A woman in need of a change of scenery took a week-long trip to Spain without using any annual leave - and now she's encouraging others to do the same.
Amy Irvine, 27, spent a week soaking up the sun in Marbella, Spain in April this year, without having to take a single day of her annual leave allowance. As head of digital at a PR company, Amy's workplace has a policy allowing all employees to work from anywhere in the world.
This enabled Amy and colleague Olivia Smith, 27, to jet off to Spain. The two of them spent their days working from the balcony of their apartment just a stone's throw from the beach, while lunch breaks were filled with a quick dip in the pool before they headed out for some drinks in the evening.
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Amy has used the policy to take two other trips around the UK - Kielder Forest in Northumbria for her mum's 50th and Whitby in the North East to extend a holiday. But this is the first time she's used it to venture abroad.
Amy, from Kendal, Cumbria, said: "After covid we realised that everyone could work from anywhere and it became a policy. If the job allows, then everyone should ask their boss if they can work remotely - and use the chance to head abroad.
"Chances are if you can work from home, you can work from Spain, France, anywhere with a similar timezone to the UK. I'd 100% recommend doing it - it's nice to get away, but not have to use up your holiday allowance."
She added: "I just wanted to go and get some sunshine to be honest. I feel like it was so nice to have that change of scenery and work from anywhere. Maybe it would have been more stressful in the UK.
"The sunshine just makes everything better. We went for drinks and some tapas in the evenings and it made you feel like you're on holiday again - we even went to a beach club one evening.
"We went for a swim on our lunch breaks and it was so nice to wake up to sunshine and not the rain. It felt really surreal."
Amy says the working holiday and new environment even helped with productivity. She said: "I definitely felt more productive and it increased motivation.
"It was nice to work with my colleague - who is usually in the London office - as well. I think if you work in a job where you can do that it's a really nice benefit and leads to a better work life balance."
Amy has also used the policy to take trips to Kielder Forest, Northumberland, for her mum's birthday - while other colleagues have gone as far as South Africa. She says that she doesn't have any current plans for a future trip, but hopes to work abroad again in the summer and autumn months.
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