Is my boss being unfair? 6 people taking holiday seperately?!

Rob-123

Hi


I work in an office with 5 other administrators. Our new boss has recently told us that we can now not take the same holiday as each other - in other words only 1 of us can have the day off at any one time.


We are all trying to work out where this leaves us... is anyone clever enough to be able to work out how often we have to take our holiday so that we don't clash?!


I have kind of worked out the following:


52 Weeks x 5 days = 260 working days
260 days - 8 Bank holidays = 252 working days


6 Employees x 33 days holiday each = 198 days holiday that cannot be taken at the same time


252 working days - 198 days holiday = 54 days remaining


54 days remaining divided by 6 employees = 9 days


Have I now worked out that an employees 33 days holiday needs to be taken every 9 working days so that no holiday clashes?


Thank you so much to anyone who can help!

marliepanda

Firstly I'm assuming the office is closed on bank holidays and youre all off, so straight away youre down to 25 days each, 150 days.

Does the office close over Christmas and some of your holidays taken for the Christmas break?

bengalknights

Have you asked your boss what happens if it results in carry over?

Is this stated in your contract terms?

NBLondon

That's assuming you all take single days off???

33 days is a generous allowance - that's over 6 weeks each. So if you all take week blocks then that's about 39 weeks out of 52 where there will only be 5 of you available. If you take fortnight blocks, it's 19 or so out of 26.

Does the service/workload require a minimum of 5 people? Could it run with 4? Could it run with 4 for a day but not necessarily for a whole week/fortnight? That's what you need to think about if you want to challenge that policy. What happens if 2 of you are sick at the same time (or one is sick when another is on leave) - does it all grind to a halt?

ACG

Have you spoken to your boss to explain that there are so few days left over that it is almost impossible for you to all take your holiday allowance and not overlap at some point?

With what you have worked out it is pretty clear it will not work, if it were limited to say a maximum of 2 of you that would make everything a whole lot easier.

scd3scd4

Its pushing a system..................It means only half can have the six week holidays for example if you want a fortnight each.

Have you ask her to example how the maths work. 6 in pushing it. Can she make exceptions for the school holidays say?

Sea_Shell

That's daft!! I once worked with one other person, as long as we didn't clash, no probs (although if one of us had gone sick too, then the wheels would have come off).

We then got 1 extra, but because of possible sickness/other absence, we were still asked not to clash if at all possible.

With 6 of you in a team, I think it's unreasonable not to have to clash with anybody, not to mention unworkable in the real world.

I can see the one who "snoozes - loses" when it comes to booking holiday....they'll be no dates left for them TO take!!!!

Just think, statistically once a team gets to 9 or 10 people, who all have 5 to 6 weeks holiday to take...there would ALWAYS be one off at any one time, so effectively you need another extra member of staff, as you'll always be one down.

I can see two options...

1) challenge the "rule" with examples of the maths.
2) get in blooming quick on the holiday chart, well in advance!!!

Good luck.

tacpot12

Your boss also has to manage unplanned absences. If he allows two people to take leave at the same time, and then someone else is off sick, he will only have half the team in to do all the work until someone returns from holiday or sick leave.

Your boss might be prepared to allow two people to take planned leave off, providing that leave is limited to a couple of days.

How many of the team have school aged children? If everyone in the team does, then you are going to struggle to be able to take a fortnight's holiday in the summer during school holidays.

ReadingTim

That's simply unworkable - it's unfair to both those who have school age children (who can only take certain weeks off per year) and those who don't (who are effectively prevented from having any holiday outside school term times). It also sends a message that resources are so stretched that the's very little slack in the system should someone be sick, or get hit by the proverbial bus.

More workable solutions might be that no more than (say) 3 people can be off at once, or that you can only take 5 or 7 working days off in a row (except in occasional circumstances) to allow everyone a reasonable crack at the whip. Unfortunately, when it comes to actually booking dates, it's probably a case of first come first served, unless you come up with some complicated priority or seniority system whereby taking holiday at 'popular' times one year puts you lower down on the list in terms of selecting dates the following year, whereas taking holiday in unpopular times one year gives you a higher credit for booking off Christmas the next....however, trying to devise such a system, then explaining it is a right nightmare - plus new starters will inevitable be stuffed for at least a year from joining....

JReacher1

Seems perfectly reasonable. As long as they are not stopping you from having your contracted holiday then I don't see that you have any recourse to complain.

warby68

We have similar - team of 5, only 1 absence at a time.

Holiday booking starts Sept of year before. Everyone starts with a main fortnight choice. The one person rule is relaxed within reason for this first choice so everyone has a pretty good chance of booking a preferred main holiday.

Then third weeks , then 4th weeks plus any other known requests.

No obligation to book and no restriction on changing later if the rules permit but it prevents one person getting in first for their full allocation. Odd day overlaps are allowed within reason.

You can only book Christmas if you take it as your main fortnight. Otherwise Christmas leave is only booked in October of the same year. You can ask for as much as you want but its only agreed one day at a time again to stop people bagging the lot. More people allowed off for that period - up to 50%

Quite complicated rules and processes which have evolved over time but system does seem to work well with few major clashes or arguments.

It stops seniority arguments as well as this doesnt really work with a stable team - the least senior person by whichever measure tends to stay in that spot so would never get off the bottom.