Time off requests at work

[Callie]

They are getting on my last nerve. I never get a single day off that I ask for.
I requested off in September in order to go home, pick my mom up from the airport, and be with her and my sister since its one year since my Grandmother passed. I know I will be in no shape whatsoever to work those days. Sigh
Denied.

Today I put in for our trip in December to visit Disney/My Dad. This one will really upset me if it gets denied considering I haven't seen my father in 4 years, and last year he had a stroke that has left him without much use in half his body.

More of a vent I guess, but man, I just want one request approved!

 

[Mac4life30]

What type of work are you in?

 

[Dax]

I deal with this a lot....Our office only allows one person to be on vacation at a time...So its a first come, first serve sort of thing. The biggest issue our office has is some people with request every Monday off during football season...basically blocking everyone else out....The supervisors allow it, so nothing to be done.

Its horrible. I requested my Aug vacation in MARCH...and almost did not get one of the days in the middle of the trip...I asked then how I was going to make it back from NJ....they made a special approval for it...LOL..

 

[NHdisneylover]

Is there a set policy for how can be off when (one person at a time, like a PP mentioned, etc?) and in what order days off are approved (by seniority? etc).

Make sue you know the policies and are requesting things in a way that gives you the best chance of getting what you want (ie--soon enough, etc) and are asking for weeks you have a shot at (ie, not holiday weeks or summer, etc)--especially if you are one of the newer employees.

When I was a kid my mom worked for the phone company. Time off was approved by seniority, with requests going in in November for the following year. 5 days could be requested on the first round (so a week, or 5 days split) by each person, then back to the top for 5 more, etc until people were out of days.

By the time I was in highschool, my mom had been there 10 years and was still low on the seniority list. Once in those 10 years she got my school spring break--otherwise there was never any school vacation (not any summer day, or spring break, or Christmas) available by the time it got to her.

She could never be requesting mid year for a week that same year--the odds of there still being time would get slimmer and slimmer--it would be possible that all remaining weeks were "booked" and you could be locked out of taking the time off at all. (even my DH, who can be off at pretty much any time, since he travels to sites and is not needed to keep any one things running, needs to schedule time off at least a year in advance in order to build schedules around him).

 

[Tozzie]

They are getting on my last nerve. I never get a single day off that I ask for.
I requested off in September in order to go home, pick my mom up from the airport, and be with her and my sister since its one year since my Grandmother passed. I know I will be in no shape whatsoever to work those days. Sigh
Denied.

Today I put in for our trip in December to visit Disney/My Dad. This one will really upset me if it gets denied considering I haven't seen my father in 4 years, and last year he had a stroke that has left him without much use in half his body.

More of a vent I guess, but man, I just want one request approved!

Do you know why you were denied?

At my job vacations are by strict senority and how many people get the same week goes by pecentages. We pick in Nov/Dec for the following year, exceptions can be made by a supevisor but those are rare.

If it makes you feel any better it took me 12 years and getting promoted to get a week off in the summer.

 

[willowsnn3]

Your post made me remember I haven't heard back about the week I asked off in Sept for our Disney trip.
My company has about 15 locations and only 1 person to a location except for the main office which has a few more people. Usually I ask far enough in advance that they can have someone scheduled to work for me. It's the short notice, being sick days that I can't get.

Hope you get your time off!

 

[aprilgail2]

At my job you would know way in advance if you got the week vacation or not- we pick in October of the year before for the following year- it goes by seniority so the first person picks the 5 weeks that want (I take 3 summer, thanksgiving week and Christmas week every year) then the next person etc--the last person pretty much is told, ok, you can have a week in Jan and a week in Nov. I didn't see a summer week or the weeks the kids were off for about 10 years. Personal days are rarely denied-they just cover you with overtime no matter what so doesn't matter if 1 person is out or 5 people are out.

 

[nugov2]

That is horrible! I was a teacher before becoming a SAHM and there was no issue with a sick day. I never tried to take off for a vacation though. My dh gets 6 weeks off and in the 16 years he has worked there we have never had an issue with him getting a day/week off. I do know they release the calendar in January and some popular holidays get closed off if you don't request early, but other than that you can pretty much get what you want. I guess if I wanted days off I would be prepared to request up to a year in advance when the calendar is released.

 

[usd2bmd]

For me we pick in November and we send in a request with our "first choice" week, our "first choice" day and then the other time we want off.

The issue is that of course Christmas and New Years are premium time and we are only given Christmas day a dn New Year's day as company holidays.

My only problem with this is that the same people put down Christmas week as their first week and those same 6 people have had that week for 4 years now.

I think that if Chriatmas and New Year's are premium that it shouldn't be something that the same 6 people can have year after year. Myself and several other people in the office requested it but were denied. I have family out of town that we just don't get to see at Christmas because traveling to see them for one day is just not possible.

As far as vacation, I always let them know as soon as I have booked it. Thankfully I have never been turned down for those trips but I also tend to book our vacations during slow times.

 

[jrmasm]

I am so glad that I don't have to deal with this kind of nonsense. There are 5 people in my group and we just work it out. No need to plan a year in advance and everyone gets a turn taking off around holidays. Heck we won't even talk about who is taking off for Thanksgiving and Xmas until early November.

 

[nene0182]

We don't really have to request time off. We have a public calendar and you just go in there and write your name down on the days you want off. Our supervisor just asks that between us we all keep in mind not to take off the same days our backups. I've been there almost two years and there has never been any issues. They are also really flexible if you need to leave for a long appointment or I normally build up time during the week and take a 2-3 hour lunch every Friday to run my weekly errands.

 

[Ceila]

I teach, and if we want to take a personal day, it's never a problem. The only time they are limited is the day before and the day after a scheduled holiday, and those are on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Hopefully you will be able to get through the anniversary of your grandfather's death. If it makes you feel any better, most people don't take those kinds of days off. You aren't alone in having to deal with that at work. Hugs!

 

[MIGrandma]

That was one nice thing about my former boss, vacation requests were generally never a problem. You just told her when you wanted off and she didn't put you on the calendar for that time, and found others to cover your shifts (waitress). Of the 12 years I worked there it was only a problem once. I let her know 6 months ahead that I needed a certain week off in the summer as we had a cottage booked up north, and she said someone else was already off that week so I changed the cottage to the following week.

The other jobs I had before waitressing (video store clerk and church secretary) were both easy to get vacation time from too, never any problems.

 

[Jedana]

When I was working (and did the scheduling), I tried to play fair. Everyone got to ask for whatever off, but only 2 people could take the day off. No more than one weekend a month could be requested off (a business that was open 7 days a week). The crew worked out their work schedules and came to me with what they wanted--and I used their plan. No one called off, except with illness--and they usually called each other first, to find someone to cover their shifts before they called me. Made my life so much easier!

Holidays, I rotated people through. My workers would either get Thanksgiving or Easter off, and either Christmas Eve or New Years Eve. They had to work 2 of the 4 days. (open after 2pm on Thanksgiving/Easter/New Years Day; closed on Christmas Day; closed early NYE and Christmas Eve) New Years Day, I usually scheduled those who did not work NYE.

For managers, I worked Christmas Eve and NY Day, and my managers worked Thanksgiving/Easter/NYE--one worked turkey day, one egg day and they both had NYE duty. They were done by 9pm on NYE, so plenty of time to go party in Vegas before the ball dropped.


Only one job ever gave DH trouble about taking time off--and that was a contract position, where he was selling software/training.

 

[Minnie_me]

I'm a teacher, and I get 3 personal days a year, but they have to be approved by the district office first. If too many people are taking off on the same day, they won't approve it (mainly because we have a terrible shortage of substitute teachers in our area). Didn't it figure that I was closing on my house a couple of weeks before Christmas, and a bunch of teachers were taking personal days that same day (most likely to do Christmas shopping or other holiday-related chores/errands). I appealed to our Superintendent, telling her that I had a legal business appointment that could not be changed, and that I was required to attend. She told me that if I could find my own substitute, she would let me have the day. Luckily, I was able to. But I was highly annoyed.

Also, as a teacher, we don't get to take off days for "vacation", since there are vacations built into our schedule. I've always been fine with that.

 

[Callie]

I'm in retail. It seems someone else requested off.
I just know the weekend of my Grandmas death will be impossible. I just had a birthday and was an emotional mess missing her. She was basically my second parent since my father wasn't around much. Its been rough without her.

 

[tvguy]

My place is pretty good at juggling IF it is what they consider to be a "life" event that you need the time off for. Graduations, weddings, family reunions.

Big trips, like cruises, I put in for a year in advance, and don't book until I get approval, and I hound the boss until they say yes or no.

It can be tricky otherwise. No vacations are allowed in February, May, July and November. And they want us to take half our annual vacation by June 30 and don't allow more than one person in a classification off at a time. So there aren't enough weeks in the year to do what they WANT us to do.
Watched a former co-worker get into a shouting match with a former manager because the worker had too much vacation time on the books at the end of the year (3 weeks, we are only allowed to carry over 1 week), and he handed the manager 12 vacations requests he had put in over the year that had been rejected. Can't try any harder than that to take the time off.

DW's place is union. Everyone puts in their first request based on seniority. The hope is everyone will get their first choice. If you pass, you lose your seniority for that pick. The next round is second, then third, then fourth. Requests are due by contract on February 1, but company tried to get them from workers by October 1 of the previous year.
One middle manager has been there 25 years and still doesn't have enough senority to get Christmas week off.

And one new employee was genuinely surprises she could not get Christmas week off.....she put in her request the Friday before Christmas week.

 

[aprilgail2]

One middle manager has been there 25 years and still doesn't have enough senority to get Christmas week off.:

That is how it is at my job- they let 4 people go at once and christmas is usually the four people that have 27 years and up. Most of us take the same weeks every year. My friend takes July 4th week every single year on e he had the seniority to get it. Same with Christmas, usually the same 4 people get it every year- that's seniority, fair to me-eventually when people have enough time they will get it too.

 

[njmom47]

I am so glad that I don't have to deal with this kind of nonsense. There are 5 people in my group and we just work it out. No need to plan a year in advance and everyone gets a turn taking off around holidays. Heck we won't even talk about who is taking off for Thanksgiving and Xmas until early November.

We are in a similar situation. There's 8 of us (plus the boss) and as long as someone is there to do the important stuff that needs to get done, there's no problem. There are certain days of the week that are better to take off than others, so we try and be considerate of that. And we don't all have the same job responsibilities, so it's easier for one person to do "this" when I'm off and another person to do "that". We can come in to work and say "I need tomorrow off." That is one great thing about my job.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

That stinks. I've been lucky with my jobs so far and have not ever had any real issue with vacation time (I've had to move plans up/back a week but nothing major). My current job is closed on major holidays but previously we rotated holidays (the most fair thing imo).