All blog topics
Browse Leavewise content by topic. Each landing page collects every article on that theme and links to the related calculators and guides.
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PTO planning strategy
Day-by-day, week-by-week strategies for getting the most rest out of a fixed PTO budget — month-by-month playbooks, year-end planning, and the math behind picking high-leverage windows.
- 45
2026 calendar & planning
Country-by-country 2026 holiday calendars, bridge-day rankings, and PTO playbooks. Use these as the planning layer on top of the 2026 holiday browser.
- 31
Bridge days
Bridge days are the cheapest leverage in your PTO bank — one day off can buy a four-day weekend if it sits between a public holiday and a regular weekend. The posts below cover bridge-day strategy, country-specific opportunities, and the politics of asking for the awkward Tuesday.
- 21
France — leave guides
France has 25 statutory paid days plus the 35-hour-week-derived RTT days, making it one of the most generous regimes in the world. The posts below cover statutory rules, RTT mechanics, the August shutdown convention, and how French public holidays shape spring and fall calendars.
- 18
FMLA, ADA & statutory leave
Statutory leave protections — FMLA, ADA, USERRA in the US, and the international equivalents — give you a baseline that company policy can't override. The posts below cover eligibility, what counts, how to document, and how to push back when an employer drags their feet.
- 18
Cheap travel windows
Some weeks are cheaper than others to fly, and the difference can be more than the PTO itself is worth. The posts below cover monthly cheap-flight roundups, shoulder-season destination guides, and the price-vs-PTO tradeoffs for popular trips.
- 12
United States — leave guides
PTO rules in the US are unusually fragmented — federal, state, and employer-by-employer. The posts below cover statutory minimums (or the lack thereof), state laws on cashout and forfeiture, federal holidays, and the leave-strategy moves that work in a US workplace.
- 12
United Kingdom — leave guides
UK statutory minimum is 5.6 weeks — one of the more generous European baselines, but bank holidays often fall inside it. The posts below cover statutory carryover rules, bank-holiday strategy, and how UK PTO compares with the US, EU, and Australian systems.
- 12
Japan — leave guides
Japan has the lowest take-up rate of paid leave in the OECD despite generous accruals. The posts below cover statutory minimums by tenure, the 5-day mandatory-use rule (since 2019), and how Golden Week / Silver Week shape the country's leave calendar.
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Mental health & burnout
Burnout, stress leave, mental-health days — the posts below cover the statutory protections that apply (ADA, FMLA, equivalent rules abroad), how to plan a return-from-leave, and the policy and personal questions around using PTO for mental health.
- 7
Germany — leave guides
German statutory leave is 20 days minimum (24 for a 6-day week), with strong court-driven rules around forfeiture: a 2018 ECJ ruling means employers must actively warn employees before leave expires. The posts below cover statutory rules, Bundesland-by-Bundesland holiday differences, and the bridge-day potential of German public holidays.
- 7
Leave by industry
Some jobs run on different leave logic — airline crew bid by seniority, healthcare workers cover for each other, agricultural workers fall under different statutes, and remote workers face new questions entirely. The posts below cover industry-specific leave realities.
- 6
Carryover & rollover
Carryover rules decide whether the days you didn't use this year transfer into next year, get cashed out, or simply disappear. The posts below cover use-it-or-lose-it deadlines, statutory carryover rules by country and US state, and how to time your remaining days.
- 6
Parental & family leave
Maternity, paternity, parental, and adoption leave — the rules vary wildly by country, and even more by employer. The posts below cover statutory minimums, how to extend with PTO, and the conversations that actually happen when you go on or come back from parental leave.