To think my boss is pathetic?

[Boringboss]

Been with my company for 4 years - in her team since May. She’s been here for 16 years.

She’s not horrible but a complete micro manager and if she’s ‘annoyed’ with you then she’ll just ignore you for days (work remotely).

I think she micro manages and keeps information to herself to make herself indispensable and irreplaceable to the company BUT my bug bear is about annual leave.

She boasts that she never uses her full allowance and hasn’t taken a holiday in 4 years because she is too ‘loyal’. On the other hand, I use my full allowance each year but others on the team seem to follow her lead and I have had a few snide comments about my recent holiday (one week OOO).

IMO life is too short to be ‘loyal’ to a company you don’t own and would sack you tomorrow if it benefited them.

If they want to work for free - more fool them.

She sounds deeply annoying.

Crazy to not take leave out of loyalty. A company can drop you tomorrow- everyone is temporary.

More fool them.

What a gang of fuckwhits

Her manager should be looking at why she isn't taking her full leave and then encouraging her to take some. It's poor management if this type of presenteeism isn't dealt with as it is indicative of all sorts of other poor behaviours (like the ones you mention). Ignore the comments - you are doing nothing wrong and if I was managing your team I'd be concerned about the obvious dysfunction.

I’d be asking if her workload is too large if she can’t manage it all without giving up her leave 😁

I’d challenge the comments, especially if they come from her. You’re being asked to forfeit part of your remuneration by someone in your management chain. That’s not an acceptable behaviour. It’s the same as asking you to return some of your wage, or not use any other perks/benefits.

Presenteeism and 'loyalty' to a company at your own expense is bloody stupid. She sounds a fee sandwiches short, OP. The company could let any one of you go tomorrow and does she think they'd thank her for never taking holidays? Counter productive too, what's better for coming back refreshed and in better spirits than a break. I would raise this with someone higher if you can. More fool her if she wants to waste her leave but it sounds like some team members are impressionable enough to get sucked into doing the same and they need reminding not to. She sounds to have an odd approach overall though. I'd probably have one eye on vacancies in other teams within the company if possible.

IMO life is too short to be ‘loyal’ to a company you don’t own and would sack you tomorrow if it benefited them

100%. I have been there, working weekends and working late, only to be made redundant after 12 years.

In my old company this type of behaviour would flag up possible dishonest motives, or trying to hide substandard work

Might be the same for the new company as well tbh

Log this somewhere and make it known. It might seem minor but it can quickly escalate with control freaks like this. If she sees you're not reacting it will get worse. Definitely query if with HR or something even if you frame it as a genuine question, I.e 'manager hasn't taken leave in 4 years and has made comments to me that this is because of loyalty, I'm not raising an official complaint but I am concerned as colleagues are following suit that of I go for promotion in the future I will be seen as disloyal. Can I be discriminated against for taking my annual leave?'

It sounds like work is her life. She's deluding herself about her importance and one day, she might finally realise it. More to be pitied than copied.

The only problem with this suggestion is that HR would definitely tell your boss who raised the query and mentioned the 4 year no leave thing.
no, they wouldn’t keep it confidential, before someone says that.

Leave, find another job, if you can. Not much can compensate for having a manager like that.

My experience is these kind of people are rarely good employees. Micro managers and those who never leave the office often seem to do this because they're not massively effective at their own job and try and make themselves look like they're achieving something.

What's she trying to stop work from discovering if she's on annual leave?

Could be work shoved into the back of a drawer, could be fraud, could be theft, could be anything...

Sounds like a very odd culture. Everyone in our workplace takes their full annual leave entitlement. Can’t imagine why you wouldn’t. It’s certainly not some sort of sign of commitment! If anything, I’d tell my line managees off if they were not taking their annual leave as it’s likely to lead to poor mental and physical health.

I’d just feel sorry for her. She obviously has nothing else going on outside of work.

Correct and concise. I like your style.

Sometimes people don't take their holiday because they have something to hide. I would be worried if I was her boss.

She sounds like my old boss. There's a reason she's my ex boss.

Guarantee she's crap at her job. 100%.

What she chooses to do with her own annual leave is up to her. However, she should not be snarky about other people, or act as though they are disloyal or skivers if they take the annual leave to which they are entitled.

IME people who don't take leave do it because people will notice how little they do or how many problems they cause in their absence

🤣🤣 straight to the point, no messing here 🤣

Yep. I work in a regulated environment and not taking two consecutive weeks off a year or not taking your leave allowance would get you investigated, since it's known to be a tactic used by embezzlers, fraudsters and people covering up losses.

God I hate the silent treatment, it's my mother's go to so I find it triggering.
I second being extremely direct.
"Is there something you would like to say?"
Either they admit it and communicate or they passively say "no no nothing" but in that moment they know that they are passive and covert and you are brave enough to communicate