Job Offer - Contract Signing and Holidays

PierremontQuaker03

I have accepted a position in a new company to start 01st April (after being made redundant)and have signed the contract and it is ready to send back in the post....however now I am thinking of holidays.
Obviously when you start somewhere new you have to build them up which is fine, but I am still wanting a holiday with the family this year in August. I haven't booked anything yet (I am not the type of person to book to far in advance as its never been an issue at my current employer for the last 10 years) however I am tempted to tell my employer that I have already booked a holiday last year for this August.
Common sense obviously says I should inform them now before I send the contract back just so that everything is agreed, and they accept to honor these holidays. Any advice?

[Deleted User]

Firstly, they may ask for proof.

Secondly, if you had a pre-booked holiday, it would of been expected to have been mentioned before now.

jobbingmusician

Agree dates with your wife/husband. This is now a booking. Tell new employer you have holiday booked for these dates and ask if they can accommodate. You are right - now is the time to negotiate! I don't think you need to prove a booking - at least, if you are asked for one you can say you haven't booked with a company but this is when your partner has booked leave/ the only time the family you are visiting can accommodate you/ etc.

TBagpuss

Have you checked whether you do have to accrue holiday before you take it? It doesn't always work that way. However, it may be that holidays are booked on a 'first come, first served' basis s other dates you want might not be available.

I think you would be fine to contact HR to ask what their rules are, and to say that you have a holiday planned in August and will they be able to accommodate it? If you refer to it as planned then you are not lying about having booked something, and won't be out of pocket if they tell you that, for whatever reason, they cant accommodate the dates.

Paul_DNAP

No need to invent lies about it. Just ask sometime your the first couple of weeks "is there any restrictions on when we can take our holidays, like busy times or restrictions on how many can be off the same week, because we like to get away mid-August, but didn't book anything yet with needing to sort out the job first, so I was wondering what the option of booking a week would be?"


Heck, it even sounds like a good question to raise at your induction. "Any questions?" "What is the system for booking holidays?"

getmore4less

DO NOT LIE.

Statutory holiday accrual is 1/12 on the 1st of each month rounded up

by August you would have 5/12 of 28days(12) minimum enough for 2 weeks holiday.

The company does not have to follow statutory accrual rules as they can dictate when you take all you holidays but there should be no need to have any taken unpaid.

TELLIT01

At every job interview I ever had there was the standard "Do you have any questions?" from the interviewer. That is the point at which you should have raised the question about holiday which had already been booked. All you can do now is ask when you start, but do not lie about having holiday booked if it isn't. They may ask for proof, and if you haven't got any things might turn against you pretty quickly.
If your partner does have time booked off, or can only take holiday on specific dates, then say so. Be prepared for the request to be refused as August is a peak month for holiday and the limit on the number of people off at one time may already have been reached.

ReadingTim

TBagpuss wrote: »

Have you checked whther you do have to accrue holiday before you take it? It doesn't always work that way.

Accrue holiday to me means companies being unwilling to let you take off (for example) your entire annual leave's worth of holiday in the first month of the holiday year, but I might have misinterpreted it...worth checking though.

However, there is the issue that depending on when you start and when the company's leave year runs from/to, your holiday entitlement will be pro-rated to reflect the fact that you won't have been there for a full year.

One would hope they'd allow you to take it as unpaid leave, rather than a flat out denial; but the OP might want to bear that in mind, depending on the state of their finances...

gettingtheresometime

PierremontQuaker03 wrote: »

I have accepted a position in a new company to start 01st April (after being made redundant)and have signed the contract and it is ready to send back in the post....however now I am thinking of holidays.
Obviously when you start somewhere new you have to build them up which is fine, but I am still wanting a holiday with the family this year in August. I haven't booked anything yet (I am not the type of person to book to far in advance as its never been an issue at my current employer for the last 10 years) however I am tempted to tell my employer that I have already booked a holiday last year for this August.
Common sense obviously says I should inform them now before I send the contract back just so that everything is agreed, and they accept to honor these holidays. Any advice?

So what happens in the scenario that they decide that it isn't fine for you to take the hastily booked holiday and decide to withdraw the offer.


or


decide that you aren't the right fit for the job and not confirm your appointment ?


or


a multitude of other reasons why you could be left either losing money having to cancel the holiday or not being able to afford the holiday.


Personally I wouldn't book anything until nearer the time when you could get a last minute deal.

PierremontQuaker03

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

So what happens in the scenario that they decide that it isn't fine for you to take the hastily booked holiday and decide to withdraw the offer.


or


decide that you aren't the right fit for the job and not confirm your appointment ?


or


a multitude of other reasons why you could be left either losing money having to cancel the holiday or not being able to afford the holiday.


Personally I wouldn't book anything until nearer the time when you could get a last minute deal.

Yes I agree, after reading all of the posts I think I am going to leave it - I will have almost accrued enough holidays for a 10 day break (inc a weekend) so I don't think it is an issue- rather than saying I have some booked.

Masomnia

I disagree with a lot of the above. I'd think a less of an employee who booked a holiday without getting it approved first, and though your situation is slightly different in that you've just started I still think you bring it up before taking the role and would be well advised to get it approved in the normal way before booking anything. If they say you could have the time off then book the holiday, but maybe ask them to confirm it in writing when they offer the job if it's important to you.

I wouldn't worry too much about the accrual thing as in my experience employers hardly ever hold employees to it, but maybe check with them.