Annual Leave – Designing a fair holiday system

This ESL worksheet focuses on the topic of annual leave and holiday policies in the workplace, exploring how companies organise time off, approve leave requests, and balance employee wellbeing with business needs. It is most suitable for B1–B2 level learners and is ideal for lessons on Business English, Human Resources, workplace policies, and professional communication. Students build essential vocabulary related to annual leave, leave requests, staffing, and flexible working. Other lessons you might like are “Attendance, time off, and absenteeism“, as well as “Phrasal verbs: Human Resources“.

Speaking: Lead-in and Discussion

The lesson begins with a discussion about students’ experiences of requesting annual leave, company holiday policies, and the challenges of taking time off during busy periods.

Vocabulary: Annual Leave and Holiday Policies

Students read about how annual leave is organised in three different organisations—a software company, a retail company, and a hospital—and learn key vocabulary including leave entitlement, carry over, blackout period, peak season, rota, seniority, unpaid leave, and first-come, first-served. They complete matching activities, practise common collocations such as submit a leave request, arrange cover, take a day off, and ask for approval, and reinforce the language through gap-fill exercises.

Listening: Managing Annual Leave

Students watch a video titled “7 Tips for Managing Annual Leave” and complete comprehension activities. They identify the topics mentioned in the video and complete notes. The listening is followed by discussion questions about fair annual leave policies and workplace transparency.

Speaking: Designing a Fair Holiday Policy

Students evaluate different approaches to organising annual leave, including first-come, first-served, seniority-based systems, rotating priority, manager approval, team agreement, priority for parents or carers, maximum staffing limits, blackout periods, and points systems. They discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each approach and decide which would work best in their own workplace.

Speaking: Problem-Solving and Role-Play

Learners work in groups to decide how to allocate annual leave fairly when too many employees request the same holiday period. They consider business needs alongside employee circumstances such as family commitments, overseas travel, and weddings. In a final role-play, students practise requesting time off, approving or declining leave requests, negotiating alternative dates, and reaching compromises using functional workplace language.

For more speaking practice, you can use the printable conversation cards.