There’s just one more federal holiday left this year, but employees across the U.S. can get started on a plan for getting the most out of their paid time off (PTO) in 2025.
More than half of Americans (53%) don’t use all of their vacation time even though they only get around 12 federal holidays off per year, according to Expedia’s Vacation Desperation Report 2024. While people in Japan take even less days off at 11, workers in France and Hong Kong take nearly a month off.
For people who work a traditional work week from Monday through Friday, Axios offered some suggestions this week for optimizing their vacation time. Starting around the New Year’s holiday, it recommended taking off Monday, Dec. 30 and Tuesday, Dec. 31 to create a five-day break when combined with New Year’s Day that Wednesday.
As for those who don’t work a traditional week, it’s still possible to maximize days around time off using the same method. Most holidays fall on Mondays, so taking Fridays and Tuesdays off will help create four-day weekends.
The idea is to take off the day or days that fall closest to your “weekend” days off, connecting it to the holiday to create a longer stretch. That in turn will provide more time for travel, to plan activities or to binge watch a TV show.
Here’s a list of the 2025 federal holidays in the U.S., for reference –
Wednesday, Jan. 1: New Year’s Day
Monday, Jan. 20: Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Monday, Jan. 20: Inauguration Day
Monday, Feb. 17: First President George Washington’s Birthday
Monday, May 26: Memorial Day
Thursday, June 19: Juneteenth National Independence Day
Friday, July 4: Independence Day
Monday, Sept. 1: Labor Day
Monday, Oct. 13: Columbus Day
Tuesday, Nov. 11: Veterans Day
Thursday, Nov. 27: Thanksgiving Day
Thursday, Dec. 25 Christmas Day
Of course, not everyone actually gets days off on these holidays. If you are out at a restaurant, salon, gym or store on a holiday, that means that people are foregoing their own holiday time to keep those places running. In 2022, the National Restaurant Association reported that 57% of consumers planned to eat out at a restaurant during the holidays and that 50% planned to order takeout or delivery.
Law enforcement, emergency responders, medical professionals and journalists also are often working on the holidays. According to a 2023 survey from CalendarLabs, nearly one in five non-retail employees planned to work last Thanksgiving and one in 10 planned to work Christmas Day. A plurality (32%) said they planned to work because they needed extra money due to inflation.
Pretty much everyone deals with holiday stress, so getting the most out of vacation time in order to rest and rejuvenate is a good call. It’s also a good idea for those who are able to maximize their time off to be kind this holiday season, especially when they’re dealing with people who are on the clock.