'Out of office' and 'let’s touch base in February' have all become common phrases in offices across the country at this time of year.
And while it’s the norm for Kiwis, our long summer break has the rest of the world scratching their heads or looking on with envy.
Christoph Schumacher, a professor of economics at Massey University, told 1News our breaks appeared to be "unusually long" by international standards – especially when compared to Europe.
"Friends and colleagues of mine in Europe always contact me and associate New Zealand with a great lifestyle and a great work/life balance," he said.
"They think we are doing just the right thing of spending a bit more time on our summer break."
But how do our long breaks compare to the rest of the world?
A standard employment contract in Aotearoa allows for 20 days of annual leave per year. When combined with our 12 public holidays, it adds up to at least 32 paid days off a year.
That number is more than Australia, China and the UK, but less than France. It’s also well behind Brazil and Sweden, which both have 41 days off a year.
Sam Ashby, the founder of Wellington branding and design studio Semper Semper, said our breaks "all happens all in one go".
"It's all squeezed into sort of December, January and you know, everyone's off all in one go and then we have this big, long year with little to no breaks," he said.
So, what's the solution?
Schumacher suggested a cultural shift in how we organise our break.
"Some people are here to hold the fortress and do parts of the work, to keep things moving, and then get a break later on," he said.
"Maybe we can coordinate this with people who have children and rely on school holidays, and maybe people who don't rely on the school holidays by returning to work now – as long as they get some extra time off later on."
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