Berlin.
Millions of employees are entitled to up to ten additional vacation days with full salary. We explain the hurdles to approval.
There is good news for the new year. Around 27 million employees in Germany are entitled to educational leave. That’s behind the additional paid vacation.
If your goal for 2023 is to learn something new or work on yourself, then you could educational leave be the decisive additional impetus for this.
Employees can apply for up to ten days of educational leave. This is possible at least in 14 out of 16 federal states. The only exceptions are Bavaria and Saxony. But only two percent employees should make use of the regulation.
Yoga courses are also part of educational leave
The entitlement to educational leave can be applied for for a wide variety of things. The offers range from subject-specific seminars such as compact Excel courses Prevention courses such as yoga in Mallorca.
“These courses can worldwide and partly also online and do not necessarily have to have anything to do with the job,” says Lara Körber from the Berlin start-up “AZ Bildungszeit” to the consumer portal “Chip”. The start-up operates the online platform “Bildungsurlauber. de”. Providers can publish their seminars on this.
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No educational leave in Bavaria and Saxony
In some federal states, the concept is also known as educational leave or educational time. In Bavaria and Saxony there are basically no right on educational leave, but you can still ask your employer whether support is possible, says Körber.
Then it could be about a partial assumption of costs or a overtime reduction to be spoken. In principle, the employee should pay the fees for the seminars.
Not all employers are enthusiastic at first glance when asked for educational leave. According to Körber, it is important that the holiday is well-timed with the team and the to deny superiors. “Explain your own motivation,” she advises. In her opinion, it can also help to offer to share the knowledge gained with colleagues if it fits in with everyday work.
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Different regulations per state
Before the application, however, it should be checked exactly what the regulations are in the Federal State where you work. Not only the length of the leave, but also the form of the educational leave is regulated differently. It should also be ensured that the course is sufficiently certified.
Ultimately, it can be argued that the employer may be missing one person in the short term, but this will probably be significantly more after their educational leave motivation and knowledge into everyday working life than before. (rs)
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