I would like to call on the authorities to consider allowing public servants to “buy” annual leave from their colleagues, especially those who don’t take breaks often.
As someone in Division 3, I am entitled to 26 days of annual leave. While it may seem like a lot compared to those in the private sector, I find myself using up all the days long before the year is up.
Being a mother, I often have to take emergency leave whenever one of my children falls ill or has a bad fall. Then, there is yearly bonding we do as a family overseas.
So when I found out that some of my colleagues regularly have their annual leave forfeited because they hardly ever take time off work, it got me thinking that if these allowances could be transferred to another person, it would benefit those who could really use the extra days-off.
Of course, there have to be rules to keep us from taking advantage of the arrangement, such as making sure there is an agreement between the two colleagues and allowing the transfer to take place only once a year.
Or the authorities could model its leave policy after countries that have already had such a leave transfer programme in place for a while.
I hope the authorities could take a serious look at the benefits of allowing public servants to transfer leave to their colleagues, especially for those of us who have young children to take care of, who would appreciate such a “donation”.
Desperate For Leave
