Extra holiday - would you be honest?

[StillCoughingandLaughing]

I probably will be honest because I’m superstitious about these things, but just interested in views

The company I work for has switched to a new holiday booking system as of 1 January. I went to book a holiday yesterday and the system is showing I have my full annual allowance, plus five days carried over. I did indeed carry five days over, but I booked off the first two working days of January (using the old system). This hasn’t been tracked to the new system.

Should I be honest and retroactively book off those two days, or do I enjoy an extra two days off?

I work in this area and we would do a check in a few months when the new system is in a while and we would discover it.

I would wait there may be time for the system to catch up. eg if a few people notice they may run an audit. If they don't then I would enjoy my extra 2 days caused by a blip in the system. No guilt and no concerns over Karma.

@StillCoughingandLaughing Very easily! Most people have to double-check their holiday every so often, and without the option to refer back to last year’s details, it would be very easy to get confused

I opened my leave and was surprised that I have more than I expected. Our system is automatic and it deletes as it goes so it only tells you how many you have left. I needed to ring payroll to ask how many I carried over last year and cross reference as I didn't bother checking. So I may not notice if I had 2 extra days. (or 2 less)

I personaly would d be honest as it would play on my mind otherwise

Seriously do you think someone wouldnt know how many days of leave you have a year?

Are you sure you’ve understood the situation properly?

The point is the system is saying I have 30 days left when I know it’s actually 28. If I tried to take 32 days, then the system would reject it and of course someone would realise something is wrong. What I’m talking about is whether I should rectify an error or take the 30 days the system will let me take.

I wouldnt say anything, but I wouldnt book them to take off. Then if they do work it out and remove them, you havent done anything wrong. If they dont work it out, carry them over to next year and enjoy the bonus of two extra days holiday next year

Have they asked you to confirm your A/L looks right? If not then stuff it. If someone finds out later on, say you never checked anything, just booked assuming it was correct and you’ll take 2 days less than next year / cancel days off.

What @SeaToSki says sounds sensible.

Except it clearly shows you've taken none when you know you've taken 2 days. I'm struggling to see how you could claim you've not noticed.

If someone looked at my holiday allowance now and said ‘Didn’t you have the first two days of the year off?’ I would just say ‘Yes; it obviously didn’t get transferred from the old system. I’ll update it now’.

If someone spotted at the end of the year, I’d think it was perfectly reasonable to say I’d assumed the system was accurate.

I'd be honest, but then again I tried that and it worked out for me!

I keep a separate spreadsheet because the company system is a mess.
I have it in writing from the administrator that I have 2 more full days than I do, when I queried the balance!

Honest. I'm rubbish at weaving a web of lies, and have an uncontrollable urge to fess up, so honesty is always my policy to avoid any backfires. I had a situation where I bought 5 days leave and they never took the money. Painful as it was I fessed up.

I couldn’t have enjoyed an extra day off for the guilt of stealing a paid day away from work.
It could get discovered and your colleagues could lose all trust in you. Is it worth it?

OP, please don't end up like this insufferable mug. Just keep quiet and if they eventually find out just say you didn't notice. They can't prove otherwise.

If I tried to take 32 days, then the system would reject it

No it won't because 2 of the days aren't showing so the system only thinks you're taking 30. You are planning to take 32 days.

Always be honest, it’s fraud if not reported.

If someone looked at my holiday allowance now and said ‘Didn’t you have the first two days of the year off?’ I would just say ‘Yes; it obviously didn’t get transferred from the old system. I’ll update it now’.

It would be bloody obvious that you noticed earlier and were hoping no one would spot it.

Do you seriously think that anyone will believe you booked mor days off 11 days into a new year and didn't notice that days you'd taken off hadn't been deducted?

I bet you'd be up in arms if it had deducted even a single day you'd not taken or lost your days carried over.

Exactly Soup

I think shes testing the playing dumb thing on MN.

Yes play dumb.
I genuinely don’t have a clue how many days I have of have taken. So I genuinely would believe the system

I'd take them too but be prepared you might lose some/have to pay them back at some point.

I can't believe the debate is about whether you would be caught out or not.

It's dishonest, you may get away with it but morally it's the same as stealing 2 days wages

Enjoy the extra days! These companies do not care about you lol. You probably deserve it too!

NO WAY DONT BE HONEST! They'll never find out!

agree with @seatoski - if they've put in a new system, you'd think this is an issue they'd be looking into and it'll likely get corrected. If this happened to you, it's probably happened to other people taking holiday in Jan and having a carry over amount, and one of them may report it, and then they'll check all the people in that situation...

be honest
not out of any moral obligation - I have known of people where their leave was not recorded accurately, and when it was discovered some time later they were suddenly required to work it back or pay it back. If you need time off for childcare you don't want to risk being 2 days down at a time not of your choosing.

I wouldn't take them - someone will notice. You are unlikely to be disciplined if it looks like it is a mistake but may have to correct from the next year's allowance, which might mean you lose out when you want the days

As a manager, when we had a new system, I kept a record of what holidays my team had left.

Not because I didn’t trust them but because it wasn’t clear what was going to be carried over/what wasn’t

I then double checked to make sure everything had been carried over correctly (it was inconsistent 🙄)

I’d have known if holiday had been carried over incorrectly...