If you work part time in retail - talk to me about holidays...

[HRHeadache]

When you want to take holiday leave are you expected to find cover from another member of staff for that time off?

I’m new to working in retail and this seems to be the case. Also some people seem to book all their holidays way in advance which mean others can’t have the time off they want. Is that how it works for everywhere? If you have a different system, what is it. Thanks!

HR

Im not expected to find cover if i tell them in advance of days off or holidays

If it was late notice and only a day off i would be expected to check for swaps with other members of staff, even if there wasnt a swap my manager tries hard to accommodate the request

If it was a week at late notice that might be a bit more difficult

And we work on a first come first served principal although two members of staff are allowed off at the same time (except for management and supervisors)

When I worked in retail you would only be expected to find cover/swap a shift if the max number of people had already booked holiday

As a general rule retail staff do tend to book holiday well in advance.

Depending on staffing levels there will be a maximum number of the team who can be off at any one time. Going over this number means there is insufficient cover for the shop floor which is a huge problem.

It can be a bit of a bun fight to book holiday off. Some businesses run it on a first come first served basis, others allow more senior staff to book their holidays first. I've managed several places where they run an informal rota type system so that it's not that same people each year who get the favourite weeks.

Hope that helps OP.

Thanks all, it’s useful to see how other people do it. The system seems to be quite unfair at the moment but not sure how it could be improved.

Does booking open at a specific time for the following year? Normally it would be first come first served, possibly with certain times restricted like Christmas or sale weeks. If you want something at short notice, once rotas are determined then it would not be unusual to be asked to arrange a swap. Unfortunately if you recently joined the peak summer weeks and bank holidays may already be allocated to others.

No, I wouldn't be expecting to organise cover, the manager would arrange staff.
But yes, people do book time off well in advance. This is because they need to know whether or not they can book hotels etc if they are going away. Because it's wise to get time off approved before you spend money and make arrangements.

I don't really understand what you mean by 'the system seems unfair' - what is the system where you work?

We have to book all of our holiday at the start of the year, no time off allowed in December.

If you need a last minute day off you have to find cover.

The bit that is unfair is the first come first served on booking holidays. Not everyone knows what they are doing in 9 month’s time. They might have a spouse with a job where they can’t book THAT far ahead. Whilst I appreciate you need to be organised there seems to be one member of staff who gets to the calendar first and therefore always gets first choice of holidays every year. In my mind, that is not fair.

That's just the chance you take. I've already booked all my holidays for this year because management was asking me to by the end of last summer!

OP a lot of retail businesses (and others who need active cover), do operate on a first come first served basis. It may seem unfair to you, and I agree that it has its flaws, but every way of tackling it has both advantages and disadvantages.