20 days annual leave is Dickensian

[Palacelife]

Most firms now start on 25. I think 20 just smacks of a mean firm and not a place you want to be. AIBU?

exactly this, why compare downwards rather than upwards, when lots of european countries have more (plus more BH).

I' m surprised at places with minimum leave still retaining staff in this climate. Same as WFH, surely if lots of other workplaces are offering more leave and flexibility, generally they are going to get the best staff. The cost of not always having to be recruiting and training new people would, you think, be worth the price of an extra 2-3 days AL. Plus I wouldn't be surprised if people on minimum leave have more sick days - I have a lot of leave and really flexible hours and haven't been off sick for years compared to when I was in an office everyday, picking up everyone else's colds and stomach bugs and months to go until my leave reset and I could have a break.

Surprised at the people saying they struggle to take all their leave - I have loads and could always find something to do with an extra day off. Just have a lie in and a lazy day/long weekend if you really can't think of anything else!

I have 26 plus buy an extra 3 plus bank hols.
My boss is happy for me to take time off without deduction for my elderly mums care or for any medical appts I have.
Perfect for me. And a change from having to cover 3 kids holidays on 22 days leave with no flexibility. Sod that for a game of soldiers

Why would I be envious of my own wonderful rights? What an illogical thing to say lol.

It's a matter of appreciating our world-leading comfort than using hilarious language like "Dickensian" or "working ourselves to the bone" to describe 28 days annual leave.

I get 25 days, plus bank holidays. I don’t actually get the bank holidays but the allowance is added on to my annual leave allowance.

@Fabshab i have literally never heard of unlimited annual leave before! I love the idea!

Can I ask a few question:
in theory can you take 365 days?
Does taking more days affect your salary?
What would you say is the number that would be considered ‘taking the piss?’

Your choice. 25 is common but 5 more than the minimum. Many are glad to have employment and some companies struggle to keep the books balanced with minimum wage and minimum holidays -would you prefer they simply shut increasing unemployment?

That is what I always had - 4 weeks plus the bank holidays. Now I get basically zero as I work for myself!

It’s shit

i get 35, plus 8 bank holidays, 2 gifted days at Christmas and buy another 5 so 50 in total. I couldn’t cope with the statutory as a parent it just doesn’t work.

Our company is only 20 days plus holidays and shut down for Xmas.
When I first joined them, it was 3 weeks of your choice and 1 week at Xmas. I think that has relaxed to or 4 days now. Our industry standard was always low to start but increase with service, with many companies starting on 25 plus BH.
I negotiated more in my package, as have others, but it is the company ethos, minimum holidays, no annual pay rises, no acknowledgement of CoL or inflation, if you ask you may get a rise, but only usually if they can get you to do more hours or more work. Yes it is crap and yes I am preparing to leave especially as they have removed wfh again and taking annual leave has become an issue.

Unsurprisingly, they have burnt out staff (40 hour min week too) and can't recruit or retain anyone that is decent and they wonder why!

I’m actually gonna go against the grain here.

8 BHs is the equivalent of nearly 2 weeks.

20 days is the equivalent of 4 weeks.

Thats almost 6 weeks a year you get paid to not be in work.

I don’t think that’s Dickensian at all. Indeed I reckon people in the 19th century - who probably had half a day a week in a job that would ensure they might not starve if they’re lucky - would be over the moon at six weeks paid leave

You would if the role and the salary were right I'm willing to bet.

@CarolinaInTheMorning
Is this different depending on which state you’re in? I find this fascinating

@CakeInAJar Oh god, you would have hoped society had moved on from this kind of attitude
I stand by my original statement!

We get 30 days plus bank holidays BUT the workload is brutal and there is no holiday cover so everyone is too frightened to take more than a week at a time because they’d never be able to catch up if they did then they wouldn’t meet the criteria for pay rise and bonus. I’m starting to think I’d rather have less holiday and a well run company but I think that’s cloud cuckoo stuff.

NHS worker with over 10 years service. I got 33 days annual leave then 10 stat days. Moving jobs tomorrow to a local university with 25 annual leave days rising to 28 after a five years... But 15 stat days. So after 5 years I will be on the same as my NHS entitlement. 43 days. That's not including any special leave or carers leave.

@gotomomo this is an awful attitude, why on earth would we decrease standards! based on what sounds like fear
rule with fear and people should be grateful for what they get
sounds Dickensian to me!

Maybe because your first response was a snotty “ it’s obvious” rather than address the reasons it doesn’t happen in most firms. Or did you not get that inference?

@UsingChangeofName asked questions that were pretty valid. How do you stop one person doing all the work whilst everyone else slopes off? I know you all say you’re adults ( free ice cream though?) but plenty of adults take advantage of whatever system they work under.

Agree. Slowly the balance is tipping back to people being exploited imo in the UK. Low wages, poor to no regulation and lessening protection for those at work.

Well no because in reality no company is going to let employees book unlimited with no consequence or limits. Otherwise all the parents would book 13 weeks off as a bare minimum and the office would be half empty every school holiday plus a few days recovery at the end, most of the office would be out from mid Dec to mid Jan plus Fridays and Mondays.

A previous poster mentioned workload and having to do a set level and having to still get it signed off by a manager.

So no, not self explanatory really

It’s such a personal thing. I get a decent amount of leave which I use for holidays but also DIY, appointments etc. I don’t get paid enough to take lots of trips / holidays so I would be happy to sell back a week so be able to afford to go away more. Sadly that’s not allowed.

My colleagues use their leave for childcare and might like to buy more! They struggle to have time off with a partner as they need to alternate leave for the school holidays and inset days (and sickness).

I’ve found that the longer breaks actually worked better in that sort of scenario. With three week holidays they had to get someone to cover the work, whereas with a week it just waited til I got back. So I tended to either take long weekends or long holidays (not in that industry any more thankfully).

@NigelHarmansNewWife nope

for me the benefits are more than the salary, I turned down a role recently for nearly £25k more than my current role as they weren’t hybrid. And couldn’t match my benefits if I came to them after ending my maternity leave

@SkyFullofStars1975 i guess it does depend on the industry
I just recall from the whole 4 day week initiative that people worked more when at work when they had more time off

Interested in the unlimited leave. Sounds amazing

I agree, I run a company and offer 30 days + bank holidays.

It helps with recruitment and retention, plus people tend to get burned out if you offer less, I believe.

Most countries in Europe offer more statutory minimum holiday than our 20 days, and are more productive on it!