Job Share response to hol request

[Stargazer75]

I'm fairly new to my jobshare with another lady (I've been there 1 year). She's older, single and no DC.
She loves her cruises and goes on around 3 a year, I cover the days she is absent.

As yet, she hasn't booked any days off this year, but as I have a husband, grandchild, elderly Mum etc, occasionally I book things in advance as have a busy life outside of work.

The other day I asked my jobshare if she could please cover 2 days for me in September as I would like to book annual leave.

She went all red in the face and said 'I just don't know if I'll be available, I don't know when I'm going on my cruises yet'. I could tell she was very annoyed at me asking! She asked if I needed to actually book something such as travel or accommodation etc? I don't personally think its any of her business what I plan to do on annual leave and I think 7 months notice is pretty decent. In the end, in a huff, she just said 'well, you may as well go ahead and book then and I'll let you know closer to'.

My DH needs to book his annual leave to coincide - and we were hoping to visit friends in London who would also book annual leave, but obviously if she changes her mind closer to it will mess everything up 😬

I guess she's pretty much saying 'I'll cover if I don't book a cruise' in effect saying her holiday plans trump mine (unless I'm getting it wrong)

I put my holiday form in to HR, but how would you address this going forward?

I'm not just going to sit back each year, wait for her to book the days she wants, then have the crumbs that are left.

Anyone else jobshare and how do you navigate?

Resilience is a useful life skill.

By ‘resilience’ you mean putting up with people who think you don’t have anything going on in your life if you don’t have kids?

What does your contract say?
it depends on:
what annual leave year you have (eg jan- dec or tax year?) and the opening date for bookings?
does your contract say you need to cover? Is it your responsibility to negotiate?
if there’s 3 of you how many need to be in? Have you asked the other person to cover?

if you take your leave in days or 2 days it is going to vastly reduce the amount of opportunity for your job share to take 2 weeks off.

This situation happened with me a few years ago. Expected to cover job share persons leave and vice versa. I didn’t make a fuss at the time as I had another job application in and didn’t want the company to get awkward or dismiss me (had been there <2 years).

It was annoying though, as you say I felt
like I never got any actual leave, I just worked a Thursday instead of a Monday for example. Neither of us paid overtime either.

OP has riled people with her description of her colleague and that seems to have taken over the thread unfortunately. It is management who should have cover in place and not expect it’s on staff to arrange cover for their leave.

You personally have explained to ACAS you have to take overtime in your job, and cannot take leave without someone who is effectively you - as it's a jobshare - covering it, and ACAS is ok with that? I'm surprised.

I don’t understand why you have to cover each other’s leave. If it wasn’t a job share, then there would be no cover anyway!

Fecking hell the op wants two days off FFS. What's the matter with you???

Are you a person who is quick to say "drip feed"? The OP is giving information so this doesn't happen.

Her job share is a CF who doesn't like sharing. What are you reading.

I'd be reluctant to commit myself to being available 7 months in advance too.

First come, first served.

This poster has it.

My job share is also older than me with no children. We work together and absolutely respect each others right to leave. If I had said hi X do you have plans 8 months from now because I would like to book a week off then. She would either say well actually I was also planning to do something but let's work around each others dates or no I don't have anything booked so go for it.

The OP is getting a really hard time. You do obviously see that her job share is effectively saying no you cannot plan any leave until I say so. Is the OP supposed to wait months just to fit around another's plans.

It's not about being entitled because of the kids. The OP gave a picture, if she hadn't there would have been endless questions about the jobshares life. Better a full picture than a bunch of repeating same things again and again.

I agree to an extent but it depends on the workplace, are HR likely to bend the jobshares whim or complaints and override the OP later. Not fair but it does happen .

Think you’re going about this all wrong. You don’t need to run your leave passed her in the first place. Pick your dates, submit to management, take your leave. It’s your manager’s responsibility to then tell Job Share A that the time she requests 5 months down the line is already booked, or arrange cover if you’re both to be off.

So if she decides to go away you couldn’t be off? Makes no sense

This is not what the OP is suggesting, I can’t quite see how you have interpreted it this way but here we are.

YANBU - you are more than entitled to book your leave in advance. There are 365 days in a year and you are asking she covers 2 of them in 7 months time.

In most jobs, not just a job share, there must be a certain level of staff in at a time, if you leave it until last minute to book your leave you run the risk of it being booked by others.

"The OP is getting a really hard time. You do obviously see that her job share is effectively saying no you cannot plan any leave until I say so. Is the OP supposed to wait months just to fit around another's plans."

I agree with this, and think the OP is simply showing professional courtesy by running this by her colleague 7 months ahead of when she wants to take 2 days off. If the colleague has absolutely nothing planned for then, the OP is quite entitled to put in for those dates for her annual leave, she shouldn't have to wait for her colleague to decide whether or not she wants to go on a cruise at the same time, that's ridiculous. The OP could equally well just have put in for the leave without mentioning it to her colleague, but that would really have been cause to create bad blood between them.

"I put my holiday form in to HR, but how would you address this going forward?"

I'd clarify whose responsibility it is to cover your work when on holiday. Presumably it is the HR department have the final say.

There is a difference between general keeping a staff level from a bigger pool and commanding a coworker that they have to come to work on their non-working days on a specific date.
The OP is effectively doing the second thing now.

Yes, it is mostly the system/employer to blame here.

One OP's sentence caught my attention - due to her mum's appointments, she can't possibly plan her leave around share's cruises. It sounds that if the share went ahead and planned her leave first, the OP wouldn't be happy about it either.

You've got an employer problem, not a colleague problem. It doesn't sound like a job share. It sounds like there is a particular role within the organisation that needs to be covered throughout business hours. Your employer has taken on three of you to fulfill this role and is calling it a job share but in fact it isn't - as PP have said, a job share would be one whole time equivalent split between you. What they want is more than one whole time equivalent, because they haven't factored in illness and leave.

All the rest is flimflam. It doesn't matter who has children or not, or who has more flexibility or not. You all need to agree a fair process with HR and stick to it. And if the company need more employees to cover for you, they do. Or they need to train existing employees in that role so that they can cover. But it isn't the OP's fault or her colleague's that the employer is taking the piss. That's on the employer.

The op has covered her shifts when her job share was on holiday. The job share doesn't want to plan around op that's what I understood?

She did the decent thing and made plans in advance so the job share and the op doesn't lose money when making plans. The op did say that her job share will let her know closer to the time if she can do it. How nice of her?

Bit odd for job share to be required to cover, not usually how a job share works with annual leave.

Either way it's unfortunately first come first served. With things like Christmas then discussion and compromise is normal but the rest of the year its tough. I've worked on teams of 8 where only 1 was allowed off at once 🤣 this is just a normal annual leave problem but with much less chance of a clash.

Not her responsibility to sign up to work your days though, as its not the other way around. But I can understand eg if you booked off Mon to weds them not allowing the other to book off the Thurs and Friday so someone is in

As an older widowed lady with no kids, I used to get really pissed off when first choice was sometimes given to young women with kids. But I must say she is being completely unreasonable and has got used to her position and having her own way. You will have to find a tactful way round this, but maybe have a quick word with HR so they know the situation. PS I would probably be the same as her .... no not so horrible ... but this has to be negotiated and you can't really blame either side. Your older colleague IS being unreasonable, fight your corner!

Surely if HR authorise your leave your colleague can’t then book those 2 days? Tough for her, she needs to book if she needs it. Sounds selfish.

I don’t understand? Surely if you put in your holiday request first and she then decides she wants to book the same time off, hers won’t be approved?! So tough to her?! Most places I’ve worked they wouldn’t allow multiple members of teams to be off at the same time, so you each just put in your holiday requests and hope it doesn’t clash? Maybe just don’t mention it to her next time, just add it to the holiday calendar when it’s approved and tough to her??!