To be irritated by this poor system?

[Stripeyjumpers]

I’m just sounding off because I am frustrated.

There is a funeral later this week. I requested leave from work over a fortnight ago for it.

if they refuse (quite possible) I am in the uncomfortable position of having to let the widowed spouse know the day before that I can’t come. If they say yes, I’m left with a last minute scramble of train bookings.

Is it really so much to ask you get an answer in a timely period?

Why are they not giving you an answer?

I would just ask again and if they say anything tell them you need to make travel arrangements, not that that's any of their business.

You don’t just ask - that would be too straightforward! You have to fill in a form that then goes to those in charge who consider if your request is worthy.

That's really unreasonable. You need to contact your manager/HR and explain that you need a decision now so you can make arrangements.

Well it's not about being worthy is it.

A leave request is a statement that you are not available to work that day.

They look at the business impact and either accept or reject.

Likewise you are free to take the day without permission and face whatever disciplinary proceedings they choose to enact.

If you feel like you can't get leave approved at all then that's a different post

Depends on the job requirements, your contract, who has already booked leave, and the closeness of the relationship with the person who has died, surely?

It like they really don’t want to have you take leave sometimes. We have to download an app, request a password from our manager, who in tune requests the code from admin - to access the app. Then you have to place your request via the app, wait for the app to be accessed by your manager and for it to be approved or not, and wait for the app to send you a message to approve or decline the holiday request. So far, it has taken 3 months just to ge the code for the app - which still hasn’t been received!
we are not allowed to have an open calendar on the office which you can just look at to check if anyone is on holiday or not as that would be a breach of privacy …. and the managers work along side staff, no one works remotely etc.
total
madness and so unnecessary and time consuming as well as irritating.

hope you get the time you need.

@ScentOfAMemory those things are dependent on whether I get leave or not. But I do think given that it is a funeral some knowledge that isn’t a matter of hours before the event is reasonable. Otherwise I will have to message the family with ‘sorry, can’t come after all’ which feels pretty horrible.

@Alphabet1spaghetti2 definitely, they often want to make it as awkward as possible.

We have to fill something in about what the impact of the leave will mean and are we really sure we need it and so on.

Thats a shit system. Can by your direct line manager approve it as a one off with the system being updated after.

Depending on your situation I would think about ‘telling’ them I’d be off, not requesting it off. Of course that is a risky strategy, but I’d make it clear I’m happy to follow procedure for standard holidays but not for compassionate events like funerals. Maybe ask HR to look at their policy and raise the issue you have.

Your holiday time is personal time. There is no law which states you have to give a reason for requesting a basic legal entitlement.
me being an arse. would probably write down that I needed the time for something ‘extreme’ such as needing gender reassignment surgery or a lobotomy… and such surgery would enable me to continue to work in an atmosphere not conducive to good staff morale. Or I needed time to converse with my union rep and acas as to how difficult getting time off booked was. Or state that I needed to book holiday so I could have a holiday as it was my basic legal right…. Oh the fun I could have messing with them!

sometimes you just have to make a judgement about how important job really is

I missed an important funeral years ago because my manager said no. I still bitterly regret not going anyway, and dealing with whatever fallout later. Even if I had lost my job over it, well, I had moved on to bigger and better things within a year anyway, it wouldnt have made any difference to my life

I have a friend told he couldnt have time off for his daughters wedding - he went anyway - they sacked him- he got a new job within a week - his old employers then found they couldnt replace him -he made the right decision in my mind

We have set holidays unfortunately @Alphabet1spaghetti2 - any leave outside of that has to be approved and usually isn’t.

I think instead of putting yourself in the position of having to say "I won't be able to come after all" you know your leave system and should've set expectations based on that.

"I'll do my very best to be there for the funeral but as you know I'm a teacher, it is rare that they will approve leave requests during term time. If I can't make it I'll be thinking of you all"

Agree with @Nimbostratus100 that’s it’s basically a sign to look for something else.
@Stripeyjumpers and such places usually find that sick day are unusually high asa result- because as you’ve found out, life doesn’t happen at set times.
(assuming you can afford to take sick days).
Such rigidity in ‘rules’ shows a total disregard to staff - even schools with known, set holidays would be able to let you know sooner. Some employers wonder why they can’t get staff - well, this style of treating employees gets known about in the wider area and becomes a giant red flag when other organisations can and will treat you like the human being you are.

@YesYou but even with that it is still either going to be a last minute ‘I’m coming’ or ‘I’m not coming’ which gives the message you don’t really care - of course this isn’t the case but I’m mindful of how hard it is anyway when bereaved.

Book your train tickets with the option to cancel. If you haven't picked them up they just refund straight back to your card.