EDUCATIONAL LEAVE FOR EVERYONE? A VIEW ON ADDITIONAL VACATION POSSIBILITIES IN GERMANY
In this article we are going to have a look at the “educational leave” in Germany. If you are resident of another country there might be something similar available in your country too!
Educational leave or as it is also called employee training law in Germany, is anchored in the German law and depending on the state in which one works. Exactly, in Germany it is not relevant in which state you reside, but where your workplace is.
Except for the states Saxony and Bavaria, where this law unfortunately does not exist, all German states have this law.
In the following we explain to you step by step how one can get educational leave in Germany:
- you look on the page Bildungsurlaub whether you live in a federal state, where you are entitled to take educational leave or not
- you talk to your boss that you would like to take educational leave
- you choose a suitable course from the education catalogue (the link varies from state to state) or from your local adult education centre
- you make sure that the provider has qualified as an educational leave provider
- you submit the application to your boss at least 6 weeks before the start of the course (better sooner) (in larger companies there are already ready-made documents for this, which you only have to fill out and submit)
- after approval by your company you book your desired trainings
- Look forward to your education
- you have successfully completed the training course
- you get a certificate of participation from the organizer, which you present to your company
- you have gotten to know more knowledge and new, inspiring people
By the way, every employee in Germany is entitled to 5 days per year of educational leave, you can even transfer it into the next year and get 10 days out of it. You will find a very helpful and detailed article here on how this works here (in German though). There you will also find out how you can even claim the whole thing for tax purposes and what exceptions there are.
It’s all about the company, of course, but some companies even allow you educational leave for workations. With the right arguments and a list of all the benefits for the company, that shouldn’t be an obstacle either.
A good relationship to the company and to the executive assumed.
If you are planning a workation, you can also give these tips to your potential participants. A win-win situation for all sides.
