AIBU to think a junior probationer’s month abroad request is unreasonable?

@Ablondiebutagoody That’s the risk with not starting a disciplinary hearing. The new employee didn’t disclose vital info and the company policy was breached - they haven’t earned the leave. What other employees think? The op might find out but not applying rules fairly is always a huge risk.

Not when they've quite frankly described it as a holiday it isn't

I'm actually quite surprised they didn't invent some family issue with deeply cultural overtones - maybe if they stay in the job they'll save that for next time - but they didn't, so at least OP should avoid being called racist for her decision

The probationer has played op like a fiddle. If I was employed there, I would be pretty pissed off with the double standards.

It’s no different. Policies are policies! Unless Australian employment law is different. It might be different in terms of withholding info when you accept a job too.

Is it? Why?

I think that going to their country of origin is a bit different to taking an extended jolly holiday, so I wouldn't be as harsh

@estrogone Well honesty or not is a matter employers have to deal with! DH was an employer. I get it. Where people are dishonest, it’s a disciplinary matter in many companies.

@estrogoneYou need a much better template for handing recruitment. You need to ask specific questions and inform employees about leave as part of the contract and what probation actually means. Hiring is a two way process and not everyone is honest!

Well, you’ve managed it brilliantly then!

Best of luck with your ongoing business.

His comment about leave processes in a small company strikes me as another indication of his lack of integrity - quite likely a fib, as you recognise. It doesn't bode well for the future; no matter how well he performs at the actual job he'll be difficult to manage.

If the backfill person works out it'll be no bad thing, IMO.

Well done OP.

Time will tell if he just made a stupid mistake or thought you were stupid and he'd pull a fast one.

If it's the former, it will be a really valuable life lesson for him.

Good for you in standing your ground. An employee attempting to holiday and work at the same time was a ludicrous request.

I saw you had updated - thank you - and had been hoping the employee had ‘moved on’.
I think your approach has been more than reasonable.

The critical thing to me is that this ridiculous person now has less leverage owing to your other hire. Very sensible.

While you have demonstrated patience, maturity, management skills and common sense, I still hope at the back of my mind that the whole thing is a joke post,

Well done OP. I think you've been really thoughtful and fair throughout this. The employee won't be assuming rules don't apply any more.

@MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack 5 days annual leave has been accrued. It was booked before starting job and op was bounced. So employee effectively lied. There’s policies around working from home, holiday requests and probation that the Op has ignored when agreeing what she has. Stern written letter would be a disciplinary interview in many places of work. Probably followed by a written warning. Op has rewritten policies though but goodness knows what the other employees think.

Try pulling this stunt in any retail/hospitality/finance/education/many other industries, and the response would have been an immediate no...

• lack of proper discussion
• Failure to follow policy
• Total disregard for colleagues
• poor attitude to own development in a new role
• potential tax/regulatory impact for business due to risk of establishing employment in another country
• IT risk of accessing work systems from unsecured internet
• Data protection risk of processing information in a country that may have different data protection laws
• Client confidentiality if not able to work in private space
• Impact on clients due to lack of availability in core business hours

IF there were extenuating personal reasons to need time off, then that could be addressed through relevant leave policies, but does not seem to be the case here

Any employer I've worked with would not be impressed at this behaviour, and not a single one would allow the working from abroad in this way, even if they agreed to the time off.

Just mind boggling, really.

I'd tell them they can't work remotely for that long do if they go ahead with trip it will be their holidays. I'd extend probation when they return.

This is not a reasonable assumption to make. If it wasn't properly agreed in advance, then I would just say no.

If I was feeling really generous, I might allow them to take a mix of annual leave (whatever they will have accrued by that time) and unpaid leave for the month. But I would make it very clear that they shouldn't have booked anything without getting it approved first and next time would be a flat no.

I wouldn't authorise the remote working. Too many complications around insurance, data protection and cyber security, employment legislation etc.

It might prove to be an expensive lesson for them.

@Brokennn It’s unpaid time away from work. So I guess they will be accruing paid leave whilst away! They should not be working if there’s security issues with taking laptop away.

Is it leave If they are still working??

@AlexaStopAlexaNo This does indeed impinge on others and sets a precedent. It’s foolish not have a written warning scenario in my view.

Office Junior has been allowed to get away with being extremely cheeky here. I’d be so unimpressed if I were another employee.