Anyone else’s colleagues do this when you’re going on annual leave?!?

[Netball01]

I’m going on a 2 week holiday next week - it’s been booked for ages & my team have known about it for months.

I’m basically admin support for my team but there’s no one to cover me when I’m not here & the work I do is pretty essential to our client delivery. I’ve given them all plenty of notice / reminders / set deadlines etc to make sure I got everything done before holiday.

So of course, they’ve all ignored all my deadlines & left everything to the last minute & now I’m being inundated with emails about submitting their work to me Friday lunchtime so I can get it done before my holiday (!!!!)

I’ve also had emails about the urgent work I can pick up on my first day back from holiday but needs to be turned round asap.

Everytime I go on holiday this happens & it just ends up being so stressful trying to get it all done as it’s pretty much impossible for me to get it done that quickly.

I also really hate them lining work up for me on my first day back before I’ve even gone away as it just hangs like a cloud over my last few days when I’m meant to be relaxing.

AIBU to think this really poor from my team?? Honestly just want to tell them all to F off !

BTW I’ve already started pushing back but it’s falling on deaf ears so far.

This basically.

Thanks everyone - I’m definitely going to do what a few people have suggested and basically just say no! As you’ve all pointed out they won’t learn otherwise.

And I totally agree it’s ridiculous not having cover!

I don't have any cover whilst I'm on holiday either. I've learnt to come back, do my best to catch up without getting stressed, and basically give fewer shits. It will get done when it gets done.

“Never work late before a holiday. No one will die if the work doesn’t get done. Enjoy your time off.”

This reminds me of the quote that if you do die, they will have sorted out cover for your job before your funeral is even organised.

Or as an admirable admin person in a previous department of mine used to say ‘Your disorganisation is not my emergency.’

So true - a staff replacement would definitely be organised before the funeral took place!

A hard stop date. ‘Please note no new work will be scheduled or actioned unless it is received by midday on (Wednesday or whatever) anything received after that date will be held until my return’. If they set up things for you when you come back return it with the same note ‘no new work will be accepted, scheduled or actioned.’

Then stick to it and they’ll soon fall in line.

This is true but completely awful OP. Remember it’s just a job, what happened to someone I know was shocking.

Person was at work on Friday, was involved in a road accident on way home from work and died in hospital the next day, Saturday. The next work day, Monday, my friend went to the deceased colleague’s office at lunchtime to get something as they had been working on something together and was disgusted and astonished to find that the deceased colleagues personal affects were packed in boxes in a corner and another colleague had already moved into the office. I wish this wasn’t true but it is. The whole company were disgusted as the deceased colleague had only been dead 48 hours. They had worked there 20+ years and on their funeral colleagues could go but the company didn’t close so everyone could go.

Don’t waste your holiday thinking about work. Your colleagues didn’t apply your deadlines so too bad for them.

Why on earth is there no cover?
I'd have brought that up with my boss long ago if I were you.
As for the new stuff, agree with everyone else, basically: 'My last day before hols is x day and I'll be leaving at my normal time (fuck working late); anything you did not get to me in good time to do until then will be done when I return.'

I've been in that position in jobs in the past, and I just accepted that I would need to work really late on my last day in the office to get everything done that was really necessary.

To all those asking why there is no cover, if OP's manager is anything like mine they're full of empty promises and basically shit at managing.

This happens to me every year, OP. You have my sympathy.

It's so bad I'm now training for a higher position so I can get away from this shit (not my only motivation but certainly plays a part ).

On one hand, I think it's inevitable that you have to work a bit harder before a holiday, irritating though that is.

On the other hand, if part of working harder is you putting processes and deadlines in place to facilitate your holiday, it's totally okay to stick to them. "All travel requests required for travel prior to 10 July need to be sent to me by 27 May as otherwise I will not have time to action them before I am out of the office from 1 June." Then, on receipt of a request on 29 May - "I'm working through all the other tasks and will add this to the list but as stated, I might not have time to get to it."

As for no cover - SOOOO annoying and I feel your pain. My bosses refused to discuss how my maternity leave would be covered while I was away. Then got all stroppy with me because I hadn't prepared a suitable handover. I pointed out that it was hard to do a handover when I didn't know what was needed and that i HAD prepared a comprehensive list of all my internal clients - general objectives, requirements etc as well as lengthy details regarding both routine and ongoing tasks. .... yeah, they couldn't get their head around it. On plus side, I'm pretty sure that few women have been greeted with as much enthusiasm on their return from mat leave as I was - my internal clients were THRILLED to have me back.

Next time talk to your boss and ask if you can email the team with a realistic deadline before you go. This way you'll have enough time to do admin.
I agree with other posters about having automated email out of the office after this deadline. Then people will realise it won't be dealt with until you get back.

If they aren't covering your absence then they have to understand you aren't going to be working double time/speed to earn your week off. You'll be working normally and the subsequent backlog will take a few weeks to work through alongside your regular working week.

Don't be bullied, be clear that you have finite hours and you'll be working these hours.

If these requests are coming in late, make a clear list of who asked for admin support, what was asked, when the request came in (date and time) and how long it will take you to action and give it a realistic time slot if you can.

Then once your working day is finished on Friday you can leave the outstanding list with your manager so they know you've worked your best.

This isn't your problem it's the company's. They should source admin to cover you.

In the future (probably too late now) when you send notice that you will be out tell them to have anything to you they want done before you leave by Wednesday. Anything coming in after that day may not get done before you leave.

Then tell them that on your return you’ll triage anything that has come in while you are gone and do your best to honor the request dates but no promises.

Definitely get your manager on board with this.

At the end of the day though the real key is to not worry about the stuff waiting for you. It will be waiting no matter what and thinking about it won’t help.

It’s pretty normal to be drinking from the fire hose after being gone for awhile and you just need to do what you can without stressing about it.

I used to get similar but towards the end of the financial year. Everyone would be trying to spend their last bits of budget and it was impossible. Then there was the year when 31 March fell on Good Friday, and nobody took that into account.

Refer them back to your emails giving them warning, and say you can't do what they're asking.

In future email the team and say 'I'm going on leave in (date), any work that you want me to look at before I go needs to be with me by (one week before date)'

I am lucky in that I work with a great team and am now at a stage in life where I feel able to assert myself and I know that if I lost my job (not going to happen) we could manage, which is immensely liberating!

I tell everyone, including senior managers I work with, several weeks in advance that I am going to be away from x date so if they want anything done they need to ask me in good time. I remind them that I don't work on Fridays or Mondays, so if they want a document sent out they have to get it to me by Thursday lunchtime. I remind them (and do it by email so I have a papertrail) that I won't be here to do such and such and they will need to arrange for somebody else to do it. I do as much mitigation as possible, if I'm not able to attend a meeting to take notes I do them from the transcript of the meeting (virtual Teams meeting) but I ensure everyone knows that the notes will be going out late and if nobody clicks on the record button I won't be able to do them at all.
Where I can, I arrange for cover for things that should not be left, but in the end it I have done everything I can to ensure things are done in time then it is not my responsibility if other people can't get their own acts together.

If your team can't get things to you by the deadline (you must give them a deadline) then it's not your fault if they don't get done. Push back on the first day back work. Let people know that you will not be able to do everything on your first day back and you will prioritise what you need to do in order of urgency. If everything is urgent then some things will be delayed, unless they provide you with some help to get it all done.

Sometimes I love being old and crabby! I never promise anything I don't think I can deliver, but I always do what I say I will do. It has given me a reputation for being ultra-reliable, which is no bad thing.

Stick to the agreed deadlines and make it clear that after that they will have to muddle through.
Advise you will be working through tasks in order of priority when you return from leave and will be unlikely to respond on your first day back. In the meantime please contact admin line manager.

Have they actually ignored you or have they been busy doing other things that also had to be done?

Most of the time people think the work they're owed is the highest priority. When often a higher up boss has given very different instructions.

Also blaming your team rather than the those responsible for leaving you all understaffed is unfair.

@greenpolarbear I’m sure they’ve not been sitting there doing nothing but they’ve not submitted their work to me in the agreed time frame so I don’t think I’m being unfair by being annoyed that I’m being expected to turn round work that usually takes a week in an afternoon!!

They all get to plan their work load around their holidays and it’s just me that ends up at the mercy of if they bother to submit it to the deadline set.

You need to absolutely keep your boundaries. Stop saving them, it just teaches them to keep piling it on last minute.

So two weeks before set a deadline to commit to being completed prior to holiday. Also communicate clearly on reasonable turnaround times. And return tasks when due don't keep firing them back because that will become the default turnaround time.

About twenty years ago I was in a similar role. I operated an xl sheet where they logged the tasks, this automatically populated a due date. I then prepared the responses and set a timer to deliver to the owner in the due date.

I expect my admin team to not be flooded and would be having strong words with my assistant managers if they were. This allows time for people to prepare and plan work. It also allows for the absolute once in a blue moon emergency.

I flagged similar concerns to my boss before 2 weeks ooo last autumn. Her advice was a robust automatic reply listing who else on the team stuff could go to if urgent. I also reminded everyone at team meetings. It worked and I usually come back to less emails.

I work with another colleague who does the same job as me and we basically share the workload between us when we're both there. But then it became the expectation that when one of us was off, the other should just do all the work of both of us! It was totally unrealistic and very stressful.

We managed it by looking at our workload if the other one was off and emailing our manager early in the day to set expectations and explain what we could achieve, and what we felt was important to prioritise. We gave her an opportunity to change the priorities if she wanted, but we made it clear that the remainder of the work would not be done and it could either be delayed, or she could look at delegating it to someone else. It definitely helped the situation! Unless you speak up, people will just assume you're able to take it all on.

I do a quick estimate of how many hours the work will take and then just tell people, I've got x hours of tasks and y hours left before my holiday so I won't be able to do it all before I go.
Have you tried implementing a first received first done system? It won't help this time but people will get the message that they need to let you know what they need earlier.

I get that you don't want to worry about what you're coming back to while you're on holiday.

If there are any colleagues who do respect your wish to let you know well in advance, give them preference, help them first.

Doesn't happen at my work.