All full-time staff at eXp UK can now take unlimited paid annual leave after the estate agency platform extended the perk that its self-employed estate agents already enjoy.

The current statutory annual leave entitlement is a minimum of 28 days paid leave per a year for those who work a five-day week – the equivalent of 5.6 weeks. For most, that means a carefully managed process to maximise time off.

CONSECUTIVE DAYS

For instance, this coming bank holiday is on May 27. But by taking off May, 28, 29. 30 and 31 you can turn that into nine consecutive days. Similarly, you can get another nine days in a row for the August bank holiday taking 27, 28, 29 and 30 as days off. And you can bag yourself a Christmas 11-day break bonanza by selecting the days of 23, 24, 27, 30 and 31 to take off too.

Figures show that the average employee took 33.9 days in 2023, although this figure had reduced from an average of 36.7 days the previous year.

This 33.9 day average does, however, include the nine bank holidays that fell in 2023 and depending on how ruthless your employer is, they can include bank holidays within your 28 statutory annual leave days.

Then there’s maternity leave, which sits at a statutory term of 52 weeks – the last 26 of which are counted as ‘additional’ maternity leave and only 39 weeks of which are paid.

OWN TERMS

Adam Day, Head of eXp UK, says: “Our self-employed agents are empowered to be the very best in the business and we allow them to operate on their own terms, with a working arrangement that suits them both personally and professionally.

“This empowerment, freedom and flexibility has cultivated what we consider to be the very best company culture in the UK property market and we felt it was important to extend this ethos to all full-time employees.”

He adds: “Therefore, we’ve rolled out unlimited annual leave to all eXp UK employees to allow them to better manage their time, whether it be to make the most of maternity leave, to travel the world for that little bit longer, or anything else for that matter.”

The Voice of the Agent 2024 report from We are Unchained revealed that 42% of estate and letting agents have had mental health issues in the past year – with 12% describing their mental health as worse now than in the last 12 months.

Simon Leadbetter of We Are Unchained says: “The report and discussions underscore the urgent need for increased mental health support within the property industry, highlighting the importance of initiatives to promote mental well-being among estate and letting agents.”