Christmas leave entitlement?

elsien

dawyldthing wrote: »

I've found out we've got to decide amongst ourselves, so should be fun as I can't see anyone volunteering tbh

You might be surprised. I used to do a questionnaire asking for preferences, and in one team most of them were happy to work Christmas day if they got New Year's Eve off. A few people preferred their family Christmas gathering on Christmas Eve or Boxing day. And those with kids usually wanted the morning off to do the prezzie opening and would come in for the evening, whereas the rest of us happily worked the morning then went home to get !!!!ed.
I just used to say you've got to work some of it, so pick the ones you're happiest doing and if you're not being fair to colleagues I'll have to put you down for others. Worked for us - people could swap amongst themselves if they weren't happy as long as all the shifts were covered.

dawyldthing

Hedgehog99 wrote: »

People who use public transport to get to work would find it much harder, if not impossible. While I agree that there are professions who need to work Xmas and other "unsociable hours", for most office things, I can't believe a day makes much difference, and the morale of staff is worth so much more. It's good that the opportunity to work or volunteer is there for people who want it (in which case, choose one of those careers), but no-one in a "non-essential" job should have to.

I had this conversation the other day with one of my colleagues and like we said it would be double time in a taxi so would cost her at least £30 to get there, which is quite a lot really. If the rota follows on she could well be working, but it's the same New Year's Day so she won't win either way

TBagpuss

notanewuser wrote: »

Why though? What's so important about celebrating it on that particular day? Unless church services are part of your day, why make it a big deal? Especially when your children have grown up?!

It also depends on the wider family. If one person has to work on Christmas Day and most of the rest of the family only have the bank holidays off, it's hard to make it work for everyone.

I won;t be seeing my sister and BiL this year because he works in the NHS and has to work - we don;t live close enough to allow anyone to visit for the day, and by the time he is off, I (and other family members) will be back at work.

Also, even for non-church-goers, Christmas has lots of traditions which may or may not move well to another day. I think it is something which is very family-specific.

supermassive

You don't have to work Christmas day on religious grounds.

vroombroom

I work for one of the big supermarkets and we have this problem. I worked nights last year for them and worked over the Xmas and New Year period.

Now I work twilights and weekends but my contracted days fall on Xmas eve and Boxing day. Im not really fussed but management told us that we could not book any time off over Xmas. But we have since found out one girl has booked the entire week off and another lad got his mam to come in and speak to the store manager to book it off! Not impressed.

FBaby

Apparently, because her children are all adults now, her wanting Christmas off doesn't matter. It seems that those with young children get priority and the ones whose children have all grown up, are left with what the others don't want.:mad:

I do think it is fair to give priority to those with young children. After all, in most cases, those not with young children either were one day (and were happy to be able to spend the day with their kids) or will do so in the future.

I was in the latter for some time and myself volunteered to work these days. I didn't like it as it meant I couldn't spend it with my family at all who were abroad, so ended up on my own, but I would have felt terrible that someone with young kids would miss out. The feeling was even stronger when I became a mum myself (by then not at that job any longer).

I do think that is unfair though if someone without young kids never get one Christmas off for over 10 years. Unless she is the only one with no young kids, there's got to be someone else who could swap with, or even a mum with young kids but who is separated so the kids would go to their dad's some years.

Takeaway_Addict

FBaby wrote: »

I do think it is fair to give priority to those with young children. After all, in most cases, those not with young children either were one day (and were happy to be able to spend the day with their kids) or will do so in the future.

.

I disagree, it should be split fairly regardless of family issues, someone without kids might have other caring matters or grandchildren etc

Torry_Quine

FBaby wrote: »

I do think it is fair to give priority to those with young children. After all, in most cases, those not with young children either were one day (and were happy to be able to spend the day with their kids) or will do so in the future.

I was in the latter for some time and myself volunteered to work these days. I didn't like it as it meant I couldn't spend it with my family at all who were abroad, so ended up on my own, but I would have felt terrible that someone with young kids would miss out. The feeling was even stronger when I became a mum myself (by then not at that job any longer).

I do think that is unfair though if someone without young kids never get one Christmas off for over 10 years. Unless she is the only one with no young kids, there's got to be someone else who could swap with, or even a mum with young kids but who is separated so the kids would go to their dad's some years.

People with young children in my opinion should be treated the same way as the rest of the staff. There are many reasons why Christmas day off may be important to someone.

PenguinOfDeath

supermassive wrote: »

You don't have to work Christmas day on religious grounds.

What 'religious grounds'?

lady1964

There's now just 3 of us where I work, one has no kids, mine are grown up & 1 has an 8 year old. I'm happy to work Xmas Eve if the colleague with the child wants to be at home but I do think everyone, kids or not should be treated equally, first come etc.

After all, someone without kids might have relatives coming to stay or they want to visit relatives or they might just want to get away on a short break themselves.

We do though have the 'if you worked Xmas Eve/NYE last year, you get first pick of having the time off this year' which I think is also fair.