How to turn 20 days of annual leave into 46 days off…

How to turn 20 days of annual leave into 46 days off in 2023 with one easy trick

The New Year is fast approaching, and for many Irish employees that mean a fresh top up of annual leave days.

If you didn’t make the most of your time off in 2022, we have some tips that could see you turn just 20 annual leave days into a whopping 46.

Using things like weekends - which most already have off - and bank holiday Mondays, you can manipulate holiday requests to naturally last even longer.

In a nutshell

If you happen to be working a Monday to Friday 9:00 am - 5:30 pm job, you could be able to snag yourself a whopping 46 days of holidays with just 20 days of annual leave by utilising the religious breaks and bank holidays throughout the year ahead.

The key dates for 2023 are all outlined below, via Jobs.ie:

February

The first chance to book a few days off for the price of one falls in February thanks to the new bank holiday that was added. If you book these four days off on the week of Monday, February 6 you will snag nine whole days away from the desk.

Tuesday, February 7
Wednesday, February 8
Thursday, February 9
Friday, February 10

March

As St. Patrick's Day lands on a Friday this year, these four days will also result in nine days off.

Monday, March 13
Tuesday, March 14
Wednesday, March 15
Thursday, March 16

April

In 2023 Good Friday falls on April 7 and Easter Monday on April 10. This means that if you book the four days between Good Friday and Easter Monday, you will get yourself a 10-day break for just four days of holidays.

Monday, April 3
Tuesday, April 4
Wednesday, April 5
Thursday, April 6

May

As the May bank holiday occurs on May 1, the first four days off following May will get you nine days off as well.

Tuesday, May 2
Wednesday, May 3
Thursday, May 4
Friday, May 5

June

The same goes for June, given that the bank holiday falls on June 5, if you book four days off following the bank holiday you will get nine days off instead.

Tuesday, June 6
Wednesday, June 7
Thursday, June 8
Friday, June 9

August

The August bank holiday falls on Monday, August 7. Once again four days off after this will get you nine days of autumn holidays.

Tuesday, August 8
Wednesday, August 9
Thursday, August 10
Friday, September 11

October

The October bank holiday takes place on October 30, so booking these four days will give you nine days off.

Tuesday, October 31
Wednesday, November 1
Thursday, November 2
Friday, November 3

December

Lastly, in December, a month with two bank holidays, you can get a full 10 days away from the office. If you take three days of annual leave after St Stephen’s Day (Tuesday) you will land yourself with 10 days of holiday.