Anybody else having difficulty taking vacation time? 5

[EngineerDave]

I guess this is a good and bad thing. Our company is busy and i work at two different locations for my organization. Other people within my group do similar things but few have to cover as much geographical distance as i do.

In any event in my current group to take anvacation, you must find someone to cover your work while you are gone, we are contracted out to other organizations so not sendingnyour backup is not an option.

In any event i have alot of time built up and its a use it or lose it aituation, but management still needs to approve your time off.

On one hand i should feel goodmthat its tough to replace me, but i am dying for a vacation! Anyone else in this boat?

I havent taken more than a 3 day weekend since early 2009.

 

[jmw]

ajack1, agreed, in general circumstances.
In this case we see someone who cannot take his vacations because he is valuable to the company.
The use of a couple of googles is to send a subtle message. This is not advocating wholesale use/abuse.
Plus it is deniable. Job sites have people looking for jobs as well as jobs looking for people. One can always claim to be looking for suitable contract hires to enable one to go on vacation.... whether the company would pay for that or not.
Besides which, when you have accrued vacation time and it reaches a use it or lose it stage, when you are so vital that you cannot take that time and management is unsympathetic and may even hope you do lose some of that time, and they want to discipline you for a couple of minutes googling, then maybe you need to be looking seriously for a new job.
Never bind the mouth of the ox that treads the grain...
Disciplining or firing someone for a few minutes is not a clever thing for any company to do. This isn't an office junior who sends all day googling you tube etc and who can be replaced with a single phone call to the job centre, this is a senior valuable professional who they can't spare for his holidays and they probably couldn't profitably replace in a year or two.
How stupid would it be for management to actually fire him?




JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[KENAT]

jmw, are you doubting some managements ability to do the stupid thing? I'm surprised coming from you.

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[jmw]

Well, no, Kenat, you have put your finger on a weak point in my argument... but then again, it would be nice to know just how stupid they are if you are losing vacation time for them....

Reminds me of the time they IQ tested our managers and were unsurprised the results came back negative....

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[btrueblood]

I love reading this thread. Once again I'm reminded to put in for my next vacation. Last one was so tiring I need a vacation to recover from it...

 

[jmw]

Over on the BNET site, this article:

http://www.bnet.com/blog/evil-hr-lady/how-can-i-make-my-employees-take-vacation/2138

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[LDOG]

First thing you need to do is buy a dirt bike. Once you have done that you go trail riding or the likes of that on the one day you do have off and wreck it hurting your leg so bad that you can't walk on it.
There is no choice after that right

Please don't go to that extreme (don't ask me how I know). Just manage your time well, delegate some responsibilities and take off before you are so numb you won't know if you hurt yourself anyway. ;-)

 

[SNORGY]

The day they (employers) start denying me my requested and entitled vacation time is the day that they (employers) stop seeing me taking work home at night, coming in on weekends to meet deadlines, and all of the other things of that nature. Twenty years ago, I worked for a company for 4 years as a *junior* engineer, and in 3 of those 4 years they called me back from my vacation early. It wasn't worth working in a place like that.

Now my tact is a bit more hard-nosed. I don't ask when I can take vacation, I tell them when I am taking it, and they just have to trust my integrity enough to know I won't set them up with something that leaves them "stranded" without me. I figure that as long as I am being fair, so should they be. For the most part, that works.

Regards,

SNORGY.

 

[patprimmer]

This thread is a bit long and a bit old so I admit I skimmed a bit so I might make redundant statements.

1) In Aus we have pretty much 4 weeks annual leave dictated by law. The timing may be included in the contract, like plant shut down for Christmas/new year/summer holiday (Christmas is summer here. For some the shutdown is when they must take leave, for a few it is when they may not.

2) In case of dispute over timing the law says the leave falls due every year 48 weeks after the last anniversary of the start of employment. ie 48+4 makes 52 to complete the year.

3) We do have laws to protect us against such abuse.

4) If you truly love your work as I mostly did, leave is not all that important, but til an entitlement.

5) A decent financial manager will set up an accruals fund, usually in a separate account and deposit leave owed there as it falls due. That way the money is spent as though you took the leave and is sitting there for you. Only problem is if you earn leave at X$ and take it at Y$ pay rate.

6) A use it or lose it, but you can't use it policy is plain outright theft, just like mugging someone. If they seriously take time off you for leave entitlements they denied you taking, they are bullies and thieves. To think some people say trade unions have outlived their usefulness. I cannot think of a better reason for industrial action if there is no law to protect you from this abuse.

7) rmw and ColnelSanders are both spot on.

8) Treat people as you find them. If they steal from you, at very least don't give anything for nothing, however don't do anything that is unethical or illegal. If your boss steals from you and abuses his power over your financial status, it's time to find a new job. leave on absolute minimum notice required by law and take everything that you are legally entitled to within the law, including any goodwill you have with their clients. You cannot take their IP, but you can be on a mission from god type crusade after you leave.

Regards
Pat
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