In a normal year, many of us have already enjoyed Spring Break trips and are eagerly awaiting summer vacations.

This year is different, but UC is still providing generous vacation allowances, and the need for taking leave might be all the greater.

Taking a break from work is important for your health and creativity and now might be a beneficial time to work with your supervisor to schedule time away from the office, wherever that may be these days.

Talk with Your Supervisor
Please talk with your supervisor about taking vacation leave to ensure that you have the opportunity for rest and renewal, especially if you are approaching or have already reached your maximum accrual. This helps ensure that you continue accruing vacation for all your service to the University.

It is the responsibility of both the supervisor and the employee to monitor their vacation accrual. When an employee who is at or near their vacation maximum requests vacation, the supervisor should approve such requests to the fullest extent possible.

A Tool for Planning
The Vacation Plan Worksheet  is a useful tool when an employee is approaching or at their vacation maximum.  In exceptional circumstances when an employee’s request for vacation is denied by a department due to operational factors, which should be rare, and they reach their vacation maximum, requests can be made to allow the employee to exceed their vacation maximum for a limited period of time.

Help a Colleague during a Catastrophic Event

The Catastrophic Leave Sharing Program allows employees to support colleagues in need by donating vacation leave or paid time off (PTO) to support a specific colleague who has exhausted their paid leave due to a catastrophic illness or catastrophic event. Beginning May 1, employees can donate vacation leave to a general pool to be allocated to eligible employees across all of UC Davis. At this time, PTO cannot be donated to the new general pool. Read more on the Catastrophic Leave page.

Plan an epic staycation

Tips from WorkLife

Okay, so you can't go to the beach, but you can bring a little bit of the "beach" mindset home.
And remember to be grateful for our weather, which allows for such activities!

• Order/deliver (yikes, indulgent!) from your favorite restaurant--do a cultural theme if you want. Alternatively, pick a country and find a corresponding recipe.
• DIY Scenery:  It might be time for that jungle wall mural or to carve out a sanctuary in the yard.  Nurseries are delivering and pebbles, candles, and statues could likely be rummaged up in your house or delivered.
• Watch a foreign movie to go with your theme.
• Do a digital detox and disconnect.
• Find music from your desired vacation location.
• Trade with older kids to be staff for a day: make the beds with chocolates on the pillows, learn how to do towel animals, take orders and deliver umbrella drinks on platters, paint toes, put cucumbers on your eyes, whatever.....