holiday, 20 hour weeks and 50k min a year..I can dream. In the meantime I'll take 24k, 5.6 weeks holiday for 40 hrs a week 🤣

I get 32.5 days plus bank hols but it still feels like I’m always working!

I don’t know what the answer is though.

I agree, i feel including BH in the 5.6 weeks is cheating!
I also use a significant amount of A/L taking DC with SEN to appointments so only about a third of my AL is for holidays or relaxation , the rest is for practical, non relaxing, sometimes stressful stuff. Would love term time only job , or equivilant but only could afford it if it was paid leave.

Which is 100% fine except for those of us who work 48 hours or more who are not getting the full holiday entitlement never mind what we would be owed if it was truly pro-rata. And the fact that salary is a construct that's pulled out of thin air by someone higher up based on what they think they can get away with not paying their workers, and they know when they've gone too low because suddenly they have no applicants. And that women are already paid less than men.

Parents can already take unpaid parental leave though 🤷‍♀️

I work for a national company - we can buy more annual leave so long as manager agrees .

I can’t afford that though

I get 6 weeks plus BH and can ‘buy’ up to 10 days additional in my company which I think is fine

Well indeed @monpetitlapin but it depends on the terms of the contract. Mine says hours as required. I try to limit it to 48/50 and very much appreciate the fact that I get 35 days plus bank.holidays which is generous. I also can wfh two days a week nowadays.

Admittedly I am well paid but I have always found work to be a privilege.

7 weeks plus BH here, it's plenty

I know not every industry can offer flexible working but I know a lot more could. In my office we have a rota so that 4 people take it in turns to stay until 5pm and the rest of us can finish when we like. We need to make sure we do our 37 hours per week but over a 4 week period. Some weeks I'll do 30 and others 45 depending on workload.

I set up my own business and give myself 12 weeks a year annual leave. It is an option :)

The only times I really needed my full holiday allocation (I had slightly more than statutory) was when I had kids. What I really needed was not more holiday, but better availability of high quality childcare during school holidays.

I personally think it would be hard to maintain good workflow if holiday provision went up significantly- my old company occasionally requires weekend work, for which days in lieu are offered. The last quarter of the year is a nightmare as everyone is trying to use up all the regular holiday and in lieu days they have accrued - it becomes difficult to muster a sufficient team some weeks. I appreciate it may be different in other jobs, but in mine it is difficult to sub people in and out and we rely on a fair bit of continuity.

I am intrigued by the idea of a 4 day workweek- I think that would be more practicable, for my work anyways.

Unpaid leave still costs businesses so much. If an employee is not there then there is lost productivity/revenue. But the bills still have to be paid. Our overheads do not decrease if someone has a week off unpaid. I’m so torn on this because I am desperate to have more time with DC but I understand how business works and it just won’t work. A small increase would probably be manageable for most employers but certainly not additional weeks

I get 7.6 weeks of annual leave and I almost struggle to use it every year.
I'm not complaining though and I do appreciate how lucky I am.
Everyone in my team gets the same and it means that someone is on holiday nearly every week of the year, unfortunately we are a specialist team and only those from our department can cover, there are 6 of us and you have to have a specific qualification to work in our team.
I also provide cover for a team at another location doing the same work who have the same issue.

I use all mine up on stuff like having blood tests, doctors appointments, hospital appointments, emergency crap and no actual relaxing

I'm childfree too and have suffered burnout at various points in my career. Just because you don't need or want additional leave doesn't mean every childfree woman is in the same boat.

Fully agree with you OP.

I wouldn't need that time as a childless woman.

I absolutely would, thanks!

I worked in schools years ago and never adjusted to the lack of holiday since leaving.

My work is exhausting and I need a lot more time to be able to relax.

How would workplaces operate if everyone had the right to work flexibly?

In my job, in a nursery, we need legal minimum number of staff.

If everyone decides to take Friday afternoon off, we'd have to close the nursery.

Also, If people had the right to unpaid time off, those who could afford it, I.e. people higher up the hierarchy, would take much more time off than minimum wage staff who can't afford to lose money. That wouldn't be fair, it would just cause resentment and further divide.
Only the well off could afford to do this.

Agreed. Clearly many here have never run any kind of business and don’t understand.

I think more flexibility would help. My staff who are parents can take extra hours for children’s issues and school events, and everyone can have time for medical appointments. In return I ask for notice where possible, and an effort to make up work but hours aren’t monitored. An adult agreement all round.

That could be replicated in many places and very few have ever taken the piss.

Can tell you don’t run a business you have no clue

take your idea of unpaid leave, which by the way most employees won’t be able to afford to take who covers the work? Others in the team do they burn out, or they employ someone extra do an extra cost to the company

we already gave good holiday entitlement

Cost to the economy would be massive. Look at how much a bank holiday costs.

It does make sense that people have less free time when they finish school because they begin working and contributing to the economy via their taxes. The tax revenue that underpins healthcare, education, the civil service, our councils, social housing, the massive benefits system. The CSA, the police and a million other things, that all needs paying for.

Also you'd need more staff to cover all the additional leave. That might be fine for huge corporations. However it would be impossible for many SMEs.

It is probably desirable on a personal level to have more leave for many people, and yes it could be good for physical and mental health but it would cost money. Look at the reversal of working from home policies in the post covid era. Employers are concerned about productivity to the extent that they are willing to make some staff very disgruntled, they are hardly going to support another massive cut in working hours because the productivity increase that you may (but may not see) won't offset that.

I use mine for DH hospital appointments, he has chronic ill health. ( can't get there without assistance)
Dog Grooming
Car repairs etc.
Dentist when I can get an appointment

I'd prefer to pick when I used the BH days but we close on those days.

Go part time.

We would have to recruit an entire FTE to make this work on our small team of 5.

That's a substantial amount of extra financial liability for my company (pay, pension, even more holiday, sick pay etc) just to have the same output we have now. Therefore increasing the risk of future trading.

We're already a productive and efficient team, more annual leave wouldn't increase our productivity. Plus our management team are on our side so we're very rarely put under intense time pressure so low risk of burn out.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love more annual leave...but I prefer having a job that keeps my family fed and a roof over our heads.

You are entitled to 5.6 weeks if you work full time.