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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be considering cancelling some of my leave?

21 replies

DryCounty79 · 13/08/2013 11:56

I've got a week off next week. Yay! But also Argh! Because when I'm away, absolutely none of my job is covered. Not a single, solitary thing.

So when I get back from leave, I will have an entire week's worth of work sitting on my desk and in my email inbox. My out-of-office will be on advising urgent queries should go to my manager, so I'll have the original query, and then my boss will have cc'd me in to an email telling the customer that I'm off on leave and that I'll answer their query the DAY I come back.

Nobody will do any of the day-to-day stuff that I do, so I'll be behind 5 days before I even start. And I work part-time, so I'll be cramming a minimum of 45 hours work into 20 hours . I already cram a nearly-full-time-hours-worth of work a week into 25 hours.

Sorry, I know I'm lucky to have a job and I am grateful for it. And I'm not the only one in the world with this problem. I just get frustrated because literally everyone else in the company, bar one, has someone covering at least the basics when they're away.

It just takes the pleasure out of my holiday.

Think I just needed to rant and get it off my chest.

OP posts:

SueDoku · 13/08/2013 12:46

Why does no-one cover any of your work when you're away? That's what needs addressing, especially as you say that almost everyone else has cover. This is exactly what used to happen when I was off - then I broke my leg and was off work for 5 months........

I'd have a chat with your line manager (even if it has to wait until your next assessment) about 'putting emergency cover in place just in case I ever have a long-term illness' . You get to look as though you only have the firm's interests at heart - and you get some cover in place that you can call on for your future holidays... Win-win

Original poster

DryCounty79 · 13/08/2013 13:06

Sue, thank you for your suggestion. I have pointed it out that I have no cover and I get extremely stressed when I get back from any time off, but it hasn't made a difference. However, I hadn't thought of the 'long-term illness' approach, thank you. I shall give it a go when I get a moment with my manager.

The reason no-one covers it is because the company is very, very tight and employs the bare minimum of staff. Others have been trained on other departments/jobs as they are front-line, but no-one is available to do what I do. Admin for an entire department is apparently unimportant . And we don't have such things as assessments, one-to-ones, team-building anythings, or even an occasional 'thank you'. It's basically 'we pay you to do your job and don't see why we should do anything more, if you don't like it then just leave and we'll get someone else in'.

OP posts:

Noideaatall · 13/08/2013 20:52

This happens to my DP, and used to happen to me.
Could you tell your manager you can't do it all and ask what would he/she like prioritised? I know that's no help though if they say 'everything!'... maybe point out it isn't a holiday from work if you have to still do it when you get back - more like a postponement!

Harryhairypig · 13/08/2013 21:17

Don't cancel your leave. I have similar when I get back but emergency stuff is done, but colleagues are in the same situation so it's But not just me. you need techniques to deal with the stress and just plod on when you get back. When my boss promises people that I'll do a load of stuff when I get back I just tell them I haven't been able to do it all on the first day back. Do not cancel the holiday though.

Katisha · 13/08/2013 21:23

Put an out of office referring urgent queries to your manager, saying that anything else will be dealt with in the days after your return, but to be aware there may be backlog.

mumofweeboys · 13/08/2013 21:47

What Katisha says. It will give you breathing space then methodically work through the pile and stay calm

makemineamalibuandpineapple · 13/08/2013 22:19

OP, I know how you feel. No one covers my work either. I was recently off sick for 3 weeks so I had 3 weeks worth to catch up. I have barely made a dent in it if I'm honest as colleague has been off as well so I have been single handedly answering the phone which is stopping me doing my work. I have been exhausted everyday since I got back last Wednesday.

WasabiMonster · 13/08/2013 22:40

You're not alone OP, nobody covers my work when I'm away. I'm on leave at the moment and when I get back I will be expected to pick up not just my own work but also cover for the department's PA who goes off on leave as I return. If, like me, you are in a specific admin role or co-ordinate a specific area (nobody else does what I do and sometimes this can work to my advantage when it comes to deciding or agreeing what is a priority), this is what tends to happen. It does stress me out sometimes but I find that keeping others informed on progress and negotiating where necessary, helps a lot.

TheMagicKeyCanFuckOff · 13/08/2013 22:50

You're not alone. It will be stressful and exhausting, but their attitude seems exhausting as it is, so having leave will give you a small break, even if you return to more stress ifyswim. Is it possible to check your email a bit on leave- just deleting this or that or sending formulated replies, nothing detailed?

AnyoneforTurps · 14/08/2013 00:16

Nooooo - don't check your email on leave or your manager will start expecting this. You need to have a meeting with your manager and agree that you can't/won't deal with everything on your 1st day back so s/he needs to stop promising that.

Apart from that, I don't think there is much you can do. Lots of people don't have holiday cover.

AgentZigzag · 14/08/2013 00:27

Don't you bloody dare!

And don't be spending all of your holiday stressing about what's going to be waiting when you get back.

You can only do five one thing at once, when you get back, prioritise and then work your way though, it's not possible to do 5 days work in 1 day so don't even bother trying.

If anyone's got anything to say about it just keep repeating the same thing in a patient and calm voice.

And enjoy your time off, if you feel work creeping into your mind, just think of us hard staring/cats bum mouthing you into relaxing

whois · 14/08/2013 08:50

Oh I thought this was just normal? When everyone is busy there isn't scope or the right knowledge to cover someone who is away.

Week before holiday: in office until the small hours trying to deliver project pre holiday.
Let everyone in team know who is covering said projects while away.
Week post holiday: in office till small hours sorting out everything that happened while away AND starting new project.

This years had 2 weeks off over Xmas, 3 weeks work, week off, 3 weeks work, week off. Basically want worth the additional stress!

Lonecatwithkitten · 14/08/2013 09:11

When you work for yourself this is how it always is, even if you have staff which I do. Though sometimes I think they make it worse!
So you don't set up any meetings for the day you return to work, you take the pile and divide it in to level of urgency and then you just head down and work through it. Thinking about it makes it take longer.
I anticipate that I will be more tired at the end of the week after I return from holiday than I was before I went.

NatashaBee · 14/08/2013 09:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

formicadinosaur · 14/08/2013 09:56

Is it worth looking for other jobs. Your company sounds awful

formicadinosaur · 14/08/2013 10:03

Can you send a standard email to each person and cc the boss with the reply on your first day back? Say thank you i have received your enquiry, I am presently working my way through my in tray after a weeks holiday and will deal with it in the next few days. Thank you for your patience.

If I received such a response I would be happy knowing that my enquiry hadn't been forgotten and would be dealt with soon

formicadinosaur · 14/08/2013 10:09

Also change your out of office reply saying that you are on holiday from the x to x date and all enquirers will be dealt with on the week of your return. Then add that if you need to have contact with anyone in my absence, this is my managers email address [email protected]

LouiseAderyn · 14/08/2013 10:12

I think that if you work for yourself, then fair enough to get stressed about it, because it's your profit that is affected. However, if you work for someone too tight to put holiday cover in place, then you need to force yourself to chill a bit. If getting the work done on time is so important for the company, then they would make sure you had cover while on holiday. Given that this is clearly not a priority for them, it shouldn't be such a worry for you that you are considering cancelling leave!

The purpose of a job is to give you enough income to live and to enjoy your life - the job shouldn't become your life. You will end up really unhappy if you let it take over to such a degree.

I would take the advice above - let people know that you are dealing with their issue in turn, don't promise anything will be done on the first day you are back - if your boss does, then ignore because you will have already put in your out of office messages that it won't be done on day one! If he makes promises he can't back up then let customers complain directly to him.

Divide it into piles of importance and just do your best - i wouldn't be doing extra to make up for going on holiday otherwise the company has no incentive to ever change how it operates.

RegainingUnconsciousness · 14/08/2013 10:20

I read an article recently about a woman who has an annual email holiday (I think she's still physically at work, so I don't really know how this works, but anyway...)

She sets up her email out of office to automatically reply and then DELETE all emails!

The auto reply says something like "sorry I'm on holiday and all emails will be deleted. I'll be back on X date but if your query is urgent contact XX"

So no backlog, the boss can't even email you anything, and people just get back to you when they think if it after you're back!

Is that do-able?

EBearhug · 15/08/2013 00:48

My director was complaining today that he's got around 2500 mails to catch up on after a fortnight's leave. (Only two from me.) I did suggest he just selects all and then delete all, as people will chase/resend if it's important, but he is too dedicated to listen to me. Although at least he has mostly ignored his mails while on leave. I've told him off for not taking a proper break before, so he does usually avoid responding to mails I'm on!

Another colleague has an out of office which reads something like, "I am on leave from X to Y, and emails will be read on my return with unknown delay."

I agree that you need to try and get someone to cover. I have some quite niche knowledge in my department, but I have documented everything - mostly so that I can remember what I'm doing so that if something goes wrong at 3am, someone can work out how to fix it, because I don't want to get called out when I'm not on call (I don't want to get called out at 3am even when I am on call, to be honest!) But there's other stuff I've documented that gives more of a background and covers stuff that wouldn't be dealt with out of hours. And I've also written some training sessions and presented them, on things I was getting fed up with being asked about. Basically, if I got run over by a bus tomorrow (or succeeded in getting through a job interview that still has a job at the end of it), they could cope, though they wouldn't be as fast.

Original poster

DryCounty79 · 16/08/2013 10:36

You lot are bloody lovely! Thanks for all the replies and the excellent advice you've given me.

I won't be cancelling any leave, I will be trying my absolute best to forget about work whilst I'm away, and when I get back I shall just deal with whatever is waiting for me as quickly as I can. I will also do what a couple of you have suggested, and send a 'holding' email to people. I would absolutely love to automatically delete the emails, but I don't think my boss would be too happy .

AgentZigzag, I will definitely be thinking of all your catsbum faces if I start stressing or even thinking about work whilst I'm off . My DS would love your name by the way, he's obsessed with agents and spies and all things 007.

I would look for another job, if it weren't for the fact that I really love the people I work with, and the hours I work fit in perfectly with DS's school hours. I am really extremely lucky for the most part, so will just have to grin and bear the downsides and extra stress a few days off causes!

Thank you again everyone.

OP posts:

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