Have you taken any annual leave during lockdown?

[elguapo4]

Just finishing two weeks summer leave, most of which involved looking at things that needed doing around the house, and going out or turning on the TV instead. Went for long walks around Dalkey/Killiney and Howth on different days.

Found out the Guinness brewery visitor centre was offering free tours to frontline workers so I went there today.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

I took Monday and Tuesday off, first leave days since February (and missed out on the spring bank holidays because of work demands) so I was ready for a break. Had a couple of nights away with the kids. Ate/drank out, in places that were well spaced and well organised. Each place we visited seemed quieter than you'd expect for the first week of the school holidays.

[diggedy derek]

I'm on annual leave right now as I felt a break was much needed. I'm writing from my parent's back garden, where we are staying in a tent for social distancing reasons. It's been great and novel

More interesting regarding annual leave is my wife, who is an intensive care nurse. She took a lot of annual leave around May and June and they were offering it about to anyone who wanted it. Why? Well, from what I can gather and my speculation, it's because they had drafted in so many extra nurses and helpers that by the time that the curve was somewhat flattened, they had lots more staff than needed. So me and my wife did a lot of work in the garden, enjoyed the hot weather, and counted our blessings.

Now, there's no short-notice annual leave offers to be had, perhaps because lots of people are on holidays which they booked a while ago. It'll be interesting to see what happens later in the year.

[HORN Reborn]

I'm up in sunny - no, rainy - oh hang on - Keswick this week. It's much quieter than our previous visit.

[Janik]

Just back after 4 days off. Which I've mostly spent dealing with issues that need sorting if the Squash Club I'm on the committee of is going to re-open in the next few days (still unclear). We have another virtual committee meeting this evening. Which will mean another set of minutes to urgently write up.

I need a holiday... fortunately I've got an extended weekend break booked for around a week hence. Heading down to Wiltshire near where my cousin can moor her houseboat up. My sister and another cousin have also found places in to stay in the vicinity.


Prior to last/this week I had taken a couple of half-days so I could do the grocery shopping at relatively quiet times and also have time afterwards for cleaning all the packaging etc. without it taking up an evening.

I've still got 9.5 days to use up prior to the end of 2020, though.

[hobbes]

I've been off since last July.
Job hunting sucks.

[Simon G]

I have Monday afternoon off because I'm giving blood at half 12 and I can't be assed to rush back from Gloucester to work in the afternoon. I then have Tuesday off as it's the wife's birthday and we're heading to Puxton Park near Weston Super Mare for the day.

[DPDPDPDP]

Not lockdown related, but I have MS. Had my first very serious attack in 2016 which saw me signed off for 7 months. Back to work part time and then full time. Then HR tell me to my surprise that my holiday entitlement doesn't diminish in any way because of the sick time. I couldn't justify to the team reporting to me that I was taking holidays. HR kept badgering me to take them. I took some but on most days told my team that I would be working from home - and I did

[Felicity, I guess so]

We’re off to Johnshaven near Montrose tomorrow for a week- I hope to do some coastal walks as well as visit GO’s favourite football ground.
Our HR agreed to allow holiday carry over beyond the usual max of 5 days but I had to do lots of persuading to get my bosses to accept that I literally could not take the remaining 11 days.
I had a week’s leave where we didn’t go away and while I did switch off I felt a bit cheated as Ms F being at home (still working) meant I couldn’t do what I wanted/would normally do ‘home free’.

[DCI Harry Batt]

I had a day booked last Wednesday - I've taken to booking every other Wednesday off, to more or less keep up to date. Anyway, I had to instead work, which meant doing nothing much waiting around for someone else to do something, then rushing something right at the end of the day. That was annoying.

These days when I am on leave I make sure everything is off, and my OOO goes on from 17:00 the last day in the office until 18:00 the day before I'm back. My boss knows how to get hold of me if he really needs to. But no-one ever really needs to.

[EIM]

I come off furlough on Monday. Going to put in for two weeks leave. Fuck it.

[gavc23]

My leave year runs 1 November to 31 October. Last year a panic around day one no deal meant leave was hard to come by, this year it’s been Covid as well as a second wave of panic around day one no deal. Presuming next year will be a combination of the two again. These governments have (understandably in some cases, not in others) a habit of announcing things and throwing them at the civil service to implement from that very afternoon so my last day of non-bank holiday leave was 31 December. But that’s part of the deal, if I’d stayed in the private sector there’s a good chance I’d be job hunting right now.

Sadly the public sector won’t buy out the leave, but at this rate I’ll get to retire a year early.

[Fussbudget]

I had a week’s leave where we didn’t go away and while I did switch off I felt a bit cheated as Ms F being at home (still working) meant I couldn’t do what I wanted/would normally do ‘home free’.

Is anyone else's imagination now running wild about what Felicity normally gets up to on his days off at home?

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Sadly the public sector won’t buy out the leave, but at this rate I’ll get to retire a year early.

You won't, you can only carry 10 days paid leave forward at the end of any year. It's hardwired into the pension system and requires the expressed permission of a Permanent Secretary to override. Why do you think there are so many people in their 60s in your office with a big future date written in red marker pen on the whiteboard next to their desks, who greet you each morning with a gloomily cheery "Hi! 274 days to go!" as they rub out '275' from the day before ...

[DCI Harry Batt]

I try very, very hard not to carry any leave forward - that's my wages, that is, and no I'm not lending you it.

[Moonlight Shadow]

I was off last week, much needed and much appreciated. Very quiet and relaxing in a deserted corner of the Lakes...

[My Name Is Ian]

We were asked in March to have no more than 16 days left by the end of June. That was 12 days for me (it was 8 for most other people - I've accumulated more with length of service), but I went to Prague in January, and that accounted for 7 of them. I took the remainder in odd half days here and there, much as I would have done normally.

[Janik]

I try very, very hard not to carry any leave forward - that's my wages, that is, and no I'm not lending you it.

Hmm. I have a chunk of time carried over. Our management is upset with me for this for a similar reason in reverse - the holiday was allocated to me at one wage, but I will end up taking it at another, higher wage. They believe they are the ones losing out here. Should I try and charge them interest in the meantime, and see how that goes down?
It was also suggested that holding lots of time back was trying to undermine the three month notice period in our contracts... that one may actually have occurred to me at some point before my line manager mentioned it. The 'getting paid more on days off than I should be' idea totally hadn't.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Is anyone else's imagination now running wild about what Felicity normally gets up to on his days off at home?

Ha! Just the usual- binge watching shite, arranging my football/cycling books, maybe having a glass of wine at lunch...oh, and going on bike rides ‘as long as you’re home before I am’

[sw2borshch]

I started a new job on 1 April which I still haven't been to (WFH) and am now taking a week off for the first time.

[nmrfox]

Had a week off in June and now just had another week off as this will be my last leave before mid September at the earliest. As per post on page 2, nice to have no alarm clocks, go out walking, quality time with wife etc etc and again, have thoroughly enjoyed it.

[S. aureus]

I've actually been working more days a week than I did before, since regularly I'm on a four day week and since lockdown I've been on a five day one. On the flip side to that, I have got nowhere near as much done on my five day week as I did on my four day one because I can't actually spend a full day working. I suppose I could probably ask for a pay raise, since I was (and still am) getting paid 80% salary due to the four day week, but given the amount of actual work that gets done this wouldn't really be a very ethical thing to do.
Back to the actual question - I don't remember taking any actual time off since March. I can't really see that anything would be much different if I did - I still have two kids who are stuck at home, but there have definitely been a couple of meetings that I would be happy to get out of by taking a day off.

[gavc23]

You won't, you can only carry 10 days paid leave forward at the end of any year. It's hardwired into the pension system and requires the expressed permission of a Permanent Secretary to override. Why do you think there are so many people in their 60s in your office with a big future date written in red marker pen on the whiteboard next to their desks, who greet you each morning with a gloomily cheery "Hi! 274 days to go!" as they rub out '275' from the day before ...

Carrying forward leave is very possible, the rule is ten, but more in exceptional circumstances- which is an easy one to work with. We’ve had a message from the DD requesting to keep it below 25 days carried forward “if possible”. I carried 13 forward from last year and will struggle to keep it below 25 and there’s a lot worse around the place.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

There was a relaxation early in the crisis which means people can carry over 20 days from this year into the next two years, and at our place we're certainly assuming that it applies to the public sector.

[Sporting]

https://www.onetouchfootball.com/for...39#post2439035

Posts nos. 970 - 972 made me sit back a bit. Not being able to take the holidays you are absolutely right to take. Wtf? Most employees might chip in when there's a crisis, but not when businesses take the piss. What structures are in place for carrying annual leave over, or receiving financial compensation, and if these structures are not available, why not? Even worse in companies making healthy profits.