Planning leave strategically can net up to 48 days off, but early planners risk angering colleagues and managers, turning clever tactics into selfish office games.
It’s the bane of every manager’s life; the person who thinks they are so clever that they start the new year with a pre-planned leave roster.
It’s normally the first thing they hand in when they get back from work.
South Africa already has 12 public holidays and most of us with conventional jobs get another 20 days of paid leave.
But if you’re cute and you plan strategically, you can work both to end up with 48 days off, according to one website that helpfully published the recipe last week.
Two of the 12 public holidays this year fall on a Saturday, but thanks to the research done by BusinessTech, you can create more long weekends than in previous years.
ALSO READ: 2026 public holidays in South Africa: Here’s the good and the bad
There’s no doubt it’s clever, but it comes at a price.
If you are in an environment where not everyone can take leave outside of school holidays or you are in a team, where some of you are required at work all the time, it’s extremely selfish to hog all the long weekends.
Essential services have managed this for years with the simple ruse of dividing the team in two; one group gets Christmas and the other new year – but not both – with the same Solomonic solution for Easter and Freedom Day/Workers’ Day.
Some companies close for three weeks at the end of the year and manage their leave burdens that way, with everyone getting the public holidays that remain.
But not everyone gets it. Unfortunately, education departments don’t always plan properly, resulting in a spate of school holidays on one or other side of the Easter/Freedom Day congestion, rather than aligning and absorbing.
ALSO READ: Your 2026 holiday hack guide: How to get 44 days off with just 15 days’ leave
It’s a nightmare for managers to try handle – and keep the business running – and the weirdest part is the response of the people who get called out by their managers when they get caught trying to game the system.
Getting in first with your leave forms is the same as getting to the buffet first at the Christmas party and loading up your plate, leaving nothing but the scraps for those at the back of the queue.
The sad part is that far too many of us see nothing wrong with that at all.
But it isn’t winning, it’s a race to the bottom, so Karen, check your leave form before you hand it in this week.
