To ask to do this or will my manager think it’s taking the piss?

[Heaaag]

I’m worn down so my perspective is probably off.

Single parent, dd 3. I have been taking one day annual leave a week annual leave since she turned two (I get a lot of leave so just about managed it over 52 weeks). I managed to do this as we had three changes in management and it just got put through and approved

recent manager is here to stay. I like him. But he is always talking about people having proper breaks and a full week off etc. I absolutely do not need a week off as I can’t think of anything more stressful than 7 full days with dd without a break at this age. I am a lone parent so do absolutely everything for her and already have lots of time together before and after nursery and weekends and the one day annual leave in the week. Work is a break for me. I get that unless you’re a lone parent it’s hard to understand that.

i want to continue this annual leave pattern until she is 4 and closer to going to school. I am going to ask and obviously nobody here can tell me what he will say. But do you think I should entitled? I do always have my work phone and check in if needed and have worked on my days off etc so I intend on reminding him of this. But does it sound entitled? Will it make me seem a bit of a dick? I know I’ve already had this luxury longer than most would after maternity leave.

I’m sorry OP, but if I were a fellow employee and your weekly absence impacted either my job day to day (covering essential work, answering phones more etc) or my ability to take holiday when I wanted to without additional complications, I’d be exceptionally pissed off with you being allowed that work pattern

If your job has zero impact on others though, I can’t see an issue particularly

I can't see this being approved at my workplace from a well-being point of view. You say you don't need a break but that's not true because everyone does. You also absolutely shouldn't be checking your work phone on your days off.
Can't you compress hours instead at least every other week or something so you can take a couple of weeks off a year?

I won’t have a problem with it if you were my employee providing no one else was being impacted.

tbh a lot of people in my organisation are now doing 5 days over 4 or 10 over 9 having submitted flexible working requests successfully. The law has changed and the onus is on the employer to prove that the request would not work rather than the other way round. Only you know how this would be received at your organisation however.

This is spot on. Interesting how many people are saying everyone needs at least a week away from work when OP has said she doesn't. I'd similarly accommodate this if a sensible report who was good at their job requested it. It's how I've recently allowed two people come back from mat leave essentially part time on full pay and if they ask to extend I'll consider their request.

So you work 4 days a week, paid for 5 and pay for childcare for 4?

realistically he’s got to manage someone who is working 4 days a week in practice but on paper he’s got a 5 day a week employee so no justification for additional staff to cover that day. Or he’s struggling as if there’s rules about only having 2 employees off at a time, this means only one person can book a week leave because you are always off.

you can ask, be prepared to hear no, or that if you want to reduce your hours formally he’ll agree, but that equates to a 20% pay cut.

Also agree if he says no, do take a week off at some point but keep dc in nursery/childcare and give yourself a proper break.

I don’t think it’s entitled. But this feels more like a long term working arrangement than annual leave, can you request to have a 4 day week formalised then take a longer break with your annual leave.
Im a lone parent too, I get it. But you said you feel worn down at the start of your OP. Your manager will be worried about burn out. I would be too.

What industry do you work in? When I worked in banking we were required to take 1 x 2 week break so that any accounting anomalies would be picked up if we were up to no good!

People have identified the issue - you are a full time member of staff who is effectively using leave to be part time.

I would be a bit pissed off if I put in a resource need for a full time staff member and got someone who only works 4 days a week.

Can he force you to take a week off though? I don't think he can.

Can other staff get the leave they want to take.

As a manager I wouldn't be keen on this arrangement as essentially it's like having a part time member of the team.

Totally depends on your workplace and the nature of your work but you are essentially using your leave to create a different working pattern.

Is there a reason you cant use childcare on the fifth day or compress your hours or go part time? Like everyone else generally has to.....

I understand your logic, and personally think it’s fine but we don’t allow this as it effectively makes you part time, and we require full time employees.

This is valid, what if everyone wanted to do it. They’d need to permit it, as they’ve allowed you to. Very difficult situation I think

Also - to add - someone at work constantly takes long weekends - never any longer leave. Managed always approves as generally has no backbone but it is actually quite disruptive to the team who almost constantly have to provide cover.

It's not taking the piss, but it does feel like you might be missing the bigger picture on how your preferred working pattern can affect resource management (including annual leave ratios for other team members).

Definitely worth asking for a meeting with your manager to outline why this way of working suits you and is optimal for your wellbeing and exploring if it's sustainable from their perspective.

Worth remembering too that businesses can cancel annual leave requests if required for business reasons (with appropriate notice) so relying on regular annual leave as a childcare option is shaky territory.

This is what I get repeated in my workplace. I'd never looked at it like that before people kept harping on about it. I prefer taking odd days too.

he’s got to manage someone who is working 4 days a week in practice but on paper he’s got a 5 day a week employee so no justification for additional staff to cover that day

I think this is the problem, and yes it’s a bit entitled to assume you can manipulate annual leave to essentially work different hours that you’d prefer, on a permanent basis.

Why not put in a request to alter your working pattern?

What would you do if he started to decline some of your requests?

How do you cover illness?

Do you never take an extended period of time off?

Can unpaid parental leave bridge any gap? You must be on your knees?

This isn't about your stress levels you're screwing over the rest of the team with this pattern.

What size is your team and does your days AL have an impact on anybody else's leave requests?

I can understand why you do this and would like to continue until start of school.

However, I don't think its healthy for you or your DD. A week away or a week of picnics and visits to the park would break the routine for you and DD, change of scenery, ability to concentrate on fun rather than chores, etc. And your own wellbeing would benefit hugely from a break from the groundhog days of work/parenting/work/parenting.

And your current work pattern is possibly creating difficulties for the team at work which won't help anyone.

If it were me, I'd be asking to do a 9 day fortnight or condense your hours in another way.

I don’t think it’s reasinable. @FancyBiscuitsLevel summed it up best. Condense or reduce hours. Or increase childcare.

With adequate notice an employer can dictate when you take the entirety of your annual leave, so it's something to bear in mind. You seem very reliant on having this one day off each week and if the requests start being declined there's not much you can do.

I wouldn't approve it for my staff. You would either need to do condensed hours or go down to 4 days a week with the commensurate pay. It's much easier for me to have other staff cover a block of one week at a time than it is to expect them to cover someone else's work 20% of every week. It also means it's harder to allow other people full weeks off.

I do something similar. I take a Wednesday off each week for 3 weeks each month. One week I don't because that's my really busy week. It suits me. I'm never doing more than 2 days without a break. I'm on my own now (daughter all grown up and separated from my husband) so a week off all in one go would be really boring for me.

I can go to the shops midweek and they are much quieter, I can take the dog out somewhere nicer than our local park walks.

I'm more than happy to accommodate other people in the team by not doing it if they want a week off but to be honest a couple of other people whose kids are all grown up tend to take odd days or a couple days at a time as well.

We shut down for Xmas so that's the one time I tend to have over a week off in one go.

I am surprised that this has been allowed, or not stopped, much as I understand why you do it. Someone not having at least a week off a couple of times a year can raise suspicions that they are hiding something about the way they do their job, fraud especially.