Christmas leave priority

You don't think there is any societal benefit to children thriving, over and above what their parents want?

Btw, I am also a taxpayer 🤣

Ah you make a big mistake in your reasoning.

If parents walked away from their children then who would pay for everything for the child? The state. The state has an obligation to children in the same way it does for adults. Parents pickup some of these obligations but if they didn't then the state would pickup the very large bill.

No it shouldn't. I'll ask again: why is it considered fair that people without children should have to work it and people with children should get the time off?

I would guarantee though that if you have children in the future you would very much want to spend Christmas Day with them, and would be making sure you put your leave in pronto if it was down to a first come first served basis.

Rotation is the fairest method, first come first served is a terrible one in my opinion. The one in the OP is ridiculous, especially the grandparent aspect.

But it isn't them you should be angry at to be honest, it is your employer for treating people differently based on their parental status.

Parents will want school holidays off as that is when their children are off, you can't go away any other time because of heavy fines/missing school, so it isn't a choice they make, it is the only option they have.

But in the same breath, it is beneficial for people without children to have non school holidays because holidays are cheaper, and there's no kids clogging up the place, they can go whenever they like.

I don't see the issue with parents having first choice over most school holidays, even before I was a parent I thought that and worked around it, but Christmas and Easter should be treated exactly the same for everyone IMO.

not the same and you know it.

Nope, wrong again. You can enjoy something that's difficult. You can also enjoy something you don't get thanked for.

Nope, don't think I'm better than anyone. I do think children are more important than adults though, in a lot of ways.

You're not the only one working so I've literally no idea what your point is with that one...

As a mum of three, I completely agree with you, OP. I would do a little research into this and find out if this is actually legal. I do not feel that it is and it could have huge ramifications for whomever sent it out. Take screenshots!

They are indirectly telling their staff they will all be treated unequally and different to one another, while giving preferential treatment to those with children. I would also challenge the idea of causing unnecessary distress, to people who want children but are unable to. - Definitely go down that avenue.

My children are young and all still at home. I would never ever expect to be treated better than staff without children.

it is though. What a shame for the baby if you didn't make the most of the maternity leave, and your following holidays.

You aren't actually working Christmas day though- your plans for travel aren't anyone else's problem. Your employer's policy is terrible- it needs to be done on a rotational basis.

That's how we do it in the NHS where we actually have to work Christmas day or Christmas eve night etc, we have to take turns each year, people can volunteer of course otherwise managers look at previous rotas and see who hasn't worked one for a while. I can't believe people get this worked up when they aren't even working Christmas day!

Well, obviously. But in benefiting children, they also benefit you. They make your life easier. They make your life affordable. They give you more time. The rights are also conferred on you. Unless, of course, your child lives alone.

By all the money you are saving by the taxpayer paying for it rather than yourself.

It should be voluntary first (ideally with some sort of incentive) then rotation

I didn't say it was a burden. I said it's there to benefit the baby.

Actually a holiday 🤣 Christ alive.

Not where I work we only open requests for Christmas in September.
If you want to book a holiday you have to get approval from a senior manager.

We are lucky enough that the company closes for Christmas Day and two working days after, so everyone is off.

The way that I work it is that if you want guaranteed leave for Christmas Eve you must work Eid and Diwali and if you want Eid or Diwali you work Christmas Eve. It evens out really well.

I have four children they have not cost me a million quid thats ridiculous

They don't confer any status whatsoever. They are schemes that benefit children.

First come first served isn't a sensible solution.
I also think that very young children isn't unreasonable but I doubt it's legal.
I think a rotation is the solution I would go for.

I don’t think it’s fair, but I have literally no skin in the game as I’m self employed. I have heard of / know of people who’ve made up children to get additional time off / better time off though. There’s people on tick tok and instagram who actually recommend doing it to get additional time off. At the end of the day how are they gonna prove you have kids?

no one stopped you from going back to work after 3 months, others do.

If it was such a burden 😂

If you didn't make the most of what is actually a holiday after you've recovered, it's on you. You still have to raise the baby once you are back at work!

We do everyone shouts dibs on an excel sheet about the days they want off. (2 weeks christmas period) where we have cover great. Days undercover its names in the hat

If there are multiple people who dibs'd the whole period we just stick their names in the hat. So everyone ends up doing a day or two