Roskachestvo clarified the level of benefits when taking a vacation during the May holidays

The May holidays traditionally consist of two parts, and many Russians often take vacations in between to extend the weekend. Evgenia Gankina, director of the Roskachestvo Organizational Development Department, told Izvestia on April 26 how profitable this is.

The specialist explained that May 1, Spring and Labor Day, and May 9, Victory Day, are official non—working days in the Russian Federation. If these dates fall on weekdays, then the authorities often combine them and postpone the days so that citizens can have a good rest.

In 2025, the weekend according to the production calendar was divided into two parts: the first May holidays — from 1 to 4 May, the second May holidays — from 8 to 11 May. Thus, this year you can arrange for yourself more than 10 days of rest, taking only three to six days of your annual paid vacation.

As Gankina noted, the advantage of a vacation during the May holidays is that during this period you can get almost a two-week vacation, but many days of the main vacation will not be spent.

"Vacation pay during the May holidays is paid on a general basis, holidays are not included in paid leave. May holidays are also common weekends for all family members: from schoolchildren to working adults. This makes this month ideal for family trips to travel or to the country," said the specialist.

At the same time, May is traditionally not one of the months when it is profitable to take a vacation.

"There are consistently fewer working days this month than in others — 18 days in 2025 compared to the usual 20+. Thus, a working day in May is more expensive than in other months. Vacation pay is calculated from the average earnings for the last year, and not the amount of income for the current month. Therefore, when planning a vacation, consider your financial possibilities," Gankina added.

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On April 24, a survey of organizations conducted by the IT company Stakhanovets showed that in the week before the May holidays, employee productivity in every third Russian organization increased from 10 to 30%. The personnel performance data reviewed by Izvestia was obtained from the employee monitoring system. At the same time, in another 30% of companies, long weekends do not affect staff efficiency: such organizations have strict deadlines, so even during the May holidays, employees usually continue to work from home.