Always on annual leave

[Abitboring]

I have a relatively new hire (but not direct report) who has been in the job since January. She took annual leave in February, April, May and June. Always about a week and always a 'holiday', so not family stuff etc. It made her training slow and difficult as there was only one full month she worked in her first five months of employment. There's been a bit of 'sorry, just got back from annual leave' as an excuse for one thing or another. It also made me wonder whether she's going to do this every year now and will effectively work part time a few months in a row.

I wouldn't mind as much if she was fully competent in her role, but she isn't. I find her a slow worker and I need to remind her about a lot of things, which I feel I shouldn't have to do if she just kept a list or something to remind herself what needs done when and how.

AIBU to be annoyed?

If the reporting structure is poor or the job description poorly thought out, you may be getting someone in the role who is expected to learn about, or know, things that were never obvious from the job title. For instance (for the sake of argument), someone who’s used to working on head office front desk or hotel front of house, suddenly being dropped into a ‘receptionist’ job at a newly set up scientific research unit, where the research staff all know each other’s comings and goings and talk in their own jargon, and never tell the poor receptionist what they’re up to or what’s going on because what’s the point, she’s the new girl…

It may not be this at all, but you can see how the job might be tricky.

You need to chat to her boss

Have you communicated to her that it's inconvenient to you/the team for her to take so much annual leave during her training period? If not, then I do think YABU.

As for her being 'always on annual leave' surely she has a finite amount of leave? If she's taken 4 weeks already, she can't have much left for the remainder of the year so this won't continue to be an issue?

It sounds like her competency needs addressing but I wouldn't bring her approved absences into this - she is only taking the leave she is entitled to.

That's what I was thinking! Then parental leave, unpaid leave and then back to medical leave.....

You sound like a really poor manager to be honest.

I am also in management (of a team of around 30 folk). It’s rare to have a week where no one is off on annual leave. Some weeks it’s just one person, other weeks it can be 5 or 6. In the winter it can be more due to illnesses being much more predominant, so you’ll have sick calls as well as those off on holiday.

You get on with it. You accept that some weeks you just have to focus on the essentials to keep everything ticking over. You can get on with the other tasks when more people are back.

It’s incredibly unfair to have a go at someone who has booked annual leave through the correct channels. She is entitled to a break just as much as anyone else is.

Instead of wasting time ranting about her, why don’t you spend the time developing a plan and strategy for the next few weeks on how you’re going to:

A) cope with a reduced workforce and prioritise your workload
B) speed along her training to make her a more useful member of the team
C) look ahead to the next period of annual leave and strategise beforehand so you are prepared and organised going into it

Being a manager is never without struggle, by the way. There will always be something challenging going on with new scenarios you have to navigate. You’re very lucky if this is your first challenging situation.

I bet it's frustrating as it affects you personally as you're training her, but she's entitled to use her leave whenever she wants (obviously subject to manager approval). If she were calling in sick constantly then fair enough but she isn't. I would work on a more detailed training plan to get her clued up quicker which will make your life easier too

How is she playing the system? She had an annual leave entitlement that she is suing in a way that her line manager approves of!

Perhaps you misunderstood me. Many companies use 360 degree feedback so it's completely appropriate and expected that someone provides information about individuals doing the same job. And I would expect a manager at some point to ask a person doing training or mentoring "how's she doing?"

And OP could completely have a chat in a nice friendly helpful way. As in "I'm worried that you're not picking things up and it might effect your long term prospects here."

Sitting a new person down and telling them they are doing themselves no favours and, telling them you have the power to impact their probation or impact their end of year review is not 360 feedback.

Thats not how it was designed or how it should be executed. We don’t even know if this company uses 360 feedback. And where it is used, a new person needs to be acclimatised to it. The first session should never be someone of an equal job role including some soft threats.

If there was 360 feedback in this place of work that was used, Op would have been providing feedback along the way. Without mentioning probation or end of year reviews.

Again, all companies don’t have end of year reviews.

Which is why 360 feedback is now commonly considered to not be the great tool it should be, because it’s poorly executed.

The Op can provide feedback, to their manager. Though it doesn’t sound like their manager is very good.

I'm surprised she can book and take so much AL in advance of working that time though.

She is requesting the leave and it's being approved so it's not really her fault - you need to talk to the person who is approving her leave.

Also this...

Always about a week and always a 'holiday', so not family stuff etc.

This is none of your business - if the leave is approved she can do what she wants with it - it does not matter if it's 'family stuff' or not.

Why is training taking 5 months? Surely 2 weeks should be enough.
If she's anything like me then it's just a job to pay the bills and she won't care about colleagues. She's also entitled to her annual allowance for time off and if she wants to take it each month then that's her right.

Every job I've taken I've always had holidays I've commited to so it's likely she had things planned already. Sounds like she's pretty much used up most of her holiday anyway now. If her boss has signed it off , good on her. I don't see it as playing the system at all and she doesn't really have to tell you about her holiday, she has to tell her manager, and her manager could tell you. Or you could ask...

Two weeks for training? The training process where I work takes well over two years. You learn a bit, then work on that, then more training is added, work on that, etc, until you are fully trained. Some people are never fully trained.

Can you not ask her then to share details of her a/l with you as it impacts your work in training her? I am all for people taking their a/l and playing the system however they can, particularly in non essential private sector roles. How important is what you do in the greater scheme of things? If she is just working to make big money for shareholders why should she do more than bare minimum? Perhaps this could be a moment for you to reflect that you care too much about your work?

100% YABU, they're entitled to take leave as and when they choose with the approval of their manager. You basically sound like you want to control the annual leave of soneone who doesn't report to you - does that sound reasonable? Sounds like you shouldn't be working with people at all!!
Take it up with their manager if you really think you have a case!

Indeed, if she cared about the job, or knew how to be a professional, she wouldn't have taken these days off.

That being said, the vast majority of people get a lot more exploited (and abused) by their employer, compared to a few little snubs that they do here and there... So, I she still has a positive moral credit, in my eyes.

Also, who the heck approved these leaves? No way all them were pre-booked.

As for your concerns about the future: Well, she spent her leave already, didn't she?
And she isn't going to be a newbie next year, is she?

It's all good. Collect your salary and carry on... They are living in excess and leisure on our backs, no need to make it worse between us too!

YABU

She’s entitled to take her annual leave, just as you are entitled to take yours.

She’s still relatively new and maybe those simple tasks she keeps forgetting can be something you cover during the training.

The impression I get (and admittedly I may be wrong) is that you feel overworked at the moment and feel resentment over someone who appears to have more freedom than you. This might be something to work on yourself. Allow yourself more freedom as well! We have annual leave for a reason. Life isn’t for working, you and others are completely entitled to a life outside of work.

Her AL will be running out soon. See how things are after that. If she chooses to take her AL in four consecutive months next year as well, then so what?? It’s down to management to approve and they should do this based on business need. If you still can’t accept it then maybe you need to question whether this is becoming personal for you, which isn’t professional in the slightest.

From the piecemeal bits of information it seems this is a colleague employed to do the exact same role as you, and there’s only the two of you doing it. This suggests you both have the same manager.

Aside from the fact you’ll both have the same annual leave (you may have more than her given she’s new) I’m sure she’ll be in the same position once you decide to book leave, and you’d be annoyed if she questioned you taking leave as well.

However the management and organisation of the team and it’s work is your line managers problem. If you’re struggling with volume of work, you take it to your manager. If you feel your colleague isn’t pulling their weight, you take it to your manager. It’s entirely for them to sort. You have the privilege of not being the manager, but that also means it’s not up to you to approve people’s leave.

Theres no rules on when you can take annual leave, there’s people that save it all up and take the whole summer off! Best get in there and book yours….!

You can easily fix this by sending a schedule of her training for the next xx months and copy in her manager. “This is what we are trying to train you, it can be achieved by these dates each part”. She won’t book any future holidays during your training dates and if she does her a manager will be responsible for approving and delaying. :)

It doesn't sound like it's the annual leave that's the issue because she's entitled to take it, obviously. The issue is that she's just not very good at her job & she's continually using the 'just back from annual leave' excuse for not doing things. You should raise it with her boss.

No, it isn’t common courtesy, it’s called being organised and having some sort of tracker or calendar system where people log their upcoming leave once it is approved. Sounds like a management issue, not hers. She’s entitled to book leave, her manager approved it, and if there’s no system in place for ensuring that colleagues know when they’re all going to be taking leave, it is 100% management’s fault.

In 34 years of working I have never checked with colleagues or told them what I am looking to book for annual leave. If it’s available I’ll book it. If they ask for dates I’m away I’ll tell them and if there’s anything that might affect them I’ll let them know the week before. From what I’ve witnessed conversations about time you are looking to have off just ends up being complicated.

Yabu. You clearly don't like this woman and seem determined to flame her on line. She won't have any leave to take after the summer so this so t be a problem. So get over it.

Report this to who ever signed off the leave. Say in future no leave during training. Then move on and give this woman a chance. Sounds like you are jelois of her tbh.

I think you are 75% unreasonable, 25% reasonable 😂

As others have said she’s allowed holiday, unless someone specifically sets a rule about when it can and can’t be taken she’s done nothing wrong, she can’t be expected to second guess other people’s undefined unspoken rules. And actually weeks are often easier than many odd days.

However always using ‘just for back’ as an excuse is the reason for my 25%. It sounds like she may need to get better at handovers, and quicker at doing the email trawl on her return. This may also be a company email hygiene thing - remembering to not copy people in if they’re not there and instead doing a succinct update. But I don’t think she needs to put the fact she’s just returned onto others necessarily.