AIBU to want more holiday?

[Popskipiekin]

My employer has just announced that all staff can have 2 extra days paid leave over Christmas. The days are fixed, we can’t take them another time. I work part time and one of the leave days falls on my normal day off. AIBU to ask for an extra portion of a day off (I would be asking for half a day beforehand) so I get the same as everyone else (1.6 days total as I work 80% hours) or is that being really petty?

It’s clearly quite a divisive issue!
To put minds at ease/ dispel this point: I work in a large organisation with >400 staff, so taking my manager (of a team of 12) quietly to one side and asking to be treated commensurately with my FT working colleagues (particularly as he knows I often have to work my non working day) will not mean the offer is retracted for the rest of the staff.
The message to staff is worded as “extra days off” and is a one off.

I like the idea of proposing I take another day that week as my non working day, although that may seem to my FT colleagues that I am being treated more favourably than them in that case (getting 2 days instead of 1.6). All I’d like is an extra half day (I’m definitely not going to quibble over 0.6 vs 0.5!) and will suggest that I’m permitted to take an extra paid half day at a suitable time for the business.

I don’t think this equates to organisations which regularly close at set times a year and either you benefit from that or you don’t. This is a nice couple of days extra holiday, which those who work part time won’t benefit from if they are already off (and not being paid).

I would ask. You don’t know if it’s something they’ve considered or not considered. And if it was me, I wouldn’t want my staff to feel bad over half a days holiday. But if the fact is they are closing for 2 days so annual leave is not being taken for those days rather than extra given, then you might not get it. But definitely ask.

My (large) employer gave everyone two closure days in the summer as a thank you. These were of no benefit to a large group of staff whose work hours are defined by the work they need to get done, and came at a particularly busy point as well. There was much complaining, and in the end that group of employees were given a cash bonus instead.

It's more difficult when it is a smaller employer, but it probably does no harm to mention if you're missing out - they might do something. It would be particularly galling for anyone who happens to work neither of the extra days.

We are getting extra days too but if you're part time (as I am) it's pro ratad. So we get three extra days off but because I work 60% FTE I only get 60% of that time and the rest is removed from my annual leave allowance. I think that's fair.

In our office (large company with multiple UK sites) we are given an annual discretionary Christmas day off, the actual day of which is never decided until a few weeks before (it's often Xmas eve or NYE or another day falling in the week between). If you work part time and The Day falls on your normal day off, you can choose another day over the festive period as approved by your line manager instead. Which seems fair! I don't think YABU OP.

I don't understand the attitudes to this either, it is absolutely fair that you get the same benefit as full time workers, pro-rated, you deserve the equivalent thank you to them! Where I work this would have been considered right from the start.

So full time staff are getting two days. If you are part time and work 50%, for example, of a full timer you should only really get 1 day off anyway! Why should you get two days when you don’t work 5 days. I think you should be grateful to be honest.

@carbhunter

As usual with threads about employment issues I think it's sad that so many people are used to being treated poorly by their employers.

The bar is very low and posters are always told to be 'grateful' for anything they get and not 'greedy' for fear of having what little benefits they have taken away from them.

Having worked in hr for decent employers for years who treat part time staff equally this sort of attitude just makes me feel sad.

This

I dont think yabu at all. They are actually getting an extra day off but you arent as it's on your normal day off. How is that fair?

It's a similar situation to when part time staff are off sick and the first 3 working days are "waiting days" before sick pay is paid. I work a three day week. When I was off sick earlier this year I had a full week unpaid before I was paid sick pay, whereas full time staff who work a five day week still get two days pay in their first week off sick.

We got an extra day's "Thank holiday" this year. I work 20 hrs per week so I got a half day.
I think you should ask.

Those who work full time are effectively being thanked “more” than part timers. - maybe this is the ideal way to look at it. They worked more, they should be thanked more.

@Bluebellbike

It's a similar situation to when part time staff are off sick and the first 3 working days are "waiting days" before sick pay is paid. I work a three day week. When I was off sick earlier this year I had a full week unpaid before I was paid sick pay, whereas full time staff who work a five day week still get two days pay in their first week off sick.

But you wouldn’t normally be paid for all five days of that week - only the three you would usually work. So you then earn sick pay for the very next day of your working pattern. As you’re part time, it’s as if those other two days, when you aren’t paid to work, don’t exist. So it’s perfectly normal for it to work this way.

@VikingsandDragons

Those who work full time are effectively being thanked “more” than part timers. - maybe this is the ideal way to look at it. They worked more, they should be thanked more.

Yes, I agree, FT workers are on 5 days a week and I work 4; so they should get 2 days “thank you” and I should get 1.6 days (not 1 day, as is currently the case). The voting is about 2/3 IABU but, hoping my manager is in the other 1/3 camp, I am going to raise with him tomorrow .

Well I’m sure you’ve all been desperate to hear but unfortunately - for me! - the response is business is closed and that’s life. I’ve pushed back a little slightly saying but what about workers who are usually off both days, would there be an exception for them, and I even quoted a little bit about PT workers rights, but I think at this point I’m going to retire quietly to a corner with my one day off and be, as so many PPs have said I should, jolly grateful for it.

My workplace are closing Christmas eve. They have been very, very careful to word it so it's not an extra day of annual leave that everyone would have, but if you would have worked that day normally you still get paid. If you don't work that day, you get nothing! They usually do it every year though, so p/t staff benefit some years!

That sucks OP.

I don't think you should have to be grateful for being treated lesser than full time people!