How much vacation time do you take - government employees (local, state, federal)

[Anonymous]

How much vacation time do you take annually and at one time?

I am a local government employee and work in a stressful job as a social worker. I only take annual leave at Christmas (3 days to visit family) and 5-8 days in the summer. I try to have my summer vacation around a paid holiday and this year and am planning to take the first two weeks of July, so 8 paid annual days off.

Does this seem unreasonable??

Also, how much notice do you give?

[Anonymous]

I'm a fed. I pretty much never take any leave. I used to save until I get 240 annual leave hours and then I would take use or lose. But I had a baby a year ago and I would like to have another so I need to save all my leave for maternity leave. I haven't had a day off since before I got pregnant (2 years).

[Anonymous]

My DH is a fed. For the past two years he has taken 3 sick days (2 not for himself) and maybe 6 vacation days. If it's use-or-lose, we all lose.

[Anonymous]

If it works for you then it's reasonable.
I am a supervisor in a high-stress job and people who are clearly burnt out but won't take leave irritate the crap out of me. If you are able to function well with your current leave schedule that's fine. Are you losing leave though?

[Anonymous]

Fed here. I take two one-week vacations in the summer (one at the beginning of July that typically includes the July 4th holiday and one at the end of August), and then another week at Christmas. I use a few more days throughout the year for events at my kids' schools or to add one or two days to a weekend for a short trip. I earn five weeks of vacation a year and typically use around four of those weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it works for you then it's reasonable.
I am a supervisor in a high-stress job and people who are clearly burnt out but won't take leave irritate the crap out of me. If you are able to function well with your current leave schedule that's fine. Are you losing leave though?

Yeah, I function best when I get a solid break to enjoy my family. I do CPS work and I'm dealing with trauma every day and part of my self care is looking forward to and taking vacation.

My agency is small and all my co-workers take minimum a solid week long vacation every year plus a long weekend here and there along with extra holiday vacation. One co-worker also takes 2-3 days for each of her children's birthdays, a few days for spring break, and a full week off at Christmas (so she is off for usually about 2 weeks during that time). She is close with my supervisor so it is not an issue and I always cover for my co-workers but if I want to take leave then we've got a problem. He gives me a hard time every, single time I want to take any paid annual leave.

[Anonymous]

When I was a state employee, I got 24 days of annual leave and used every single day.

Usually 1 2-week vacation, 2 1-week vacations, and a few long weekends around holidays.

I also used every personal & sick day.

[Anonymous]

State employee here. That sounds reasonable. I am also hoarding sick and vacation in the event we have a 2nd kid anytime soon. For my first, I had to save nearly all of my sick and vacation to get 14 weeks paid.

Typically, we take three small vacations of 4-5 days each. When we visit family out of state I try to work from home one of the days while grandma watches the kid so that I don't have to take time off.

[Anonymous]

I am a fed and take all the vacation leave I have available.

Usually 5 days at Christmas, 5 days at Spring Break, 10 days in summer and a few other random days off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fed here. I take two one-week vacations in the summer (one at the beginning of July that typically includes the July 4th holiday and one at the end of August), and then another week at Christmas. I use a few more days throughout the year for events at my kids' schools or to add one or two days to a weekend for a short trip. I earn five weeks of vacation a year and typically use around four of those weeks.

Approximately the same here. It doesn't really sound like OP has kids -- once you do - it seems like you burn through more leave.

[Anonymous]

Fed here. I use all of annual leave each year (26 days) but none of sick leave.

[Anonymous]

Why are you not taking all or most of your leave??

-non fed here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fed here. I use all of annual leave each year (26 days) but none of sick leave.

Same here, more or less--I usually take a couple of sick days per year and the rest just piles up...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fed here. I take two one-week vacations in the summer (one at the beginning of July that typically includes the July 4th holiday and one at the end of August), and then another week at Christmas. I use a few more days throughout the year for events at my kids' schools or to add one or two days to a weekend for a short trip. I earn five weeks of vacation a year and typically use around four of those weeks.

Approximately the same here. It doesn't really sound like OP has kids -- once you do - it seems like you burn through more leave.

Oh no. I have a 2 year old. I plan out and look forward to my vacations every year. I use most of my annual leave and if I was allowed to accrue comp time then I would gladly accrue that too but they changed the policy to not allow it anymore.

I plan to have a 2nd child but I half killed myself hoarding my leave for baby #1 and it didn't make a significant difference. There's little point in trying to hoard leave as it would take me 2.2 years to accrue enough leave to cover the full 12 weeks taking zero leave of any kind to come out of maternity leave with zero hours. It's just not worth it to me. That would mean not seeing my elderly Grandpa, taking a vacation with my child, and frankly is impossible with a young child anyways as they always get sick in the winter! My time with my child and family is more precious than getting a totally paid for maternity leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are you not taking all or most of your leave??

-non fed here.

I try to leave as much sick leave as possible but that is very difficult with a toddler. I am trying to bank that for any hardships or maternity leave.

I use my annual leave! I LOVE to travel--it brings me so much joy! I went to France and Italy last year and plan to visit upstate NY and Quebec this year.