Last min time off work

[lastmindot]

Could you provide examples of valid reasons to take time off work at the last minute? For instance, if you are scheduled to work today, starting at 9 a.m., but need to take the day off unexpectedly. What types of serious emergencies, unforeseen circumstances, or personal matters would be considered valid reasons to request the day off by sending a message to your work or manager?

Are they asking for last minute annual leave? If so then no reason needs given. It's a straightforward can the business cope today or not, yes or no.

If the person is ill it's sick leave, sick child/elderly relative then carers leave.

Yes, I agree that if it’s last minute annual leave then you should grant it if the business can manage for the day. If there is a genuine reason eg as outlined above, then also grant it.

If they’re taking the piss, then tell them it’s too short notice to grant annual leave?

It depends on your type of work and your input at that work. We have a high trust model ay my work -- and also work just gets assigned to us so you can see exactly who has what and most work will wait a day or two for us to come back to it and you just put in time to make it up. If you had shift work, it can impact the team and work a lot more when someone is off.
I've had to leave work because my dog got attacked as well as for sick kids (put in sick leave for the kids but not the dog, I think). Team mates have left for an unwell parent, to sort an insurance matter or just to juggle childcare. Managers can see people putting in a lot of effort so they trust us as adults to manage our work loads and not to abuse it.

I once missed my day at a new job - food poisoning. Bad take away in new town. The night before.

As a business owner, you should probably be aware of the statutory right to time off for dependents.

www.gov.uk/time-off-for-dependants

Other than that, granting leave at short notice is at your discretion, but consider if you want to develop a high-trust, 'give and take' workplace, or the potential consequences if you don't.

Annoying as it is if you think they are lying , there's not much you can do.
If they keep doing it you can let them go.

stomachache
Family emergency

Do none of you have your phones backed up to the cloud? That's risky! Phones get stolen/lost/smashed all the time.

Mine is backed up so I’d be fine once I got a new one but pretty stuck until then.

Mobile phone loss is pretty big now! I'd definitely need to get a new one ASAP and take a few hours to sort that.

I completely agree with this. Especially if we are talking about a small team, like in this case. The reasons I saw being mentioned here seem valid to me, basically any health/home/family emergency.