vacations for August won't get approved 'til July. What would you do??

[Dimples1973ca]

Just got the crappy news. Our office will not approve any August vacation requests until July. They have already blacked out June and July and nothing is approved so everyone wants August. I will have to have my entire vacation paid for before I can even request the time. This totally sucks. What would you do. My manager knows we have every intention of going in August and I booked it last December. I am sick because I have asked my BF and her daughter to join us and she has her vacation already booked around my time. What am I going to do??

 

[ChisJo]

Are you working shift work? or is your position more a mon-fri office job? Are you concerned that you won't get a vacation approval? What's your seniority like in the company? Can you switch shifts or have a cover come in? It depends on many factors. Do you believe that your approval will be granted, or are you worried that it now won't be? Are you going at a busy time for your company? If you have a relationship with your boss's that allows you to be open, ask them what the chances are of the approval?

 

[Gigi22]

Do you have trip insurance that covers cancellation? How much would it cost you? All things to consider now.

If your bosses have instituted the policy of not granting vacation for either June or July, and refusing to inform people if their requests for August vacation are approved until July -- there will be a stampede. Your managers should be clear in telling everyone what criteria will be used to grant vacation in August.

Before you do any planning, I think you should consider whether this is the first year your office has been under these leave restrictions. If this is the first year of this leave policy, your managers may be unprepared for the consequences, and may have to institute further restrictions for August--perhaps placing a cap on the number of days off permitted per person that month.

In my former life, I managed a large service area. Even though we were all bound by a collective agreement that required everyone to give management advance notice of their vacation plans, scheduling summer and Christmas vacations was always an issue. This policy strikes me as being very difficult to administer across an organization.

 

[Dimples1973ca]

My job is administrative M-F type. Last year they had to pay out alot of Over time because June and July were very busy and they were short due to leave, vacation, illness etc. So going into 2011, they have less employees now than last summer, and they have blacked out June and July. But with 60 employees vying for vacation in August. It is not a pretty scene. People are angry.

I tried to cancel the reservation but I won't get $150 of my deposit back. Flights aren't booked yet but soon there will be sales will be on and I will be very conflicted.

We have this calender that we put down our vacation requests (not formalized) and the normal guideline is 3 people per day. I put my name in for August 17-26 back in January and no one mentioned black out dates. My husband is a teacher so our travel times are very limited. There are two other workers getting married that month and they have booked time off.

I want to talk to my boss about it but I know she has been getting approached by alot of us and I don't want to piss her off.

Anyhow I am going to remain positive and hope it all works out.

 

[Bertie9396]

I feel your pain. Although I've been given the verbal OK and have seen my signed and approved vacation request on my boss' desk, I have yet to receive the confirmation appear on my desk. We have had staff turnover like crazy this year so I know they are holding on to it. We are leaving in 20 days. Our reservations though are able to be cancelled though. DH's work tried being very restrictive on their vacation time in 2010. It was a nightmare so they have gone back to the previous policy for 2011. If I were you, I'd submit the request and be honest and open with your boss and hope for the best. Good luck.