Optimise your leave 2012

For each public holiday we look at the possible combinations: a classic bridge day, an extended weekend, or a full week off. Then we pick the mix that turns your leave budget into the most consecutive days off. Public holidays that follow each other closely, such as Labour Day, Ascension Day and Whit Monday in May or the year-end period, are grouped into one longer break as soon as your budget allows. Any leftover leave days are placed at the end of December so they tie into Christmas and New Year.

Many people want to spend the last days of the year with family and loved ones. With Christmas and New Year already on the calendar, this is a smart moment to use a few leave days: you get a long stretch of time off for very little leave, exactly when you'd most want to be at home anyway.

Yes. School holidays are marked on the calendar and you can use them to filter your leave choices. Turn on "During school holidays" if you want to align your leave with your kids. Turn on "Outside school holidays" if you'd rather find quiet at the office while colleagues with children are away. By default the tool makes no distinction and picks purely on return.

The earlier the better. Especially around May, Ascension and the year-end period, lots of colleagues want time off at once. Many companies handle requests on a first-come basis, and some collective agreements require a minimum notice of several weeks. Submitting your request as soon as the public holiday calendar is known gives you the most flexibility.