I want to address this because recently I’ve been getting too many questions like this. Is it resignation season now?
Anyway, many of you asked, “Aunty, when offsetting my notice period with my annual leave, does it include weekends i.e. off days and rest days?”
First, we need to understand the mechanics behind this.
Technically, when you say you are offsetting your notice period with annual leave, it means that during the last days of your employment, you are on approved annual leave.
Since you won’t be coming back to the office after that, you will also have a physical last day, the day you hand over all company assets before you go off to enjoy your annual leave until your last day on payroll.
So the basic logic is:
You only apply for annual leave on working days. We do not apply for annual leave on off days, rest days or public holidays.
Therefore, off days, rest days, and public holidays are not counted when you offset your notice period with annual leave.
For many years, whenever I calculated the physical last day vs. last day on payroll, I had to look at the calendar and count manually. This method has proven to be the most reliable for me, and it helps avoid mistakes (especially when we accidentally miscalculate public holidays).
I hope this clarifies things, especially for you newbie HR practitioners who were never properly taught this.
If you want to learn HR the proper way, come join my HR classes so I can train you properly.
xoxoxo, AuntyHR
