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In terms of vacation technology, 2020 was more than mixed: Because of Corona, many Germans had to stay at home on their days off.
It is still unclear how much travel will be possible in 2021.
Nevertheless, many employees should plan their vacation for the coming year now.
It looks bad the first time you look at the calendar, and 2021 doesn't exactly look employee-friendly.
German Unity Day, Christmas and New Year - they all fall on weekends.
If you want to make the most of holidays and long days, you have to plan smartly.
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In the coming year, employees in federal states with many public holidays, such as Bavaria or Baden-Württemberg, have the best conditions.
With a little skill, employees can turn 22 vacation days into a total of 52 days off.
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In more northern federal states, things don't look as good.
After all: with 18 cleverly used vacation days, 39 days off can be gained here.
Good start into the New Year
The new year has got off to a good start.
January 1st falls on a Friday.
This allows employees to enjoy a long weekend after the New Year's party before they go back to work.
If you really want to unwind at the beginning of the year, you can take the week following the New Year off and gain ten days off in a row with just five days of vacation.
Everything about vacation
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The employees in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Saxony-Anhalt are even better off: There, January 6th is a public holiday in honor of the Three Kings, and it falls on a Wednesday in 2021.
Employees only have to sacrifice four vacation days for ten days off.
After that, a long dry spell began for most German employees.
Between the Epiphany and Good Friday, the next high Christian feast day, there are twelve calendar weeks without public holidays in most German federal states.
Easter: 4 vacation days become 9 free days
The tide does not turn until Easter.
As every year, the free Easter days can be doubled: April 2nd is Good Friday and Easter Monday 5th.
Those who take four days of vacation from March 29th to April 1st receive eight days off.
Another four vacation days submitted for the week after Easter - makes a total of 16 for 8.
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Labor Day on May 1st falls on a Saturday this year and therefore does not give employees an additional day off.
Bridging days from May to November
Employees should definitely reserve the popular bridge between Ascension Day and Whit Monday (May 24th), which results in the usual twelve days off in 2021.
Provided that employees have vacation on May 14th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st.
Then it goes straight to Corpus Christi, which always falls on a Thursday.
However, it is not a national holiday, but is limited to parts of western Germany (Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland) as well as to Catholic communities in Saxony and Thuringia.
With a vacation day on June 4th, employees of these federal states can take a long weekend.
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If you want to get the most out of your free days and are ready to use 14 days of vacation, you can combine Ascension and Pentecost with Corpus Christi.
Then 14 vacation days from May 14th to June 4th become 25 days off in a row.
Dry spell from June to November
After June there was another short dry spell.
This even applies to those federal states with regional holidays.
Assumption of Mary on August 15 is free of school and work for Bavaria and Saarlanders, but in 2021 the Catholic holiday falls on a Sunday.
Other public holidays until November are also rather unfavorable next year: This time, the day of German unity falls on a Sunday (October 3rd).
The same applies to Reformation Day (October 31), which is non-working in the northern and eastern German states - except in Berlin.
Rather uninteresting for bridge builders.
Christmas 2021 is also unfavorable
At the end of the year, bridge builders usually really get their money's worth - just not in 2021. Because Christmas is extremely unfavorable: Both the first and second Christmas holidays fall on a weekend.
Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are not public holidays, and in the coming year they fall on Fridays.
Submit your vacation as early as possible
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Many employees plan their vacation days for the coming year in the winter of the previous year.
Because apart from general company holidays, the following applies in many companies: not all employees are allowed to take vacation at the same time.
Employees should therefore submit their vacation application as early as possible, advises Daniel Hautumm, a lawyer specializing in labor law.
“In many companies, the principle still applies: first come, first served.” So if you want to travel spontaneously, your vacation request may no longer be approved because too many colleagues have already been entered as missing in the requested period.
Many a manager therefore sets a deadline in advance for submitting vacation requests.
But who has priority if all employees want to use Easter long days at the same time and go to their families?
“According to the law, companies have to decide from a social point of view which application is approved and which is rejected,” explains employment lawyer Hautumm.
Criteria: Who has children and is dependent on the holiday periods, for example?
What job does the spouse do and do vacation days have to be based on it?
It may sound unfair when colleagues with children block the summer holidays every year.
But legally it is okay.
Seek conversation
So you don't have to put up with it.
“Anyone who regularly feels that they have been treated unfairly when planning their vacation should speak to their superiors about it,” recommends career advisor Silke Grotegut.
It is important to come up with valid arguments for your own holiday wishes.
"If there are important reasons, such as a wedding, employees should always mention them," says Grotegut
Basically, working life is a give and take, says the career advisor.
Workers should try not to get the most out of vacation planning every year.
"From the point of view of superiors and colleagues, that has a strange aftertaste."
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This article was first published in December 2020.