If the holiday season has got you hungry for more days spent between the beach and the bar, we’re here to help. By strategically positioning your precious leave days around public holidays, Sydneysiders can turn 18 days of annual leave into 43 days of holiday in 2024. Long weekend getaway, anyone?
The first public holiday in NSW in 2024 fell on the first day of the year, but since most of us were on leave over that period anyway, it’s not such a key date to keep in mind for your holiday planning.
The next public holiday falls on January 26, and because this particular (incredibly controversial) public holiday falls on a Friday this year, there’s no need to lock in any additional leave to score that lovely long weekend.
Similarly, Easter will gift us with a long weekend from March 29 until April 1, and although it’s good to get ahead with booking your Airbnb for the long weekend, there’s not much tweaking you can do to maximise those dates (apart from just adding extra annual leave days).
The first act of strategic leave-booking you can make in 2024 is in April – when ANZAC Day will take us all off work on Thursday, April 25. By booking four days off around ANZAC day, you can score yourself a nine-day holiday by using the weekends on either side.
The next date for cashing in on your leave occurs in June, with the King’s Birthday celebration falling on Monday, June 10. By booking leave for the following four days, you can take another nine-day holiday.
Similarly, if you book off the four days following Monday, October 7 (the Labour Day public holiday), you can take off for nine days without needing to use a whole five days of leave.
To make sure you can capitalise on all of the holiday days of 2024’s Christmas season, it’s worth booking in your holiday in advance: booking off time from Monday, December 23 until Friday, January 3 will score you ten days of leave for the price of six (and with the weekends either side, you can take off on a 16-day holiday).
Our advice? Get in touch with your manager ASAP before your colleagues beat you to it. We’ll see you in Bali.