Am I alone in thinking my work is being odd with how we request annual leave?

[Whackeygrunt]

Hey,

So for the longest time, requesting annual leave at my workplace was done pretty much the same as it has been done everywhere else that I've ever worked and how I imagine it works in most places. I am part of a fairly large team and so there is a spreadsheet where you indicate what dates you want to take for any upcoming leave requests. Anyone on the team can access this at any point and so people can see in advance if a particular date range already has too many people requesting it off at once. Leave is granted more or less on a first come, first serve basis in line with service level agreements (certain number of people who do a particular area of work need to be in work etc). This is then reviewed by the Team Leader and if approved you can submit the request formally on the internal request system and it'll be officially signed off more or less straight away and all payroll formalities etc enacted.

Fast forward to today. I was absent for a virtual team meeting yesterday as I was off but apparently, this is how upper management want us to request annual leave for next year, moving forward:

Ask all team members in an informal manner (via email) if anyone has any problems if you want to request x date to y date next year. Then submit the request on the upcoming team spreadsheet when it's available.

I find this incredibly odd. It's apparently a courtesy measure that upper management would like us to utilise. I understand the good will gesture aspect of this but still.... I find it weird.

We're basically being asked more or less, to seek permission from our work colleagues as to whether it's ok to have time off. This is surely the responsibility of the management to you know..... Manage and manage fairly and in line with business considerations?

Also, the team spreadsheet already serves the courtesy purpose. People can see who's requested what before they submit any requests....

I raised the point that if someone wanted to, they could take issue with someones request for time off purely out of spite. Wouldn't happen on my team but could potentially happen elsewhere if there's people who dislike others on their team.

Am I wrong to find this whole thing weird?

 

[SixTwoSix]

Your existing method is identical to my work place, full spreadsheet visibility of who is off when and if there are any conflicts, right up to 18 months in advance.

Sounds like someone in your upper management is bored and making changes for the sake of it, it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[pepp77]

No, thats weird.

We use BrightHR - login request a date off, its either accepted or not. My colleagues find out Im having x days off when they have been confirmed by my manager.

 

[peterwalkley]

At 6pm you send:

Hi all

I want to book tomorrow off. If you don't reply in the next 10 seconds I'll assume its ok.

kthxbye​

..see how long it take before they cotton on to how stupid that system would be.

 

[Rids]

lolwut

Can see this going spectacularly wrong

"I object to your holiday request in August because I want to go that week."

"but if you on holiday for those weeks I'm going to have to cover your role, I'd rather not do that so I object"

It should be up to management to understand workloads, deadlines and plan accordingly, not delegate that down to employees to manage each others holiday.

 

[Hades]

It is a little unusual because most places work on a first come first served basis. But there must be a reason why management have changed the process. Have you asked them why the change was needed and who will arbitrate if a team member raises an objection?

EDIT: I'm guessing the managers are fed up with complaints when someone has been too slow to book holidays. So they want the staff to arbitrate first. But it's just going to cause arguments. First past the line is always better.

 

[Whackeygrunt]

It is a little unusual because most places work on a first come first served basis. But there must be a reason why management have changed the process. Have you asked them why the change was needed and who will arbitrate if a team member raises an objection?

EDIT: I'm guessing the managers are fed up with complaints when someone has been too slow to book holidays. So they want the staff to arbitrate first. But it's just going to cause arguments. First past the line is always better.

I'm waiting on the minutes from the meeting I missed before I formally raise my concerns. Glad i'm not the only one who finds this odd. I've already sounded off in our Microsoft Teams chat.

 

[alexakasloth]

Sounds like management who don't want to take the responsibility of managing.

 

[arknor]

stick up a fake notice in multiple places saying something along the lines of.

Anyone wishing to request a payrise must first clear it with other employees

 

[Rroff]

Seems a very odd and open to abuse process to me - original implementation is more or less how we run it at work, though we have a fuller software implementation than a spreadsheet. The only difference is that parents get a higher priority at certain times of year - so if you book certain weeks in September, etc. as a non-parent confirmation is delayed. (we are also expected to book 2 weeks in for the summer in advance to avoid conflict and make sure people don't end the year with all their holiday still).

 

[MissChief]

When I was in the call centre it was all managed by an online system that had a set threshold for who could be off at any one time. Once that was met that was it, no more holidays.

Now I’m in a team of 9 so we check the spreadsheet and if it’s clear apply through our HR portal where the boss can authorise them.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

That is weird. We have something called Atlas where all requested get sent to the general manager. If he has a question about whether one of my team is OK to go on holiday at a certain time, say I might be understaffed, he'll ask me whether there's enough cover. That's his job as HR!

 

[Mr Badger]

We use a Holiday Pigeon. A grid is laid out on the office floor representing all the days of the year. Everyone puts their Holiday Corn allocation down on the days they want and the Holiday Pigeon is then released. If it eats your piece of Holiday Corn then your request is approved. If it ignores your Holiday Corn your request is declined. If it ***** on your Holiday Corn then you lose a day of your holiday entitlement. This carries on until the Holiday Pigeon is full or flies off.

At least it makes more sense than your system.

 

[OldKitMan]

blimey, my team submit a request, if there are enough staff left to cover the work then it gets approved - first come, first served.

 

[Whackeygrunt]

OK, thanks all for validating my feelings. I knew I was right to find this weird.

I've had a formal chat with my TM and it's been made clear that nothing has changed in the way we request holidays and that this requests was just to courteous amongst team members. The initial communication was poorly worded and it didn't help that my inbox became flooded with people asking others if certain dates were ok for them to have off.

Can a mod delete this thread please?

Thanks all!

 

[Stu999]

You should definitely object to all of your colleagues’ requests for leave

We just use a system based request. Straight to manager, they decide if it’s ok to be off (it usually is).

 

[krooton]

We use TeamSeer, first-come first-served.

 

[Stolly]

i'm a leave approver in a large company. It works as most people here have described. What problem are your management trying to solve ? Without a clear articulation of the issue, this just seems wasteful micro management.

 

[BUDFORCE]

Get a new job and in the exit interview say that's why.

 

[Semple]

Wow, after reading all these replies, it makes me realise how informal our process is. All we have to do is book a meeting slot in outlook calendar. Don't even have to set it to accept replies.