In Russia it is customary to prepare sleighs in the summer. Many people are already thinking about where to go for the New Year holidays. Moreover, the Government of the Russian Federation has decided on the holiday calendar for next year: we will rest from January 1 to January 10, 2016.
If you want to extend the New Year's fairy tale for another week and take a vacation, say, from January 11 to 15, take your time! You may miss out on a significant portion of your income.
New Year's fairy tale and true story
“I remember that the TOP of a foreign company went on vacation in January. I calculated the 2015 vacation for them in January and showed them in figures how much they would lose in this case. And all the questions were resolved - not a single one wanted to go on vacation!
We regularly encounter the fact that foreign managers do not know Russian legislation and because of this often get into trouble when they take leave on holidays. But recently the May and June holidays passed in Russia, and it turned out that Russian employees also do not always understand why it is better not to go on vacation in months with a large number of holidays.
But everything is very simple: the fewer working days there are in a month, the more expensive one such day costs. At the same time, a “vacation” day is “cheaper” compared to a working day (due to a different calculation method).
Let's look at this in more detail.
Accrual of vacation pay
Vacation pay is based on average annual daily earnings. To do this, annual earnings are divided into 12 months and the average monthly number of calendar days is 29.3.
Let’s say the salary of the head of the company is 200,000 rubles/month. He decided to extend the New Year's holiday and take additional leave during the holidays, but from January 11 to January 15 inclusive.
We calculate his average daily earnings:
2,400,000 / 12 / 29.3 = 6,826 rubles.
6826 * 5 = 34,130 rub.
Salary
When calculating wages, it is no longer calendar days that are taken into account, but actually days worked.
Accordingly, in our example, the cost of 1 working day in January 2016:
200,000 / 15 = 13,333 rubles.
Due to the January vacation, the manager will spend 10 working days out of a possible 15 in the office. This means that his salary for January will be:
13,333 * 10 = 133,330 rub.
Total for January he will receive:
34,130 (vacation pay) + 133,330 (salary) = 167,460 rubles.
The loss in income will be:
200,000 – 167,460 = 32,540 rubles.
This is more than 16% of the typical monthly income of the executive in our example. Needless to say, if the manager had taken not one, but two weeks of “profitable” vacation, his losses would have been simply cosmic.
Warn employees!
To avoid unpleasant surprises and subsequent indignant questions to the accounting department, we recommend notifying employees in advance about such metamorphoses with “New Year”, “May”, “June” and “November” holidays. For clarity, it is better to give a digital example, as we did.
By doing this, you will demonstrate your concern for your employees, as you will warn them about possible material losses. In addition, such unpleasant news will dissuade many managers from taking an unprofitable New Year's vacation, citing the “January lull.” This means you don’t have to solve the problem: “Who will work if everyone goes on vacation during the holidays?”
Contact an expert
Agree, everyone likes to relax. This is much more exciting than waking up every day to an alarm clock and jostling on public transport to go to work. In accordance with the Labor Code, an employee on average can count on one month of well-deserved rest. But here the question arises: when to go on vacation? Not every month will be equally beneficial for the employee. If everything is calculated correctly, you can win in money or the duration of your vacation. Let's find out whether it is profitable to take a vacation in January and how to make the right choice.
When is the best time to relax?
In short, the most suitable month for vacation will be the month that has the most working days. If you follow this rule, it turns out that it is better to go on vacation in the summer. New Year's holidays significantly shorten the first working month. This is why it is not profitable to take a vacation in January.
However, you need to understand how this will affect your salary. Those employees who receive a salary are especially lucky. Even if there are only 15 working days in January, they will still pay the full salary. However, if the vacation starts in December, the income will be slightly less. Because the last month of the year has more working days than the first.
When calculating whether it is profitable to take a vacation in January or in another month, you need to decide what you want: relax longer or earn more. It will not be possible to combine both.
How to rest longer?
One of the goals that an employee pursues when calculating the most profitable month is the opportunity to get more vacation days. In this case, it is important to stretch the 28 days prescribed by the Labor Code over as long a period as possible.
How to do this? Let's assume that an employee wants to take 15 days off. Then it is important for him to calculate everything so that before or after this period there are weekends or holidays. Both of these, when combined with paid days, will increase the total length of leave. In this simple way, you can shirk your official duties longer. However, you need to understand that the employer will not accrue payment for these days. Conflicts with accounting often arise on this issue. For the same reason, taking a vacation in January is unprofitable. You will have to rest longer, but there will be no more money.
Why will they pay less?
The employee must understand that days off that are not vacation will not be paid. As a result, the vacation will last longer, but this will not affect the increase in payments.
Is it profitable to take a vacation in January? Now you can answer this question yourself. If your goal is to relax longer, it may make sense to go on paid vacation immediately after the end of the New Year holidays.
This option will suit the employee and his employer if it does not in any way affect the work process or increase the workload placed on other specialists. And also provided that the employee himself is not afraid to leave his place for a long time.
Vacation in parts
Some employers have a fairly clear position. Not everyone allows you to split your vacation into several parts. This is usually indicated in internal regulations. If there is no prohibition, then the employee can split his vacation into two or more parts. However, the accounting department, which will have more work to do, is unlikely to be happy about this.
How to earn more?
Let's look at another point of view, which will tell in detail why it is not very profitable to take a vacation in January. If the employee does not pursue the goal of chilling out longer, but wants to earn more, you need to carefully calculate the amount of potential payments.
In this case, experts recommend not dividing your vacation into parts. It is better to immediately rest for 28 days, which will include weekends. If for some reason this does not work out, you will have to divide it into parts. But at the same time, everything needs to be calculated in such a way that each of them also includes weekends.
Is it profitable to take a vacation in January to earn more? More likely yes than no. However, this depends on the form of payment: is it piecework or fixed? An employee who receives a salary will certainly benefit. But at the same time, those who work on piecework will lose income. After all, he is paid a salary for the amount of work performed.
What affects the size of the payment?
If you consider annual leave as an opportunity to earn more, there are several factors to consider:
- Availability of holidays during the vacation period. Such days are usually deducted from vacation, so you will have to rest longer. You can find out about the presence of holidays from the production calendar. This is especially important if non-working days fall at the beginning or end of a vacation. In this case, it may be more beneficial to slightly shift its boundaries.
- Additional payments. The specifics of their calculation depend on the internal payment system. Typically, all vacation days are paid based on average income. However, this figure may include additional payments. For example, payment for food or travel compensation, etc. These payments are not included in the amount of vacation pay.
- Cost of a working day. It is calculated quite simply. The more working days in a month, the cheaper each of them is paid. And vice versa. This is why you can't take a vacation in January. Due to the abundance of holidays, every working day this month is paid more than other working days.
How not to make mistakes with calculations?
Wise people believe that in the pursuit of material or other benefits, it is important not to forget about the main thing. Vacation is needed so that the employee can rest. Therefore, it is truly beneficial to take it when you really want it. It is very important to arrange your vacation in a timely manner. Otherwise, constant overload leads to professional burnout, which is not compensated by the money earned.
But if we talk about financial benefits, then in winter it is better not to leave your workplace. There will be another time for vacation. January, February, and May are the months with the fewest working days. For those who care about money, it is better to work during this period. It is better to postpone your vacation, for example, to the summer months, which have many working days.
It is enough to understand the issue in detail once to know exactly when it is truly profitable to take a vacation. Those who strive to get rich will work on holidays, while others, on the contrary, will prefer to spend this time in a different way.
Everyone loves to go on vacation. However, it is important not just to leave, but to leave correctly, without loss of salary.
When planning a vacation, we try to arrange it in such a way as to capture as many days as possible. The first thought is to combine it with the January or May holidays. However, such a combination can greatly devastate your budget. So, here are some tips on how to go on vacation in 2015 without losing money.
Vacation pay calculation
Let's say you work at a company with a white salary. Your monthly income is 30 thousand rubles. And you are entitled to 28 calendar days of vacation for 2015. As you know, vacation is calculated based on 12 full calendar months preceding the month for which the vacation is planned. Formula: A=BxC, where A is the amount of vacation pay, B is the average daily earnings, and C is the number of days on vacation.
Over the last year you received 360 thousand rubles. 21 days of vacation means that you earned 1020 rubles per day (360 divided by 12 and then by 29.4 - the average amount of calendar days per month). Then we multiply 1020 by 21 days and get 21420 - that’s how much you will get for a 21-day vacation.
"Eaters" of money
January and May are the least profitable months for vacations. In January there are as many as 9 holidays (January 1-9), in May - 3 (1, 4 and 11). According to the law, these days are not included in the number of vacations, automatically increasing them. It would seem that add two weeks into January and you have almost a whole month of vacation. However, the cost of a working day in January is higher than in other months, since there are only 15 working days, but they cost the same as a whole month. Total, if in a normal month with 23 working days a day you receive 1304 rubles, then in January one working day will cost as much as 2000 rubles. Accordingly, after taking two weeks off in January, you will receive your salary in February in just 5 days - 10 thousand. About the same financial disaster will happen if you decide to go for a walk in May. That is, while you win in days, you lose in money.
All of the above is also relevant for those whose employer pays the majority of their salary in “gray” terms. Still, in most cases, the total salary (white + gray) remains the same regardless of vacation. Of course, if you have a good relationship with your employer :)
When is the best time to take a vacation?
It is better to take a vacation at the border of the months. There is no benefit by day, but according to statistics, the most “hungry” time is after vacation. You’ve already spent your money, and your next salary won’t come soon. For example, you went on vacation on June 1 and left on the 23rd. In total, in August you will receive your salary in just 6 days.
The situation is completely different if you go on vacation on June 15 and leave on July 6. On the 20th you will receive an advance payment for June, and for July you can count on a salary calculated for 19 working days. Accordingly, your income is distributed evenly.
“Split” vacation
It’s rare that anyone now manages to take all 28 days off in one go. Most often you have to split it into 14 and 14 or 21 and 7 days. Both psychologists and doctors advise taking one long and one short vacation, since in 14 days a person does not have time to recover after work. Based on this, the optimal scheme is: seven days in the last week of April or December (combined with May and January weekends) and 21 days in June-August (Friday, June 12 will not bring any losses in wages).
Finally, it is psychologically more beneficial to take a vacation from Monday. Then both weekends are automatically included in it. But it’s easy to go on vacation; it’s difficult to go out. Therefore, it is more profitable to take a vacation from Tuesday or Wednesday, so that after a week you can return to a part-time work week.
The least profitable months for vacation in 2015 are January (15 working days), February (19 days) and May (18 days). The most profitable months are April (22 working days), July (23 days), September (22 days), October (22 days) and December (23 days).
So what are the best months to take a vacation?
The most favorable period for calculating vacation is from January to October 2015, if your employer pays quarterly and annual bonuses. Then the billing period will include both quarterly and annual bonuses. Take November, and the 3rd quarter is already gone (according to tradition, the bonus is paid not at the end of the quarter, but in the month following the quarter).
Quite often you can hear the statement that taking vacations during the holiday months is unprofitable. We propose to put an end to this issue once and for all and decide: is it worth taking a vacation in January or not? In most cases, resting in the first month of the year is really not very good due to the rise in the cost of a working day during those periods in which there are more non-working days than usual. However, the disadvantage will only affect if the vacation days fall on the working days of such a month.
If you take vacations that fall mainly on holidays and weekends, on the contrary, you will be able to earn a little money, but at the same time you will spend rest days during which you could have rested anyway. For a better understanding, let's look at specific examples of calculations.
Vacation falls on holidays
For example, lawyer Krendelkov receives a monthly salary of 100,000 rubles. In January 2014, he was sent on vacation from the 1st to the 12th. To simplify the calculation, we turn a blind eye to the fact that vacation is granted starting from a holiday (in practice, this is almost never done), plus we consider that our lawyer received 100,000 rubles a month in all 12 months preceding the vacation (that is, his earnings for the calculated period amounted to 1,200,000 rubles). Next, we calculate the average daily earnings to calculate vacation pay. To do this, we divide the total earnings for the billing period by 12 months of the year and by 29.4 - the average calendar number of days.
Since vacation is paid in calendar days, we divide the amount not by working days, but by the average calendar value. It turns out that the average daily salary for vacation is 3,401 rubles. Although citizen Krendelkov will actually have 12 days of vacation, only 4 days will be included in the number of vacation days (dates from 1 to 8 are subject to exclusion as holidays).
As a result, the amount of vacation pay will be 13,604 rubles (3,401 rubles * 4 days). What about our working days? For days of work, we no longer receive payment on calendar days, but on working days. There are a total of 17 working days in January, of which Krendelkov will work 15. The cost of one day of work is 5,882 rubles (100,000 rubles / 17 days). That is, for the days of actual work, Krendelkov will receive 88,230 rubles (5,882 rubles * 15 days). In total, our vacationer will receive not 100,000 rubles per month, but even a little more - 101,834 (88,230 + 13,604) rubles.
This is due to the fact that the vacation covers few working days, and it turns out that Krendelkov worked both almost all working days according to the norm (that is, he received almost the full salary) and paid weekends (at the expense of vacation pay, which provides for payment of all calendar days, including weekends).
Vacation falls on working days
Now let's look at another example, when vacation falls not on holidays, but on working days. Let's say the vacation will be the same 4 days, but from January 27th to 30th. In this case, the amount of vacation pay will not change and will be the same 13,604 rubles. But we will recalculate the days worked. In fact, the lawyer will have been working for 13 days, so he will receive a salary of 76,466 rubles. We add up the amounts and get: 13,604 + 76,466 = 90,070 rubles. This is almost 10% less than the usual monthly payment of 100,000 rubles. And we also took the example of a short vacation. If an employee decides to take the entire month off and goes on vacation, say, from January 9 to January 31, then for the entire month he will receive only vacation pay in the amount of 78,223 rubles.
To do this, we multiplied the number of vacation days (23) by the average earnings to calculate vacation pay (3,401 rubles), and this is already more than 20% (!) less than the usual monthly income. This difference is explained by the fact that by taking vacation in months with holidays (IMPORTANT: vacation days fall on working days), we are actually replacing the cost of an “expensive” working day, obtained by dividing our usual earnings by the number of working days (in our example this is 5 882 rubles), for the cost of a day paid on average, based on calendar days (3,401 rubles).
Yes, in this case, days off paid according to the average are added, but, alas, this will not help either, and the second figure will always be not in favor of the employee. If we convert vacation pay to working days, we find that each working day falling on vacation will no longer be 5,882 rubles, but only 4,601 rubles (78,223 rubles / 17 working days falling on the vacation period).
Hence the difference and the indignation that the monthly payment is significantly lower. If an employee uses vacation in a regular month, not a holiday, then there is not such a big difference in the cost of a working day and a pseudo-working day, that is, the balance of the monthly income is maintained, and vacation pay does not hit the pocket.
