Do you think Employers prefer you to take block days off or odd one here and there?

[IdRatherHaveABowlOfCocoPops]

I'm just wondering.

I prefer to take an odd day off here and there. A friday and make it a long weekend or a Monday.

I don't go on holiday and don't have the need to have 5 days off in a row.

Guess it depends on how easy your job is to cover?

My job doesn't have to be covered so my employer doesn't care!

I guess if you have the kind of job where someone has to cover your work if you're off, everyone would prefer you took the odd day rather than two weeks. But of course, it's not up to them to completely dictate how you take your leave, beyond making sure their staffing requirements are covered at any particular time.

From an employer's perspective as long as they get the required notice from the leave taker and they have sufficient cover, it probably doesn't matter. That said, it depends on the business, as an SME will notice a 2 week absence more than a global blue chip corporate.

I have learned over the years how to maximise annual leave days, so bridging a bank holiday weekend with one or two extra days is a meaningful break at Easter for example and not too much disruption. Also I always take the 3 days between Christmas and NY but then we all have to do that.

In our policy you are supposed to take a two week break once a year. It's not hugely enforced and a lot of people just take several individual breaks of a week but if you were just taking odd days here and there your line manager would eventually sit down with you to discuss as it's considered you need a 'proper' break at least once a year.

I'd prefer my employees take the odd day/couple of days as I have to cover for them and it adds a huge amount to my (already big) workload which is a big pain in the arse if they're off for 2 weeks or more in one go.

My boss always prefers me to take a block. But I work three days a week so I can see her point.

I always take a mix of complete weeks and odd days so not sure what my bosses would think if I just wanted to take the odd days. As an employer I doubt I would be that bothered unless the odd days were impacting on other people’s ability to take weeks of holiday.

In my previous job (bank) we had to take a 2 week break but it was bugger all to do with our welfare and apparently because it’s harder for errant employees to cover up fraud if they have a 2 week break.

Depends on the industry too I guess. If you work in academia it'd be daft to take two weeks off in September for example.

If you are managing a group of people, it can be annoying for one person to keep taking odd days as it may mean that others can't
have a complete week off, so I think it depends on how it affects others.

On a project with a fixed 6 month delivery, the PM will keep a team calendar and everyone has to pass their approved leave dates so he/she can see the big picture of everyone's absences. Even if someone takes odd days here and there over the project lifecycle, rather than a block of 1-2 weeks, provided there are no major conflicts around key phases of the project, then it doesn't cause major disruption. The PM would need to flag any issues and ensure priorities were met, around leave dates. Juggling act.

Difficult to generalise - it's workgroup, company size, industry specific

I've been working on a factory with set holidays one week witsun, 2 weeks August and 1 week Christmas with 3/4 floaters left. Been years since I could pick my own holidays and can't wait! Thanks for the replies

I interviewed somewhere who only allowed you to take your 4 week holiday entitlement in 2 week blocks, no odd days.

An odd day here or there is sometimes necessary so I didn't like the sound of only 2 holidays a year.

In my job I have to take a 10 day block. Can do what I like with the remaining 20 days within reason so I do a mix. Week here couple of days there. Obviously giving enough notice.

Yes I guess notice is the main thing here

you are supposed to take a two week break once a year

that would really annoy me. It's expensive to take a two week holiday, I don't like being away that long anyway. A week is a long enough break, maybe 10 days.

I've never worked anywhere with any major rules other than you weren't allowed to take more than two weeks at a time, but people routinely have, I guess they just give lots of notice.

I think it's easier to cover for someone who only needs a day off here and there. But it depends on the job. I can't really see how blocks are workable for most people though, I routinely take a day or even a half day from time to time eg to go Christmas shopping or to take a long weekend. This Friday I have to take my son somewhere so have taken a day off. A couple of weeks ago I visited my mum after she'd had an operation so took a Monday off.

iprefer I personally think it’s easoer to cover for a longer period of time. You’re more able to get your head into the work I think. Well in my job anyway.

My place you can take what you need when you need as long as there is sufficient cover.

People tend to take their leave in week blocks though, as we can also take two flexi days a month which are used ad hoc.

The requirement for ‘block leave’ in the financial services sector is to have 2 consecutive weeks off the systems as a fraud prevention measure. It isn’t actually related to annual leave though obviously any firm would prefer that block leave is taken at the same time as annual leave to avoid a situation where they have to pay an employee to come to work for 2 weeks without using any IT systems and give them their annual leave entitlement on top...!

I take one full week every year and then the rest of the time Fridays or odd days off.

Doing this I manage about 10 long weekends away every year (so 4-5 days depending on when you set off/return) and feel like I have lots of holidays.

I would hate to have to take 2 weeks off in one go. It's far too long.