Maximising your annual leave in 2025

Four weeks annual leave just doesn’t sound enough, especially if you’re planning a two week break over Christmas and New Year. It only leaves you a fortnight to take a decent holiday at another time in the year.

With preparation and thought, however, you can maximise your annual leave in 2025 and more than double your paid time off. Potentially triple it.

Our tips below show you how to maximise your annual leave by taking advantage of public holidays and weekends. With these annual leave hacks for 2025, you can really expand your breaks and give yourself more time to recharge properly and do your best work.

Annual leave and New Zealand public holidays

The standard offering for businesses in New Zealand is 20 days annual leave. But four weeks can feel like it disappears way too quickly. To extend the feeling of being on holidays, align the time your take off with weekends and public holidays. By strategically approaching your standard 20 days of annual leave, you’ll unlock more time off. What’s more, by cleverly positioning your annual leave dates adjacent to New Zealand public holidays, you’ll double – possibly triple – your time off without resorting to having to take unpaid leave.

Follow the plan below and turn your full 20 days of allowance for 2025 into 64 days off, across six meaningful breaks. Admittedly you’ll need to have five days left over from your 2024 allowance and take one day from your 2026 allowance – but turning 26 days into 64 days is still way too good to pass up.

Here are the best dates to book time off in 2025.

Christmas 2024 and New Year’s 2025 – book seven days to get 16 in a row

This year, Christmas day is on a Wednesday and the Boxing Day public holiday is on Thursday. Take Monday 23, Tuesday 24, and Friday 27 December if you want a nine-day break, by booking off three days annual leave.

But then in addition, New Year’s Day is on the Wednesday of the following week. Book Monday 30 and Tuesday 31 December off, and Thursday 2 and Friday 3 January, and you can extend that break to 16 days in a row.

Your 16-day break: Book seven days annual leave (two of them from your 2025 allowance), and you’ll enjoy 16 days in the sun from Friday 20 December to Monday 6 January.

Waitangi Day 2025 – take an extra day off and enjoy a long weekend of four days

In 2025, the Waitangi Day public holiday falls on Thursday 6 February. By taking the Friday off as well you get a four-day weekend.

Your four-day break: For one day of annual leave, you’ll enjoy a four-day break and extra-long weekend, from Wednesday 5 to Monday 10 February.

Easter and Anzac Day 2025 combined – take four days off and enjoy a 10-day break

In 2025, Good Friday falls on Friday 18 April, with Easter Monday following on Monday 21 April. But Anzac Day also falls later that same week on Friday 25 April. By taking Tuesday 22, Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 April off as annual leave, you can enjoy a 10-day break. 

Your 10-day break: You’ll enjoy a 10-day break from Thursday 17 April through to Monday 28 April, by using three days of annual leave. 

King’s Birthday – take four days annual leave and enjoy a nine-day break

The King’s Birthday public holiday falls on the first Monday in June, with this year’s holiday landing on June 2. You could just take the long weekend, but by adding four days annual leave, you can enjoy nine days off – time to grab some winter sun.

Your nine-day break: You’ll enjoy a nine-day break from Friday 30 May through to Monday 9 June, by adding four days of annual leave.

Labour Day – take four days annual leave and enjoy a nine-day break

Labour Day falls on Monday 27 October. It’s just a complete copy of the King’s Birthday – take four days annual leave to enjoy a week off. You could do the same with Matariki on Friday 20 June, but it’s close to the King’s birthday, so leave it as a long weekend.

Your nine-day break: You’ll enjoy nine days off from Friday 24 October through to Monday 3 November, by using four days of annual leave.

Christmas 2025 and New Year’s 2026 – book seven days to get 16 in a row

And suddenly it’s Christmas again! Use the same tactics as last Christmas. Add the last six days of annual leave from your 2025 allocation and one day from the 2026 days and extend the summer break to 16 days in a row.

Your 16-day break: Book seven days annual leave (one of them from your 2026 allowance), and you’ll enjoy 16 days in the sun from Friday 19 December to Monday 5 January.

Public Holiday	Book leave on these days	Number of days from your 2025 allowance	Number of total days off
Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year’s 24/25	23/24/27/30/31 Dec and 2/3 Jan	2	16 days in a row
Waitangi Day 25	Book off Fri 7 Feb	1	4 days in a row
Easter & Anzac Day 25 combined	Take off 22/23/24 April	3	10 days in a row
King’s Birthday 25	3/4/4/6 June	4	9 days in a row
Labour Day 25	28/29/30/31 Oct	4	9 days in a row
Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year’s 25/26	22/23/24/29/30/31 Dec 2 Jan	6	16 days in a row

This is your full 20 days of allowance for 2025, plus one day from your 2026 allowance, and five that you hopefully have left from your 2024 allowance. It gives you six decent breaks that total up to 64 days including weekends. Plus a bonus three-day long weekend for Matariki at the end of June.

Many organisations now also offer additional leave options as further benefits for employees. For example, wellness days are now a common leave type offered over and beyond your standard 20 days, as is additional leave when working with an organisation for an extended number of years, or the ability to purchase more leave. If you have access to these different leave benefits, you can deploy at will to further extend your time off.

Why take annual leave?

If you’ve been saving your annual leave, it’s important to remember that taking regular, consistent breaks throughout the year helps manage your overall stress levels. Not doing so can lead to burnout.

The World Health Organisation recognises burnout as an ‘occupational phenomenon’. Burnout syndrome, it states, is the result of chronic workplace stress unsuccessfully managed. Symptoms include: 

Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
Mental distance from work
More negative feelings or cynicism regarding one’s job
Decreased professional efficacy

You can read more tips on how to avoid burnout here.

With the above annual leave plan in place, you’ll enjoy some decent breaks. It sometimes takes a couple of days to relax into a holiday. And so, with these substantial breaks you can really recharge.