Manager ignoring my Christmas paid time off request

[BeBlueAnt]

I don't usually post on forums but this has really ticked me off. I've been at my current job for almost 2 years now and never had any disciplinary issues or late work etc.

However, my manager seems to just want to make things difficult for me at times.
I put in my request for Christmas paid leave in October when the director of the company sent round an email to staff to start thinking about booking Christmas leave.

My manager still has not approved the time off, I've mentioned it to them over email twice and they have ignored both times. I have a sick family member that I am hoping to get home to see over the holidays and the wait for it to be approved is killing me.
They are going on holiday for a few weeks at the end of Nov, what should I do?

My manager does not manage any other staff btw, just me. Other members of staff have had their leave approved by the director as their manager is on sick leave.

Should I raise it with my manager next week before they go and then the director if the leave is not approved before?

I would. This is not acceptable. If you have to raise it with the director, tell them how long your manager has been sitting on this.

@prh47bridge thanks for your response.

I am working from home this week as I am unwell, do you think I should raise it with them via email again or wait until I'm back in the office? Just concerned they may think that I'm not that sick if I'm bringing up Christmas leave that hasn't been approved.

The annoying thing is, they have approved other days off since but not the Christmas leave. So annoying.

Any advice is much appreciated

I’d phone your manager today. Ask him or her to approve or not today please. The directive to sort out leave was a few weeks ago.

What does company policy about the timeframe in which to approve (or not) annual leave requests.

@RandomMess I haven't been able to find one in any document mentioning paid time off. It seems to be as and when unfortunately

Ask HR if there is a policy as you are "wondering why manager hasn't responded after you applied on X as per the company request as you need to make travel plans to visit seriously unwell relative"

I would email your manager again, including the thread of the other 2 emails and copy the director in, just simply stating that you appreciate a response as you will need to make arrangements if you are or are not able to have the holidays approved

If you're well enough to work from home, they can hardly grumble if you spend five minutes chasing up a request that should have been dealt with weeks ago.

@GoldenPheasant I just sent the email. I wonder how long it will take to get a response, or a passive aggressive email/phone call 😑

Thanks for a bit of a push

I’d just pick up the phone OP..

I would never copy in the manager of the recipient of an email - it looks bad.

So don't email your manager and copy in the director (their manager).

Instead, if it is not resolved, email the director and copy in your manager.

The environment I work in I never get any response until I escalate it further up the food chain

BTW if your manager plays mind-games like this and doesn't treat you with basic respect and courtesy, then start looking for another job.

@EuclidianGeometryFan @ilovedogsme

Yes only sent my manager the email today to follow up. If its not approved by the end of next week before they go on holiday I will then bring it to the attention of the director

@EuclidianGeometryFan oh way ahead of you, application sent out last night for the same job at a way higher salary 🤌🤣

could it be that your manager wants to hold on until they’ve decided what days they want first.
anyways it’s totally unacceptable to not reply whether yes or no to your request, or let you know what the issue is and you both work it out.

@Waitfortheguinness yeah even if they were deciding what days they want off, that would not take 5 weeks to conjure. This isn't the first instance I've dealt with late approval for time off either. I work for a small company so afraid if I go to hr to complain that it'll not be dealt with seriously

Where I work leave requests that aren’t responded by a manager via the staff portal system are automatically escalated to someone senior to them. Go straight above your manager if you don’t get a response within the next working day. This is unacceptable. Do you think there is a risk it won’t be approved and your manager is swithering on raising it with you? If it’s not that then they are either incompetent or on a power trip.

If they've approved others but not this one then I'd presume it's not approved!

I would just email saying that in the absence of a denial of leave I have assumes it's approved and planned accordingly.
Is they try to deny it then they have to explain why it took them such an unreasonable amount of time to do it.