Priority/fair allocation annual leave

[MexicanTourist]

My manager would not authorise my annual leave request for the Christmas period without buddy cover. A bit of a history:
Four of us in the office: my boss is not taking part in the cover for some reason.
I booked the dates last year for this Christmas. Then Covid 19 happened and we received an email that the flight was cancelled. We had to book by the end of this year, so we booked October half term and I cancelled half of my days for Christmas. Then the flights for Oct were cancelled and I submitted new forms for the Christmas period again.
Another colleague of mine also booked these dates, so I asked the other colleague to sign my buddy form.

He is refusing based on the statement that he wants to book some days as well.

I have spoken to my line manager and she says to sort this out between ourselves.

Our son is turning 16 at Christmas and we booked Tenerife. I have asked my buddy if he can let us know what date he would like to cover. Till date he has not done his mind as of yet, I am waiting for him 3 weeks now. My boss spoke to him and asked him to send me his dates by the end of the day. He responded with one sentence " I have not submitted my holiday request yet".

From my understanding so far A strong “first come, first served” rule should be implemented, ensuring an open and fair policy that allows all employees the chance to request leave for the same period. From here, employees with young families could be strongly encouraged to make their requests as early as possible or risk disappointment - I did this in October in writing.

Can I also mention that in the past this colleague of mine has submitted a holiday request without my signature?!

What is your advice, what would you do in my situation? We may end up with my family going on holiday and I covering the office.

There's nothing you can do. As long as you're able to take the statutory minimum within the AL year, then the employer can dictate when you can and cannot take leave.

Also keep in mind the possibility of Tenerife going back onto the quarantine list. It's a very strong possibility.

I don't think someone's fecundity should be considered when sorting out leave plans.

You've booked your first choice, successfully stopped it toma new first choice, and now want to change it again.

You don't really have any options other than to wait for your colleague to decide, in his own time, his own plans.

Yes it's shit that covid has stuffed up many people's holiday plans, but surely you can see that you've had two choices already and your current sense of urgency simply is not a factor to anyone else (who might be juggling heaven knows what in their private life)

I am aware of this, but I can work from home after. We cannot get refund at this stage and would have cancelled the holidays.

Interesting fact as well is that this colleague of mine will need my approval (cover) to book his days ...

I don’t think first come first served is especially fair; unless that’s your companies policy. And it’s not really fair to prioritise people with kids, on paper; because others could have different responsibilities... the last few places I worked before I became self employed had a rota system, with the ability to swap if two employees agreed.

As it is, you requested leave and then shortened it, then requested it again, and it’s now dependent on a colleague who doesn’t know what they’re doing yet so can’t agree to cover. If it’s their choice, pressurising them is probably not going to endear them to do it... but I’d be expecting your manager to have a team chat about who is working when over Christmas soon. Could you suggest that? Then everyone leaves the meeting knowing. Ideally the manager would give everyone a week or so to finalise plans before the meeting, if you don’t already have a date that this has to be done by.

I’m guessing there’s no one else who can cover. Could you cover the office remotely or do you have to be there in person?

The problem with 'first come, first served' is that, with parameters, it simply means all Christmas requests arrive on the first day you're allowed to request them.

Without parameters, it means people will start getting their requests in now for Christmas 2023.

There's no absolutely fair way of doing it. Names 'out of a hat' and then whoever doesn't get their Christmas request has priority for the next period there's a clash, is how I'd deal with it.

*Interesting fact as well is that this colleague of mine will need my approval (cover) to book his days ...

Not really. If you both take that route; neither of you is going to be able to go on any holidays for the foreseeable future, because the other will maliciously not agree.

You’ve changed plans twice, regardless of the reason, you should probably approach this with sugar not vinegar.

Having been a manager and responsible for rotas in public sector environments where people have to work Christmas day/boxing day itself and not just the days leading up to it, I can tell you that first come first served (whilst a fair enough system for other times) does not work for popular times like Christmas, nor does deciding based on who is 'most deserving' of the time off. The former leads to ridiculous escalation with people trying to book Christmas 2030 off now, the latter again can be hideous, it's not really fair to prioritise say those with young children over those with elderly or sick relatives, or those who have to travel to see family over those who have religious commitments, and you end up with again a 'top trumps' situation where person A says 'well I have 2 young children and an elderly mother, I should get it off' and person B says 'I have 3 young children, 2 elderly parents and a sick dog, I should get it off' and person C says 'I have 6 young children, 10 orphans to care for and a terminally ill partner' and so forth.

The only system I found that worked and minimised complaints/grumbles, was a fixed deadline (usually 30th September) when people put their requests in, you'd usually get some volunteers to work the unpopular days due to the extra pay/them not celebrating Christmas for religious reasons). After that it was a pure lottery of who had to work when, the only exception being I would prioritise people who worked the last Christmas, so in theory no-one worked 2 Christmases in a row. Any late requests or changes after the deadline would be accommodated where possible but any 'swapping' was purely managed amongst the staff no matter what the sob story was, I wouldn't get involved except where people were putting unreasonable pressure on their colleagues to swap...

In your situation I would be tempted to say to your colleague, I am going to book the 19th to the 24th off, at the end of next week unless you tell me you want those off before then. Presumably if he's previously submitted his holiday form without your signature, you can submit yours without his? And surely there's no need to dramatize, if you haven't booked the holiday yet how will your family be going without you while you have to work? Surely the worst that will happen is if you have to work you don't book the holiday at all and you go another time?

@EdithWeston

I don't think someone's fecundity should be considered when sorting out leave plans.

You've booked your first choice, successfully stopped it toma new first choice, and now want to change it again.

You don't really have any options other than to wait for your colleague to decide, in his own time, his own plans.

Yes it's shit that covid has stuffed up many people's holiday plans, but surely you can see that you've had two choices already and your current sense of urgency simply is not a factor to anyone else (who might be juggling heaven knows what in their private life)

We all made changes during this year. With the previous booking I had a different buddy cover.

He has not made his mind yet. If he wants the same dates as the ones I booked earlier I will not sign his buddy forms.

maxelly, we booked it as our first choice holiday is high Covid-19 risk. I have not responded to his "not making decision" holiday, therefore my topic here in the forum.

Thank you very much for your input, very useful from a line manager perspective of view.
This colleague of mine has not been with us last year, he is new.

I am guessing I will have to wait until he submits his request.

My boss has not given any deadline, but informed me that he will respond today and he did, with no specific dates.

@WitchesSpelleas

The problem with 'first come, first served' is that, with parameters, it simply means all Christmas requests arrive on the first day you're allowed to request them.

Without parameters, it means people will start getting their requests in now for Christmas 2023.

There's no absolutely fair way of doing it. Names 'out of a hat' and then whoever doesn't get their Christmas request has priority for the next period there's a clash, is how I'd deal with it.

Makes sense ...

First come first served is a ridiculous way of prioritising Christmas leave. As is prioritising those with children. I used to get my team together on a set date with plenty of notice so they had time to think about what they'd like, and ask them to work out a fair division of leave. Almost without fail, they got it sorted themselves, but if anyone was still unhappy, I'd sit with them and whoever else was involved to resolve it. Anyone off over the Christmas period the previous year was expected to cover the next Christmas, unless someone else was keen to do it for some reason.

It sounds like you have already changed your plans several times. Maybe his aren't finalised yet. Why not ask for a team meeting to discuss Christmas cover? That's probably the most adult way of dealing with this. Refusing to sign his form isn't.

If i was either the manager or the buddy in this scenario, I would be thinking you were a royal pain in the arse tbh.

SomeSmotheringDreams,

We did have one 3 weeks ago. Everyone finalised their plans but him.

Well you need another meeting, with your manager present. Maybe next week, as you'd expect most people to have finalised plans by November. You might not get what you want though. I really wouldn't appear petty and refuse to sign his form.

@PineconeOfDoom

If i was either the manager or the buddy in this scenario, I would be thinking you were a royal pain in the arse tbh.

So I have to wait until 24/12 that he makes his mind? And be unable to book a holiday for 4 people because he is not a team player?

You had the leave and changed your mind. He probably thinks he has more time to think about it and decide as those dates were definitely free. I'd plan that he's going to be taking those dates now.

So you booked a holiday before getting the leave approved?