To be annoyed that I can't take annual leave in the summer holidays

[Thisismynewname123]

I've been in my job a year. It's a project so there are phases and deadline. It has been delayed from original timeline, which now means that my role will have it's busiest time in the summer. I have been told that I won't be able to take any annual leave during the school summer holidays. This isn't a childcare issue. Both DH and I wfh due to covid. But DH is not happy that I'm saying that we can't do anything as a family in the summer holidays. I'm not really sure there is anything I can do. My manager is a father himself so I feel as though he should be a bit more understanding, and say that if I can find cover that I could take a few days off. Has anyone been in the same situation? I'm not really sure what I'm asking. I'm just want to vent.

I understand the December block out that some workplaces have. Summer holidays feel different though, as it's the only opportunity to really go away. Especially this year, as going abroad it pretty much off the table, so it has to be the summer for any expectation of semi-decent weather

You need to get over this mindset. I remember enough wet and cold Augusts before mild and dry Octobers to know that in the UK, the weather isn't a reasonable argument to expect to be allowed a summer holiday.

You just have to make the best of it. Book for October half term, make the most of weekends and put DH in charge of arranging and covering summer holiday childcare.

I don’t understand you saying there’s no point as you need to take calls in office hours. We had a break years ago , probably Wednesday to Sunday, when I needed to research. I worked Wednesday to Friday in the archive and DH did stuff with our DS (in London) and we had our meal out and cinema etc and then had the weekend together. Why not do that? At least you’ll all get a break. I’d stay somewhere with good wifi and a desk like a travel inn. Or you could do Friday to Monday or Tuesday and work the hours you need to.

Have you already booked time off thats been cancelled? If so I sympathise with you.

If you haven't booked anything and are now moaning then I sympathise with your manager.

Could you book a normal week holiday wherever you normally would go and you work in the hotel/caravan/villa and join in the evening and weekend activities?

I’m in project based work and it’s really common in our industry. It’s usually a week or two that’s blocked off due to programme stuff.
I’ve had jobs where entire months were no goes.
It’s not for your manager to sort, you need to be proactive but baring in mind annual leave is paid, they may not be willing to provide cover as they are paying two people.
Also allowing exceptions usually causes a headache with other staff who may have already been told no, so a blanket no is easier than being “understanding”

Project managers (or their manager) cannot plan ahead to make a decision about summer holidays until about a month in advance. Does not say much about their project management skills.

OP, think about the different hours, working from holiday base or a Friday and Monday off as options. Whilst your DH may not have expressed it well, I'd be annoyed in his shoes.

My response to the comment about poor service or some issue 'because it's holiday time' or 'because it's a bank holiday' is to point out how long the dates were fixed. The date of August bank holiday in England has been last Monday in August for at least 40 years, for example.

@Dishwashersaurous odd days is what I'm hoping to get away with. If I can get a Friday and Monday then at least that's a few nights. And no, this is a particular project. It won't happen every year.

@OwlinaTree thanks for the suggestion but I definitely don't want to take the children out of school unnecessarily.

@CrazyCatsAndKittens he is not against going away with the children without me. He has done in the past, although not in recent years. Obviously, not the preferred option for any of us. One DC has special needs and dealing with that alone can be very difficult.

@newnortherner111 without going into details, it is definitely unforeseen rather than poor management.

@PurpleyBlue I do understand that. It's frustrating because earlier in my career I was encouraged to take some accountancy exams, and I always held off from them because I never wanted to be tied to month end/year end restrictions.

It's unfortunate, but it is what it is. I understand that some people deal with it every year but to be told no holiday all summer when you have children does affect family life. Luckily it should be just this year so we will have to muddle through with big days out at the weekends.

How about doing a Fri -Mon break and tag it to bank holiday in August ?
We used to do this and go somewhere close approx 1.5 -2 hrs away and go Friday after work so we had 3 nights, or even Fri -Mon but we left accommodation late Sunday night so had the whole day and evening on Sun but were back home for Work Monday.
We did this loads and it worked fine as a compromise.

It is the way of the project management environment. If the project has to be delivered by a given date and the programme runs late and milestone dates have to change it then depends on what resources are needed. Are you one of them?

If so maybe you should get your DH to tell the client that they're unreassonable [big grin]

OK. If you can get odd days and its for just one year then nothing you can do about it.

I read it as though you weren't going to be able to take any days at all.

. I have a small team reporting into me so there are enough people that I should be able to find cover for a few days. I expect there are others in the team being told the same thing, but I haven't really discussed it with anyone.

Any chance of a team meeting to discuss it? I used to work in accounting. The week either side of end of quarters were banned for holidays and the few days either side of month end. Year end was a big PITA because reporting had to be finished within the first week of Jan. Something that only crept in after I'd started the job. All my DC and DH have birthdays on the last day of the month.

It's all shit but it is what it is.

With all the talk of diversity in the workplace, bring your full self to work, corporate values never mind the sacrifices people have met to keep the show on the road the last 2 years with Covid, I'm actually really surprised that an employer would do this.

It would be a dealbreaker for me to be told I couldn't take annual leave during school holidays. Especially this year.

@Focalpoint

With all the talk of diversity in the workplace, bring your full self to work, corporate values never mind the sacrifices people have met to keep the show on the road the last 2 years with Covid, I'm actually really surprised that an employer would do this.

It would be a dealbreaker for me to be told I couldn't take annual leave during school holidays. Especially this year.

Yep, me too. I have done projects most of my working life and never had this issue - I know OP says it wasn't poor management but if you can't let staff have time off because of deadlines, your deadlines need to move or you need more staff.

Sorry but I don't think it's unreasonable if the project/deadline date changes were unforeseen. Shit happens.