Planning your annual leave strategically in combination with the public holidays on offer can turn your standard 15 days of leave into 44 days off work in 2023.<\/p>\n
South Africans are said to be some of the hardest working employees worldwide, with some reports ranking South Africa at the fourth-highest position on the list of countries where employees work more than 50 hours a week, said First Group.<\/p>\n
In 2023, South Africans have two \u2018extra\u2019 public holidays, having 14 public holidays throughout the year, with two falling over a weekend.<\/p>\n
This is because the Public Holidays Act determines that whenever any public holiday falls on a Sunday, the Monday following it shall be a public holiday.<\/p>\n
While one of these holidays is already spent – 2 January 2023, making up for New Year’s Day which fell on a Sunday – but there will be one more\u00a0\u2018extra\u2019 holiday in the year \u2013 Heritage Day on 25 September 2023.<\/p>\n
Here are all the public holidays in 2023 in terms of the Act:<\/p>\n
The dates on which Good Friday and Easter Sunday fall are determined according to the ecclesiastical moon. That varies each year, but they fall at some point between late March and late April.<\/p>\n
Most employees are entitled to just 15 days of paid leave per year, and some companies stipulate that you must take the bulk of that leave over the annual shutdown period (usually mid to end of December). This means that 11 long months will likely be spent at the office.<\/p>\n
According to Shaun Lamont, managing director of First Group Hotels and Resorts, by taking leave on the right days in 2023, South Africans can turn 15 days of annual leave into 44 days off.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy cleverly applying for a day\u2019s leave here and there, you can take full advantage of the days you are given to carve out the much-needed downtime you deserve and work hard for,\u201d said Lamont.<\/p>\n
This is how it can be done:<\/p>\n
March<\/strong><\/p>\n For Human Rights Day on 21 March, take off the previous Friday (17 March) and the Monday (20 March) and get five days off.<\/p>\n April\/May<\/strong><\/p>\n Score an extra-long weekend over Easter by taking two days of leave on either side of the Easter weekend – before Good Friday (6 April) and after Family Day\/Easter Monday (11 April).<\/p>\n With Freedom Day (27 April) falling on a Thursday, if you take leave on 28 April, you\u2019ll get five days off, as Worker\u2019s Day, 1 May, is also a holiday.<\/p>\n June<\/strong><\/p>\n Youth Day falls on a Friday (16 June), so take Thursday (15 June) and Monday (19 June) off to celebrate another five-day weekend.<\/p>\n August<\/strong><\/p>\n Apply for leave for Thursday and Friday (10 -11 August) as 9 August is National Women\u2019s Day, so you\u2019ll get another five days here.<\/p>\n December<\/strong><\/p>\n You can take five annual leave days (15 December \u2013 18 December; 23 December \u2013 1 January 2024) and enjoy a two-week holiday.<\/p>\n\n
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