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

nicechap

Some people only post for a reaction, don t be tempted to bite.

TELLIT01

Each staff member really has 25 day's leave to work with, the other 8 are Bank Holidays which I'm assuming are non-working days. On that basis, 6 people x 5 weeks is 30 weeks holiday to take which doesn't sound as bad.
I do think that only allowing 1 person to be off at a time is extremely restrictive and will create problems particularly if people are going abroad for 2 weeks as a main holiday. Unless travelling at the weekend, it generally needs a minimum of 11 working days due to travel times.
You all need to get together with the boss and hammer this out to something more workable.
I had a boss with a similar attitude although we were at team of 4 people and it still created a problem. We had 2 people who were taking leave immediately after each other, call it weeks 5 - 6, and weeks 7 -8. I had booked leave for weeks 1 -2 but it also took the Monday of week 3. Our boss was refusing to allow anybody to have the Monday of week 3 because it would mean 2 people being off! I was actually flying back from Canada overnight on the Sunday and he would only agree to the other person having the Monday off if I said I would go into the office.
I agreed with the caveat that I would need some sleep first and would come in late. I actually went in at 4 pm for 1 hour! He thought he'd won when in reality he just shown himself to be stupid and inflexible.

Rob-123

Wow wow wow thanks so much for all the responses I really wasn't expecting this many.

I'll start by trying to answer some of the questions people have asked.

Yes it's 25 days and 5 bank holidays each.

You can only carry a maximum of 3 days to next year.

With our old boss (up u til about 3 months ago) we used to have 2 people off at once and on some occasions 3 people off. We would cover each other's workload and sort it out amongst ourselves.

Many of us have children but grandchildren too I'm in my 50's.

We are trying to devise a plan of action and talk to the boss but it is difficult. He is very stubborn.

[Deleted User]

Both companies I worked for who offered 25 days hol (not including bank hols) were/have been absolute hell, anyone who offers generous holiday will generally over promise and under deliver.

The first 25 dayer reckoned they had to have a 3 month carry over period in addition to the holiday year... That was in a team of three and a half!!

The second where in addition more holiday can be brought!!! have to see the issues having to go before senior management - they get complaints over not having enough resources. The complaints aren't from staff.

So I cringe when I hear or see companies trying to sell these increased and amazing sounding holiday allowances when often it's the very ones so thin on the ground. The boss will have to relent.

JReacher1

Rob-123 wrote: »

Wow wow wow thanks so much for all the responses I really wasn't expecting this many.

I'll start by trying to answer some of the questions people have asked.

Yes it's 25 days and 5 bank holidays each.

You can only carry a maximum of 3 days to next year.

With our old boss (up u til about 3 months ago) we used to have 2 people off at once and on some occasions 3 people off. We would cover each other's workload and sort it out amongst ourselves.

Many of us have children but grandchildren too I'm in my 50's.

We are trying to devise a plan of action and talk to the boss but it is difficult. He is very stubborn.

That is slightly different as it isn’t 33 days each it is only 25 days each as they can’t stop you all not working bank holidays. I think a team of 6 with each person on 25 days it isn’t too difficult to plan holidays so no two people are off at the same time.

I would ask if this policy is more flexible for odd days off as opposed to full weeks. For example they may be more flexible to two people being off on the same day as opposed to two people both being off for a full week.

scd3scd4

I can tell you what happens if you don't have a fair and flexible holiday system.


People will revert to sickness or just emergences! I work in a team of 6. Peak periods and school holidays are allowed 2 people off. It can work, if the manager uses a bit of common sense.

theoretica

It is perfectly possible to manage a holiday rota for six people so no two are off at the same time. Person one gets to take holidays only in jan and feb. Person two in march and april... But it would be bad for morale, and so bad for the company.

Perhaps a compromise to suggest would be to limit long overlapping holidays. Most people take a mixture of a longer holiday and odd days, so not having two or three of you off for the same fortnight, but allowing you to take the same long weekend, or longer holidays to overlap by a few days.

getmore4less

Ignore BH they just confuses the initial calculations

5 day working week, 52 weeks(close enough), 30 days holidays(6 weeks) leaving 46 weeks per person. 6 people

46*6/52=5.3 person coverage.
That allows for 13 days sick/other each


Takes a bit of planning and cooperation, that bit is relatively easy with a standard year planner.

It helps if there are a mix of people that like slightly different dates anyway.

Now if the BH everyone is off or there are other popular periods where more could be off(eg. between Xmas & NY) that frees up more days to work with for the rest of the year.


IF the min coverage is 5 then what happens is 1 or more are sick or need emergency leave, or someone leaves and recruitment is slow.

Will people be asked to cancel holidays or some other plans in place like temp cover.

These are the details than need working through as this is when the problems start.
What is the contingency plan?

if there are variable workloads like some days or weeks are busy or quiet then some adjustments can be used to use up holiday if having 2 people off an be accommodated.

getmore4less

in situations like this it can be helpful for the employer to engage with the workers outlining the business needs and asking for help in coming up with options to best meet those needs, also confirming that the workers actual are on side with the needs of the business and the employer has not overlooked something that will impact any proposals.

elsien

nicechap wrote: »

Some people only post for a reaction, don t be tempted to bite.

What is your problem? At the moment it seems that half the employment queries that pop up, there you are calling halfterm, or bot, or whatever. Even when there doesn't seem to be a good reason for thinking so.