20 days leave into 53 days off? HR managers should be wary of ‘holiday hacks’

Specific national public holidays can be leveraged to stretch 20 days into an extended 53 days next year, according to a new report.

Corporate Traveller through its new release has shown employees a pathway to maximising their holidays. Coined ‘holiday hacks’, the business offers workers a detailed blueprint on how they can plan their holidays either this Christmas, New Year, or around other public holidays, to extend it into a longer trip away from the workplace.

According to Corporate Traveller, Australian employees can more than double their annual leave in 2025. The eight to 10 public holidays next year, including one or two state holidays, can be packaged with annual leave to offer workers extended time off.

By strategically booking holidays that go in line with public holidays, workers can maximise their days off. For example, workers in Victoria can turn 21 days of leave into 57 days off by tactically booking around those public holidays available to them.

In NSW, employees can strategically transform their 20 days of leave into 50 days off — fewer than their counterparts in most other states.

Over the two-week Christmas and January holiday period, it was found that the busiest day for business travellers last year was Friday 15 December. This holiday period (2024–25), it’s looking to be Friday 13 and Friday 20 December.

Conversely, according to Corporate Traveller, the quietest days for travel during that same period last year were 28–30 December and 3–5 and 8 January.

During this break period, employees who adopt this blueprint can stroll into 2025 off the back of a 16-day break this Christmas (between 21 December and 6 January 2025) by combining seven days of annual leave with the 25 December, 26 December, and 1 January public holidays.

Also, by choosing to fly on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or New Year’s Day, employees can avoid those busy flight days.

Corporate Traveller has listed key examples that employees could explore to spread out their leave:

• 16 days off this Christmas for the price of seven. Transform the Christmas and New Year public holidays into a 16-day getaway by booking just four days of annual from Monday 23 December to Friday 3 January. This will get you more than two weeks off from Saturday 21 December to Sunday, 5 January 2025.
  
  
• Get a nine-day break for the price of four this Australia Day. The Australia Day public holiday falls on Monday 27 January to give Aussies a three-day weekend. By dipping into four days of annual leave (from Tuesday 28 January to Friday 31 January) you can get a nine-day break from Saturday 25 January to Sunday 2 February.
  
  
• Double your Easter break. Good Friday falls on 18 April, Easter Monday is on 21 April and ANZAC Day is on 25 April. This means you can turn seven days of annual leave (from Monday 14 April to Friday 25 April) into a 16-day break spanning Saturday 12 April to Sunday 27 April.
  
  
• Celebrate the King’s birthday with a nine-day getaway. The King’s Birthday public holiday falls on Monday 6 October in Queensland, Monday 29 September in Western Australia, and Monday 9 June in all other states and territories. By four days of annual leave from Tuesday to Friday in the same week, employees can nab a nine-day break.
  
  
• Enjoy a nine-day break over Labour Day: Similarly, Labour Day falls on a different Monday across six states and the ACT (3 March in WA, 10 March in Victoria, 5 May in Queensland, 6 October in NSW, ACT & SA). You can add four days of annual leave on the Tuesday to the Friday in that same week to get a nine-day holiday, including the weekends.
  
  
• Wrap up 2025 with a 16-day holiday. For the organised travellers, the 2025 Christmas period presents another prime chance to maximise public holidays to turbocharge your annual leave with seven days of annual leave transforming into an extended break. Next year, Christmas Day and Boxing Day fall on Thursday 25 December and Friday 26 December. By taking seven days of leave (Monday 22 December to Wednesday 24 December, Monday 29 December to Tuesday 30 December and Friday, 2 January) you can again nab a 16-day break from Saturday 20 December to Sunday 4 January 2026.

Tom Walley, Australia-based global managing director for Corporate Traveller, says that 2025 offers better holiday opportunities than 2024, based on where the public holidays fall.

“Next year’s alignment of public holidays is a win-win for employees and businesses. Our analysis shows that by strategically leveraging these days in conjunction with annual leave, employees can spend up to 50 days away from the office or site, without businesses feeling that they’ve lost their employees in the workplace for that length of time.”

“Given Australia is the global leader in bleisure travel, the placement of public holidays in 2025 can also help businesses to encourage this practice, enabling Australians to tack leisure breaks onto their work trips, and ultimately planning for international trips more effectively. Additionally, the rise in direct flights to key destinations like New Zealand, Bali, and Japan enhances travel accessibility,” Walley said.

For HR managers, knowing that employees could stack these days off is important as when the time comes they won’t be completely unprepared for an employee to be away from the workplace for that extended period.

Kace O'Neill

Kace O'Neill is a Graduate Journalist for HR Leader. Kace studied Media Communications and Maori studies at the University of Otago, he has a passion for sports and storytelling.