Job that allows 1-2 months leave?

[AshGreen]

Hi all, I wonder if anyone could share some ideas on a job that might allow 1-2 months sabbatical leave annually?

My parents are based oversea and in their early 70s, I would like to spend time with them while I still can. I have noticed myself not wanting to commit to a job ( currently job hunting) for this reason but I do need a job. I have applied for DWP work coach job purely because of the working flexibility it offers although not sure if 1-2 months leave is possible.

I don't know of many roles where this is possible other than school-related, maybe school office or TA? Then you'd have the summer holidays/school holidays off every year

Best way to do that in my industry would be to take contracts (eg mat cover) and have breaks in between them.

What qualifications do you have?

Also, what does the DWP say about this?

Short term contracts.
Temp work.
Schools.
Places that work closely with schools.

You'll need to do contracting. No permanent job is going to want am employee who is off for 40 days a year (on top of your holiday allowance?)

How about something which is 100 percent remote. You wouldn’t be able to take that length of time off but you could continue working from your parents house plus use some normal annual leave during the time.

I have just been offered the job and have not asked about it yet.

I have postgraduates degrees in Finance which I found out not a filed I like to work in,I currently undergoing counselling training courses to consider this profession but the cost involved to be a qualified counsellor and poor job prospects is a real concern for me.

I dont know about leave, but I know of some companies that allow you to work remotely for a full month once a year - could that be an option coupled with annual leave?

Seconding the recommendation to look at schools, colleges, universities - not all jobs based in these places do it but a lot are term time only contracts, giving you the school holidays to visit your family.

A lot of workplaces offer the chance to buy annual leave or have a sabbatical (though usually the sabbatical is a one-off after C years of service).

Alternatively I know the NHS has a very generous annual leave offering.

Some workplaces would be happy to facilitate 4/5 weeks off with enough notice.

@AshGreen Maybe you could consider somewhere where you could work remotely abroad? I think that's more feasible than expecting two months leave every year?

Sounds like you need term time working?

I work for a large global company, finance related, they allow you to buy 12 days additional annual leave on top of the usual 25 days + bank holidays, and also allow you to take 10 days working abroad (you have to get it approved by your manager first but they'd most likely say yes). There are a few red list countries we arent permitted to work from for tax/security reasons but thats less than 10 countries on that list I think.
So i'd say at our company if you took 2 weeks annual leave, worked from abroad for 2 weeks that would get you a month off as a starter. They do also offer sabaticals but I doubt you'd be able to do it as a yearly thing.
It would definitely be the type of place you could work something out at, so it wouldnt stop me applying and then discussing at the offer stage.

https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Award/Best-Places-to-Work-UK-LST_KQ0,22.htm

I know people who work for the Civil Service who work term time only.

I work for a large chain of pharmacies in a clinical role and needed a full month off for my wedding and honeymoon and got it no questions asked. Wouldn't have got 2 months though.

Agree with PP that school based jobs might be the most flexible for you?

@VirginiaQ There are tax implications for the company, hence why it's not normally allowed. There was a big proclamation that it would change post-pandemic but according to the FT, it has not.

OP A lot of companies offer sabbaticals, but most offer them as a reward for service - for example, Google offer two months paid when you've worked there for five years.

As others have said, freelance/contracting work might be your best bet, if getting work where they are isn't possible. Or term-time work. But all of those might be quite competitive, especially if the months that you don't want to work are the summer months, or Christmas.

So do I, but these opportunities are few and far between. Managers don't like it,so it's rarely approved. The ones I know were legacy approvals from long retired and incompetent managers and the staff were warned it would likely be removed in due course.

It was a source of significant friction in our department as they didn't take on a fair proportion of work and would dump their (frequently poorly managed) cases on us every summer, Easter and Xmas.

I left the department rather than put up with more of the fallout of years of crap management - AFAIK the term time work was removed shortly afterwards.

I have not read through all the replies but just wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU for everyone that replied. I am overwhelmed by the warmth and informative suggestions.

I have been feeling so stuck and depressed for months. I need a job also want to build a career but I realise spending time with my parents needs to move up on my priority list now. It feels like my career building and my parents can't coexist at the same time.

I'm not sure about regular sabbaticals, but DWP may allow you a term time contract which would give you more time to travel.

I work for a large multinational company and we're allowed to work abroad for 30 days a year. Our annual leave is also pretty good. So you could take 10 days leave and 10 days wfe a couple of times a year.

I don't know of any companies that would allow this annually. Normally it's after you've been an employee for a number of years and it's a once in every 10 years or so.

Look at it from the employers perspective, each time you are away for 2 months they will either have to employ a contractor to pick up your role which is costly, or decide your work between staff which is bad for moral and not fair to do on a regular basis

Yes schools are your best bet - you’d get the whole of august off every year - although avoid roles were you’d be expected to be in on GCSE or A Level results day.

given you are interested in counselling, pastoral roles would be a good match. I’d start by making a list of all schools, state and private, primary and secondary in your area- then go on their websites. Many schools don’t like paying for advertising so will put vacancies on their websites for a bit before advertising elsewhere.

be careful though, some roles in the office are all year round, not term time only.

If are in a position to have the lack of stability, temp or contract work sounds best. Otherwise a job where they allow you to work from overseas for a certain period each year so you could combine this with some annual leave.

Teaching and nursing