Managers not consistant with holiday allocations.

swingaloo

just wondered what opinions folks have on this.

Our factory has what they call team managers who are not responsible for your every day work as they may not even work on your department, but they are responsible for return to work meetings, holidays, personal issues etc for their team.

Our holidays run from April to April and we have to give one weeks notice for time off.

Our manager has a different opinion from the other 14 managers as to how holidays are allocated.

For instance I have taken 2 weeks holiday (the 1st 2 weeks of April) and now want to book 3 days in June to travel to a family weeding. I have been refused the June dates as the manager says I will not have accrued enough holidays to take them yet.

Now a colleague with another manager has booked 3 weeks to go to Mexico at the end of June even though he has already used 6 days of his holiday allocation for this year.

Another colleague had used all the allocation for last year by last August.

My issue is that this manager is refusing holidays simply because he says he hates people using their holidays up early in the year as they may take sick days later in the year if their allocation is used up. I have had a 4 year 100% attendance record and as a mature adult I understand that if I have used me allocation early in the year then I am responsible and that if I were to leave the company during the year I may well have to pay back any holidays taken which have not been accrued.

If all the managers worked in the same way I would have to accept it but it seems unfair that you can be refused a holiday simply because of who's 'team' you are on.

Is it acceptable for a manger to make his up his own rules when they are consistent with the rest of the workforce?

getmore4less

Acrual rules should only apply in the first year.

How are you supposed to take the last few days of accrual?

what is the company policy, if they are not following that put in a grievence or go over their heads if they won't budge.

Your holiday approval should be negotiated with the people you work for/with, this desk jocky is a paper pusher and needs reminding of that.

swingaloo

getmore4less wrote: »

Acrual rules should only apply in the first year.

How are you supposed to take the last few days of accrual?

what is the company policy, if they are not following that put in a grievence or go over their heads if they won't budge.

Your holiday approval should be negotiated with the people you work for/with, this desk jocky is a paper pusher and needs reminding of that.

Thanks for the reply. The company policy document and my contract don't have anything other than the amount of notice required to take a holiday.

We as a team have tackled him about his stance being different from other managers but he says that as a team manager he is in his rights to handle his team however he wants. No other team has this issue with their manager.

He just states that he will refuse holidays if he thinks people are using their allocation to soon in the working year, he feels it will keep people from taking sick days if they have used all their holidays before the end of the holiday year. He also refuses to allow his team to take half days even thought the rest of the factory can all do this. His reason for that- If you need to take time off take the day. Short notice holidays are also not given as - If you only ask at short notice then it cant be that important or you would have booked the day earlier.

One of the team has approached the shift manager who basically backed him and said he was free to use his own discretion when dealing with his team.

If it was a company thing then I could accept it but for it just to by be my team manager really annoys me. I could go to HR but its a no win situation. There are 'good' jobs and 'carp' ones and he is free to put you wherever he likes. some people are moved daily where as I have a decent job at the moment. I know from past experience that anyone who complains and gets on the wrong side of him suffers.

Takeaway_Addict

blondebubbles wrote: »

I remember something like this happening in my old work. Managers were asked to speak to staff who were using their leave entitlement too quickly (it was becoming a pattern that these were the people going off sick once their leave was finished of having an increase in "family emergencies" etc).

Even though it was discussed the manager couldn't actually do anything to stop them from taking it how they pleased if there was leave available.

They could, they just say no.

swingaloo

blondebubbles wrote: »

It wasn't up to managers to approve or decline leave, there was a separate resources team that did that. We had a sheet that showed how many leave slots were available every hour of every day. If there was a slot then the manager couldn't stop the person from taking it.

That's what happens on every other team (all teams are on the same rota and jobs), the managers look on the system and if there are less than a certain percentage already off then a holiday is given upon request whether or not it has already been accrued.

Obviously the holiday I have just taken had not yet been accrued. but, because I have already had 2 weeks I am being declined the 3 days for the family wedding. If I was on any other managers team it would just be authorised without question and that's whats annoying me,

swingaloo

blondebubbles wrote: »

I would be looking to speak to your managers manager

Unfortunately that's already been done and he has simply said that the team manger can manage his team any way he sees fit. To take it higher to HR would only result in being moved to a lousy job as he has the say what department his team are placed on.

Think I will just have to grin and bear it.

[Deleted User]

I know its tempting to push this, and there's no doubt its unfair but I wouldn't even think about it as it will only make you angry and ruin how you feel about your job. It sounds like any avenues to get this changed aren't necessarily going to help, and will have repercussions. its not a good situation to be in, but well, missing a wedding isn't the end of the world, working in an area you hate would affect you far more. Or losing your job. Lets face it, if you made the Team Leader's life unpleasant enough, there's enough leeway for a manager to find a legal way to get rid of someone who's face doesn't fit.

Please don't think I don't sympathise, I do.., but I've been in this situation, spoken out against something I felt was wrong, and well, I suffered lol. I would do it differently another time and keep it in perspective.

Funky_Bold_Ribena

Your manager is an idiot. You can just as easily be sick for three days in June; if that's how he looks at it.

eamon

Your manager is an idiot. You can just as easily be sick for three days in June; if that's how he looks at it

.

I agree and also short sighted. Sadly his manager can't now be seen to go over his head and correct him. I'm responsible for allocating leave amongst my team. It's first come first serve and if team members are ill then the company absence policy & procedures will pick those instances up. I can sort of see his point of view but all he is doing is storing up potential leave conflicts for later in the holiday year. He needs to read some employment law and tell HR to do the same. Having an inflexible leave policy outside of any company shutdown is last century thinking.

amiehall

I think I'm the total opposite. There's nothing as a manager I hate more than having tonnes of holiday accrued and yet to be taken. If I could persuade my team to take all their holiday January-April I'd be super happy I'm normally twisting people's arms to take it, and always end up having to cram the last of it in during November/December. I feel really guilty when people miss out on any of their leave, even though I know I've really tried to make them book it!

I genuinely think "the sooner the better" applies when it comes to scheduling holiday, then you know where you stand and won't leave yourself short later in the year. If he's declined holiday for a petty reason and then some people leave and you're short staffed so you can't take it later in the year, he's going to get himself into a really sticky situation.

specialboy

I'm sorry but I'm with your manager here, its his job to manage his staff and that's what he's doing, if the company are giving him discretion on managing his teams holidays then that's just the way it is, he can dictate when and fr how long your holidays last as long as you get your min allocation.