Can never take 2 weeks leave

sniggings

pull a sickie the week before or better still say you can't leave the country you are in for another week because you are entangled in a murder case and are the key witness.

Finding another job that allows you to take 2 weeks off in one go, will not be easy...I can imagine the look on the interviewer's face when they ask, "have you any questions" and you jump into your holiday preferences :rotfl:

tiernsee

I work for a company with offices in America and Scandinavia. The Americans are totally stressed by how much holiday the Scandinavians get, most are away for 4 weeks at a time across July/August. The UK falls somewhere in between nowhere near as generous as our Nordic colleagues but with a lot more holiday than the US. We are allowed to take up to 2 weeks at a stretch but anytime more than this needs senior approval.

Not really sure what to suggest OP. I guess if this is really important to you as part of a job (and I can see why as I always take 2 weeks in the summer) then you may well have to search for another job and one where policy is not dictated by the US. Is your holiday approved by the US and are others in the UK office also not allowed two weeks at a time?


Good luck and hope you get your 2 weeks

Sponge

What happens with untaken leave? Are you allowed to carry it over to the next year? If so, is there a limit?

Could you place yourself in a position whereby you have to take a 2 week chunk in order to not carry it over?

goonarmy

If its important to you enough to be a problem then its time to move on. Its unreasonable to impose american work styles in the uk. What if you had paternity? Thats two weeks. If i was indispoable for a fortnight i would want to be paid like a king or the company owner.

moneyistooshorttomention

I would tend to favour a combination of "I've got untaken leave I cant carry over boss..so I will HAVE to have two weeks at once" and booking my 2 week leave periods WAY in advance. My emphasis would be on the booking way in advance. I would, say, book my 2 weeks in 9 months time. If they refused that particular 2 weeks I would book the next 2 week timespan to it. If they refused that, then I would book the next 2 week timespan to it.

I would basically "work my way through the calendar" booking and booking and booking (doing so in writing each time) until they got fed-up with seeing I was accumulating an absolute pile of written refusals.

It would be the Get Them so Fed-Up with My Constant Requests strategy that they might give in and accept I wasn't going to comply with their American culture of "no 2 weeks at once for our staff" and had to accept this is Britain and its OUR cultural norm that counts here.

EDIT: It looks, from your post, that these Americans are sticking to the American norm for amount of leave taken (even though they are in Britain). Surely, whilst they are here they have to comply with our laws and they should be getting our legal minimum amount of leave (and not theirs). Is this the case? If it is the case....then maybe it would be a good idea to let them know our laws apply to them as well and they are missing a chance of getting themselves some extra leave. Maybe then they would stop being so jealous of you for getting a British amount of annual leave?

telboyo

One place I worked at my line manager would automatically say "No" or rather he would say "oh I don't know we'll have to see at a later date". This was just a power play so I would just ask him to sign the rejection part of the leave application so I could send it in to HR. His response would then be to actually look at staffing levels and discuss my leave requirements.
The argument that the company would drown if some one takes 2 weeks off is complete nonsense, everyone is entitled to 1/8 of the year off and the company should employ sufficient people. If you are the only one qualified for a role what would they do if you were run over by the proverbial bus?
Disaster recovery plan? Business continuity? are these phrases alien to everyone?
I would get a new job before someone importatnat gets run overby the bus.

ipod_killed_the_musicshop

I'm guessing the amount of leave is not a problem, just the 2 weeks in 1 go bit. If they tried to deny you the amount of leave you're entitled to, then the company are in trouble.

Funky_Bold_Ribena

If they won't let you take the two weeks, try asking what the issue actually is. The work will have to be covered at some point, as you are entitled to that leave. And it is illegal to pay you the time that you would have had off. If they would rather you take in in separate weeks, can you do 8 days off around Easter to get the fortnight or take the week and maybe the friday and monday at either end, making it an 11 day break? Midweek to midweek might be a better option for them. Negotiate them down to a compromise.

claire16c

This definitely sounds like a case of the American boss not being used to our holiday laws and accepting that 2 weeks off is normal.

Id apply for the leave and if it gets rejected get that senior boss to have a word again.

zagubov

mountainofdebt wrote: »

Is this a cultural thing ? I'm not sure but is taking a fortnight's holiday a rarity in US firms?

tbh if not having a fortnight's holiday without a mega fight is a deal breaker for you then perhaps you need to have a heart to heart with your manager

Americans talk about weeks and months like we do but not fortnights; I don't think that US English has the word "fortnight" let alone the concept at all. Why should they?