By Millie Muroi
If you feel like four weeks of leave a year is not enough to rest and recharge, there’s a hack you can use to lengthen your holidays – starting this month.
By strategically booking your days off this year, you can turn 20 days of annual leave into 49 days. It might not cut it if you’ve saved up for a big Euro trip, but by booking leave around key public holidays, you can get seven weeks off – including one long weekend at a time of your choice this year.
With a bit of finessing in 2025, seven weeks of downtime are well within your reach.Credit: Getty Images
Public Service Association of NSW general secretary Stewart Little says it “makes total sense” for employees to be strategic about when they take their leave “especially in New South Wales, given we get fewer public holidays than everyone else”. The state has 11 days of public holidays each year and others have up to 13, but the complement of public holidays varies within states because some have regional days off or include partial public holidays.
Australian HR Institute chief executive Sarah McCann-Bartlett says the strategy of taking leave to maximise days off has been around for a while and is not for everyone. But she said it had not caused issues.
“It can create longer breaks, but doesn’t give you more days of leave in total, and suits different personal and financial preferences and circumstances,” she says. “Some people prefer longer breaks, while others might have childcare responsibilities or, for shift workers, preferences to work on certain days to receive penalty rates.”
Nonetheless, here are the dates to mark up on your calendar and the days you can request to take leave if you want to optimise your breaks this year.
Saturday, January 25 - Tuesday, January 28 (4-day break)
Australia Day this year falls on a Monday (January 27), meaning you’re already in for a long weekend this month. But you can turn this into a four-day break to fight off the post-summer, back-to-work blues by taking one day of leave on Tuesday, January 28.
Leave balance remaining: 19 days
Tuesday, April 15 - Sunday, April 27 (13-day break)
Easter (April 18 and April 21) and ANZAC Day (April 25) are close enough together this year, and already on either side of weekends, that if you’re willing to use six days of annual leave, you can end up with a nearly two-week holiday. Simply take three days off starting on Tuesday, April 15, and another three from Tuesday, April 22 to end up with a 13-day stretch.
Leave balance remaining: 13 days
Friday, June 6 - Monday, June 9 (four-day break)
The King’s Birthday, (Monday, June 9), gives a good excuse for a mid-year pick-me-up. Take off Friday, June 6, or Tuesday, June 10, to enjoy a royally refreshing four-day weekend.
Leave balance remaining: 12 days
Saturday, October 4 - Sunday, October 12 (nine-day break)
Kick back before spooky season by turning Labour Day (Monday, October 6) and its long weekend into nine days of relaxation. String together two weekends with four days of leave starting Tuesday, October 7, and you’ll be set for your last boost of the year before the oh-so-enticing Christmas break. For those in Victoria, this strategy could be used around Labour Day on Monday, March 10.
Leave balance remaining: 8 days
Saturday, December 20 - Sunday, January 4 (16-day break)
It’s what you’ve been waiting for all year! With Christmas (Thursday, December 25) and Boxing Day (Friday, December 26) conveniently leading into a weekend, you can turn the shutdown period into 16 days of festivities – or recuperation – by using seven days of leave. Pencil in three days of leave beginning on Monday, December 22, then three days of leave leading up to the New Year, and one more day of leave on Friday, January 2.
Leave balance remaining: 1 day
??? - ??? (3-day break)
With one day of leave left, your final break is up to you. By selecting a Monday or Friday, however, you can set yourself up with an additional long weekend at any point in the year. Given Victoria’s Labour Day falls much earlier in the year, using this final day of leave to create a four-day weekend with the Melbourne Cup holiday (Tuesday, November 4) might be just the ticket to get through to the end of the year. For those wanting to extend their April break even further, it’s also possible to use this final day on Monday, April 14, for a 16-day break.
It’s not every year that public holidays will align this conveniently. But with a bit of finessing in 2025, seven weeks of downtime are well within your reach.
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