Have to work during my agreed AL

[Sillyquestion123]

I’ll start by saying I really like my workplace and we have a very generous AL which includes being off for two weeks in December.

When they announced this, HR requested that we should reschedule our AL if we had already requested it for those two weeks , so I did.

My workload varies massively as I have a portfolio of clients and they can come up with requests at any given time (so sometimes it’s hard to plan).

So I ended up working 3 previous days that I was supposed to be off, and I’ll definitely be working this coming two too.

so AIBU to feel annoyed? I’m still sort of old school in the sense that I can I’ll do things and I WFH, so the lines are even blurrier.

So they mandated two weeks off at Christmas without considering how the workload falls? That was very silly of them. Speak to your line manager.

I’m not sure I understand your post. It seems to suggest that, regardless of whether you’re on leave or not, you still have to work if clients ask you to, but that can’t be right, so I must have misunderstood something 😅 If you’re on leave, why are you still doing work? Don’t you have an ‘out of office’ email notification or something?

Out of office messages and direct people to someone who is available. Be prompt in responding once you are back at work.

Our business is client led too, we can’t easily predict when we’ll be busy, not often around Christmas but if we are, we ask for volunteers, people are thankfully pretty good at stepping up.

I wfh and my lines are not blurred. When I am on annual leave that laptop stays shut.

Your job sounds like mine - but if I have leave someone else picks up the queries while I’m not around. The service may not be as good as if I was around as I may have more background (but we keep files up to date so the business could run if I died tomorrow) but clients understand we’re humans who are entitled to leave.

An important lesson I’ve learnt in my career is that I’m not as important or crucial as I think I am. If I died or left, the business wouldn’t crumble without me, so it can definitely cope with two weeks of me not checking my email when I’ve left a clear contact on my out of office message.

So you were booked to be off for some days in december. These days clashed with the 2 weeks they were making you take anyway so you rebooked it and then worked those days? And you randomly work when at home and on leave as well?

My suggestion is to take those other days not in december as you are already off for a fortnight, or move the work to days you are working and to stop working when you are on leave. Give notice to your clients that you will be off X dates and if there is anything then need doing before then, best get that in early and make some arrangements for when you are not there to cover their short term needs with someone else.

Claim TOIL. Next time set an "out of office reply". There are no blurred lines in WFH unless you choose to blur them. I have my out of office set up for next week already and I will not be opening my laptop or switching on my work phone until I am "back in the office".

If they’re going to mandate set leave in December then they need to be completely closed down for that period and all clients informed.

You have some responsibility here because your out of office should have been on and work systems not being looked at. If you’ve had to work 5 days of your paid leave then you need to claim that back.

No, TOIL is supposed to be a planned workload that is applied for and accounted for over and above the working hours. Not for not taking the leave you that you have planned and applied for. This is more blurring of lines.

The OP really needs to get a handle on workng hours, planning time and sticking to it.

The main problem is that my clients’ “success” is tied to my own, so if they fail or cancel their contracts is in me.

i also work with two completely diff time zones and everybody is annoyed at the product (software) so the super white glove service is to compensate that.

The problem is that you are providing a service that your working arrangements are unable to be flexible towards.

The best solution to this is to come up with a solution that offers 24/7 cover to the clients and allows you to take your legally required annual leave. You cannot run a single person 24/7 service so something has to give.

In that case this feels about 50:50 a you problem and an employer issue. In that type of environment you either need to get better at proactively planning (eg call clients the week before to let them know and ask if they have any issues or requests), arrange a buddy cover system with a colleague, just accept it and take the time back in quieter times, or accept a bit of negative feedback from some clients. Equally your employer should be arranging the cover system and making more resources available if the product is faulty.

But in any case YANBU to be annoyed, it sucks and I’m sorry.

BAU is definitely covered it’s the random out of nowhere requests that pile up. One of our clients is particularly bad and the plan is to charge them extra.

and yes a couple didn’t send their deliverables until
last night, and maybe I could have said “sorry too late” but that contract is at risk so I don’t feel I have a choice

That largely depends on where the pressure to work is coming from. If it's elected by OP to work during her AL, then sure. If there is an expectation from the top that she will do that, then TOIL is a reasonable way to handle that.

YABU for accepting it.

Your OOO needs to say, "I am on leave with no access to emails and will return on X. Please contact Y in my absence."

You do have a choice though - escalate it as you are on leave. Or as PP have said, your OOO has cover contact details in it.

Which I’ve done, but my clients (3 in this case) and my manager this morning decided to pile up more things that need to be wrapped up.

Which I’ve done, but my clients (3 in this case) and my manager this morning decided to pile up more things that need to be wrapped up.

Which I’ve done, but my clients (3 in this case) and my manager this morning decided to pile up more things that need to be wrapped up.

You shouldn't even be checking work accounts, but if they are sending messages to personal devices, "I am on annual leave now and look forward to speaking to you in the New Year. Merry Christmas!"

I think whether or not you are being unreasonable depends on whether or not you were able to refuse the 'request' to cancel the AL or not. If you had a choice then you were accepting the fact that it may mean you had to work. If you didn't then it's slightly more unfair, but there are plenty of places where working over Christmas isn't negotiable and December holidays are out of the question. A lot comes down to your contract with them and how your working hours are set.

You need to feed this back to your manager to sort out.

As long as you get the time back and it’s a good job I think it’s a case of you take the rough with the smooth

The software you are selling is crap, the time zones are a pain in the arse, the clients are annoyed, and wearing white gloves is not going to save this company.
Start looking for a new job after Christmas.