New job and annual leave

[Stardust7264]

I started a new job a few months ago and today I asked for some time off in the half term in February next year, I have always been used to just asking my manager and getting an answer either way and been quite lucky to be able to get the time off that I needed to go on holiday with family.

When I asked today my new boss said he hasn't even thought as far ahead as February yet and said that he didn't know yet and was quite abrupt and arsey about it.

The thing is I need to know so I can book a holiday around school holiday time and I was a bit taken aback that I almost felt like I shouldn't be asking.

I'm quite an anxious person and I'm now worried and left feeling anxious that I have to wait (and dare not even ask again) for my boss to come back to me when they are ready with an answer.

Is this the norm in workplaces? Have I just been lucky before being able to have holidays without an issue?

What does your workplace policy say? It will have a procedure for requests and a timeframe within which you are expected to get an answer.

Is your current workplace a small one? I know in some small companies there can be a bit of difficulty getting holidays approved, my husband worked at one where if there was already one person off then another couldn’t as it was a very small team.

Check your handbook/contract to see what it says regarding leave requests etc :)

Check the policy

No contract 🫣

Is this the norm in workplaces?
Only if your manager is a poor one.

Have I just been lucky before being able to have holidays without an issue?
Most places have policies about holidays. However if your manager is poor regardless of company size you may find it approved at the last moment.

What size company are you working in?

Small, medium or large?

You should have a contract. It is a day one right - ask for it now.

No contract? So zero hours?

Can you ask someone else what the policy is? (is there a HR team? Anyone else on zero hours?)

If you worked there for several months and still don't have contract, I'd be far more worried about that than holidays. It probably tells you everything you need to know about this employer and I would be looking at securing a job in a more professional organisation.

What is the holiday year? If it's January to December it may not have been a thought to sort it yet

No contract??????

No that's not the norm.

Contract or no contract, you still have statutory entitlements, ie a minimum of 5.6 weeks annual leave plus bank holidays.

If you've worked there a few months, chances are that you've built up a significant bank of unused annual leave. Part of your line manager's role is to make sure his staff are able to take their annual leave allowance within the leave year - when does this run from/to?

Do you have any colleagues or a union that you can seek advice from about how AL works where you are?

No contract???

You need to have a contract. That’s a much bigger concern than the a/l.

But no, annual leave shouldn’t be at the whim of how far ahead your boss likes to think. There should be a policy.

The minimum includes BH so usually annual leave starts at 20days + the BH (assuming a 5 day week is worked)

But the OP is unlikely to be the first employee who's wanting to book a holiday in February just after the leave year starts so needs to know now that she'll be able to have the time off. There must be custom and practice in place.

Many people book their holidays a year in advance or more, especially if they need to take them in the school holidays.

Plus even if it's a very small company, they still need systems in place to ensure that statutory leave entitlements are met, otherwise they'll get to the end of the leave year and find they have people needing to take a month off to avoid the company breaking the law.

No contract?

It sounds very amateur.

Our holidays are done in 3 rounds, round 1 for 2025 was in June, round 2 where more holidays are released should start this month sometime then I think nov/dev the remaining allowance is released and it remains open until end of next year.

I work in a large company and that's the policy, so even if you have no written contract you should be able to access or ask for the holiday policy info

i work for a small company (<10 people) but we have a proper annual leave request system in place and I could if I wanted put in a request for time off in 3 years time!
Requests are booked through the system and then reviewed and approved by the manager.
I have worked for other companies where there is a written diary that you put your annual leave into and only 2 people at a time can be off.

No matter how small the company there should be a process in place.

What do you mean no contract??

in that case you can do what you want @Stardust7264

I can't stand places that kick off about holiday.

One thing if its a tiny team to try and ask that people not all go off at once, but this isn't difficult to coordinate with a team calendar. Too many places don't build enough slack in a team to allow for any holiday at all without it creating pinch points, or don't have effective managers who plan properly.