To refuse this leave request for first anniversary holiday

[Clockingoff]

A woman in work was married a year ago on Sunday. Her husband surprised her with tickets to New York for St Patrick's day and a few days before and after (I'm in Ireland). The problem is that because it's a holiday time here, a number of staff have already booked days off that week and I really can't afford to let anyone else go without other staff being asked to work overtime (which will eat into the overtime budget.)

The same thing happened for her 30th birthday last year. He booked a surprise holiday to Paris and I got one day's notice that she would need three days off (and we had a large conference during one of those days so I had to 'borrow' someone from another team to cover).

I hate to say no as the tickets have been bought and she's very excited. But on the other hand I'm getting a bit fed up of these surprises that put me and colleagues in a difficult situation.

WIBU to say that due to shortage of staff it's just not possible to approve her leave, and come across as a complete cow.

Ragwort, the OP's solution is not just unpaid leave for the piss-takeremployee concerned, but unpaid leave so that someone else can be paid overtime and can cover for her.

But it does of course rely on someone being able and willing to do the cover.

Sorry, meant staff not stuff.

A friend booked a lovely surprise trip for his wife one year for their anniversary, BUT because he was thoughtful AND considerate, he spoke to her manager and made sure the timing was right for work.

Not your fault if you can't let her go. The DH needs to put more thought into it.

Fwiw something similar happened to me: one of my direct reports said that his parents had bought him cheap non refundable flights to visit them before a very important deadline. I spoke with my superior and he said that it is not our job to accomodate such requests (had it been a family emergency or so then yes we accomodate). I told the employee and he pleaded to no avail. Eventualy he found someone else to cover for him. Had him not i would have said that the company expects him to do his job and his holiday plans are not our concern.

I think you are all incredibly mean. After all , it's not the employee who has booked the holiday. According to the OP she sounds genuinely surprised , and yes, news flash !.30yr old blokes are not usually that organized.. although this will be his wife's opportunity to ensure it doesn't happen again. Unless this is going to be seriously detrimental to the business, and unless you have sat her down following the last escapade and spelt out that no leave will be approved at short notice, then I would be looking for a way to approve it rather than a way to be as miserable as I could 'to teach a lesson' . some of the replies on here have been soooo mean. Maybe it's jealousy that they haven't been given a surprise romantic getaway, there's more to life than work !.says I , in the same ft job for 30yrs (sigh)

I had a coworker who had form for this; 'surprise trips' or 'unrefundable tickets', always last minute, or at Christmas or other peak holiday dates. It was a real pain in the arse for the rest of us as our manager wasn't the most assertive and just expected the rest of us to work around this coworker's 'uncancellable' plans. It was infuriating, even though it didn't mean overtime or extra days, just covering her workload and the fact that none of us would be able to be off around Christmas or other major holidays because she always managed to 'have to have' those days off.

OP, it eventually cause a mutiny AND a union enquiry for our (very nice, but very weak) supervisor due to 'inequitable treatment' and 'favouritism'. All very unpleasant, I assure you, but this coworker had to change her ways and advance leave rules were in acted to assure it didn't continue. If I were you, I'd nip this right in the bud. I'd either deny the leave and/or tell coworker that, in future, leave will be denied unless it's scheduled at least XXX days in advance to avoid disruption in the business. Tell her that if her husband wants to 'surprise her' that he needs to do it a little more ahead of time.

I take the approach that I say yes unless it absolutely can't be done - but always try and find a way round things. Usually there is. It's very important to foster goodwill in a team - that goodwill tends to come back at times when staff are needed to go the extra mile.

If leave absolutely can't be granted in this case, then obviously you will have to tell her no. If there is way round it and you are able to grant it then I would make sure that she knows it's the last time and that leave must be booked a month in advance (wherever possible) - if it's not booked in advance then there is a real risk of it being declined.

enacted, not 'in acted'. FU autocorrect!!

If the budget allows and someone can e found to fill in I would offer her unpaid leave.
It s completely unreasonable of her to expect leave at such short notice for a holiday weekend.
You should bring it up at staff meetings or send a reminder to all staff about the policy about booking annual leave.
Also as manager, authorising or not leave is your job and responsibility. It might look like favouritism or set another precedent if she can repeatedly take leave in this fashion.
To cover yourself I think you should also wrrite or document to her he solution - ie she can take unpaid leave if cover can be found and confrmed before a certain date and in future to please follow company policy regarding notice to book annual leave around bank holidays etc at peak times when other staff have already booked their leave.

I would genuinely be suspicious about the surprise factor.
Her husband needs to learn to do a little more
Work around booking these surprises too- such as checking she can leave work

Idont think the excuse that '30 year old blokes are not that organised' holds any strength. Hat s absolute rubbish. If he can organise his side of the trip he needs to cop on and give her career and job the same consideration, however precedent might have been set with surprise leave was granted in the first instance.
30 year old blokes can be organised age not gender is mt an excuse here

Def NBU!
I would add, when you tell her NO, you could suggest that she pass her DH your contact details so in the event of another 'surprise trip' he could request the leave from you first without ruining any ones plans? Or, that he avoid major holiday times in the first bloody place!

Fostering goodwill in a team also includes paying attention to how the rest of the team will feel if someone is constantly having "surprise" holidays at busy times and around holidays.

Her husband really sounds like a bit of a prick to keep doing this. It makes her look like an unreliable idiot to have so little control over her own life.

news flash !.30yr old blokes are not usually that organized..

30 is a fully fledged adult of more than a decade's standing in the prime of their working life.

Yes, lots of them are extremely well organised or most things in our society wouldn't function.

I agree, '30yr old blokes are not usually that organized' is a really daft thing to say. If he's capable of booking a trip then he's capable of thinking about the implications for work.

It's not 'mean' to keep your company's best interests in mind; it's a manager's job.

As for goodwill and finding a way round things, well it won't foster much goodwill if the others, who've played by the rules to book their time off or accepted that they can't have the time off, see this colleague swanning off on a last-minute trip.

And there is a way round things; it involves the employee taking the leave unpaid so the company can afford the overtime.

Fwiw I wouldn't ask her to find if one of her colleagues will swap their booked leave, for hers. I think it'd cause tension on the team as team members might not want to swap but will feel obliged to.

Another vote for unpaid so you can pay overtime to be nice but really would want to say no

YANBU

I agree with PP it is really unprofessional to ask her to get one of her colleagues to cover for her.

I would just say no.

Unpaid or don't go. And don't even try it again. She is one of a team and others have a private life too.

Fostering goodwill in a team also includes paying attention to how the rest of the team will feel if someone is constantly having "surprise" holidays at busy times and around holidays.

Totally agree, and having worked on a team, some years ago, where one person was allowed to play fast and loose with little things like timekeeping, and generally doing nothing, it can very quickly sour team spirit, and result in a loss of respect for the team manager.

OP, I would be offering unpaid leave, only, in order that cover can be used-that is, if it is possible to get cover, in the first place. I would be reminding one and all re the annual leave request procedure.

I would not be passing contact details to her husband. There is nothing to stop her booking her leave, from here on, as per company procedure, and then he can surprise her with whatever he has booked.
It is not reasonable to expect to get last minute leave requests approved, especially around a bank holiday when lots of people might already have leave booked. I would be fuming if I was on that team, and saw someone getting away with this.

I'd refuse it. We had a staff member similar to this and we agreed the first time. The second time we refused it and she never returned to work after the refusal. We have had occasions that partners have approached us with plenty of notice of surprise anniversary/birthday/special occasion breaks and have always granted the leave. She's clearly not a team player that she expects special consideration at busy times and her DH will know when those busy times are.

I would let her go but make it perfectly clear that it will be the LAST time that it will happen and explain what an inconvenience it is to you and other employees. She needs to understand that her DH is a numpty and no one books holiday without checking they can have the time off!

I have booked 2 surprise trips for my DH over the years and have always made sure to get in touch with his employer first.

I'm a manager in Ireland. I hate St Patrick's day

And my staff

I think I've turned down at least 4 requests for holidays over Paddy's this week already. I would get bulldozed by any one of them (if I was lucky enough they didn't go to the union instead) if someone else gets off that week for any reason short of death. You totally have my sympathy.

I would also ask to see a copy of the holiday documents with prices redacted to make sure the trip has actually been booked

Sounds like her DH doesn't value her job/career at all - bet he didn't wait till the last minute to organise his own leave.

I agree with clavarine.
Anyone who works in a smaller business knows how AL works and I bet she's explained it to her DH at some point.
She knows who's booked time off and that she's be unlikely to get the AL if she requested. But if her DH plans a surprise trip, without mentioning it to her colleagues, somehow everyone else will have to bend over backwards.
Unpaid leave & advice not to let it happen again.

how come your organisation doesn't have some form of AL policy that during times of high interest in taking time off (St P's day, Xmas etc) that no requests are granted until all are in and then a decision made based on previous allowances ?

I think MrsC may have hit the nail on the head re cause of the problem.