christmas holiday leave
Discussion
Having the usual fight at work regarding who has leave on Xmas eve and the time off between Xmas and nyear...
I work in a team of 7 but it seems at my work that if you hail from abroad and wish to return home , this now aces being indigenous and having kids , and longer service.
Anyone else have this annual fight , any tips!!!
Thanks
I work in a team of 7 but it seems at my work that if you hail from abroad and wish to return home , this now aces being indigenous and having kids , and longer service.
Anyone else have this annual fight , any tips!!!
Thanks
Get a fair rolling rota in for next year.
It's annoying how if you are single and childless, you are supposed to work every Christmas for the rest of time. Perhaps now if people with kids are put in the same position there might be some conceited effort to have a fair system for all in future.
It's annoying how if you are single and childless, you are supposed to work every Christmas for the rest of time. Perhaps now if people with kids are put in the same position there might be some conceited effort to have a fair system for all in future.
My office is closed too, but when we did have to open it was on a rota basis, so nobody had to do more one day. I've usually gone in on those days anyway when I've had the option - no other staff in the place, no phone calls from the UK, very few phone calls from abroad. Normally I'd wait until our US office got in for the day at 2pm, give them a call to see if anything was going on, and then go home. That way I got to save the holiday for when the days are more than six hours long.
We were initially told that we had 4 days off, (Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon), but the powers that be in the county council have decided that the Saturday (Boxing Day) is a normal day, the shops are open and they want full enforcement and so have ordered us in to work. Currently the company are trying to get it at least a half day.
On the other hand, they want 2 volunteers to work the Monday.... none forthcoming so far!
On the other hand, they want 2 volunteers to work the Monday.... none forthcoming so far!
Well working in a Muslim country away from the family causes a few issues. Fortunately this year we have a Muslim holiday on the 24th. The 25th & 26th is our weekend. This year it my turn to cover the period, so I get to do a 6hr flight home on the 24th arriving around 4pm & fly back on the 26th.
Fortunately Christmas holidays aren't an issue for me; we are open but it's first come first served for holiday and everyone accepts that.
I'm off over Christmas this year from the 20th till the 2nd, however no one realised that there was an extra bank holiday this year, until I booked all that time off; bank holidays are on a rota and I've done the least but as I'm a nice person I'm going to come in and work it, I am going away but I'm back on the 27th.
Used to work at a place with 8 of us in the department; 7 of us had kids of school age, summer holidays were a nightmare as they wouldn't allow more than one person off at any one time.
I'm off over Christmas this year from the 20th till the 2nd, however no one realised that there was an extra bank holiday this year, until I booked all that time off; bank holidays are on a rota and I've done the least but as I'm a nice person I'm going to come in and work it, I am going away but I'm back on the 27th.
Used to work at a place with 8 of us in the department; 7 of us had kids of school age, summer holidays were a nightmare as they wouldn't allow more than one person off at any one time.
I usually take the first week of December off and then either first or second week in January and work the Christmas gap instead. Nothing more satisfying then going on leave just when people are returning from theirs. It's always dead between Christmas and New Year anyway, but we are a 24 hour business so there always need to be someone in.
Ours closes down, so we're off anyway, but we have to use 3 days of our annual entitlement for the 'privilege'.
Previous place, I used to avoid the free for all and always work between Xmas and New Year as it was dead and the holidays could be used for summer when the weather was better and work was busier.
Previous place, I used to avoid the free for all and always work between Xmas and New Year as it was dead and the holidays could be used for summer when the weather was better and work was busier.
We had that issue with everyone wanting all 3 days between Xmas and NY off, and we solved it this way.
If anyone takes all 3 days off, that's 3 days out of their annual leave. But if they are prepared to work one of the days, then they get the other 2 off without taking any of their allowance.
Since then it's amazing how everyone who "just had to have all 3 days off" are now able to work one of the days. Thus we make sure the office is staffed on all 3 days.
If anyone takes all 3 days off, that's 3 days out of their annual leave. But if they are prepared to work one of the days, then they get the other 2 off without taking any of their allowance.
Since then it's amazing how everyone who "just had to have all 3 days off" are now able to work one of the days. Thus we make sure the office is staffed on all 3 days.
My previous place was open to the public over Christmas (except for Christmas Eve/Day and associated bank holidays and weekends).
When I started the Christmas leave was done on a "raffle" system. You entered your name, names were picked out of a hat during a departmental meeting, the first 15 were guaranteed the time off and then an extra seven or eight might get approved depending on staffing levels. Generally there was over 35 people entering the draw (very big team, and part timers were allowed to take part as well) so there was always a lot of disappointed people.
This was eventually scrapped when it was shown that a few extremely lucky people had had the past five Christmases off while others had constantly entered it and had never got the time off as their name had never been picked out early enough.
New system, introduced in my last 2 years, was similar in that it was still a lucky draw, but if your name was picked one year then you were banned from entering the second year. So no one could have multiple Christmases off in a row. Worked very well and in the second year there was exactly 22 people in the draw, so in the end they were all granted leave.
You could also apply for special permission to have the time off if you didn't get the draw, and it was at the discretion of senior managers whether or not to allow it. It was purely an "exceptional circumstances" deal and "my children are small" was not one of those circumstances.
My current place is simply closing on the evening of the 23rd December and reopening on the 4th January, nearly 2 weeks off for the cost of 4 days leave and no one's arguing over it
When I started the Christmas leave was done on a "raffle" system. You entered your name, names were picked out of a hat during a departmental meeting, the first 15 were guaranteed the time off and then an extra seven or eight might get approved depending on staffing levels. Generally there was over 35 people entering the draw (very big team, and part timers were allowed to take part as well) so there was always a lot of disappointed people.
This was eventually scrapped when it was shown that a few extremely lucky people had had the past five Christmases off while others had constantly entered it and had never got the time off as their name had never been picked out early enough.
New system, introduced in my last 2 years, was similar in that it was still a lucky draw, but if your name was picked one year then you were banned from entering the second year. So no one could have multiple Christmases off in a row. Worked very well and in the second year there was exactly 22 people in the draw, so in the end they were all granted leave.
You could also apply for special permission to have the time off if you didn't get the draw, and it was at the discretion of senior managers whether or not to allow it. It was purely an "exceptional circumstances" deal and "my children are small" was not one of those circumstances.
My current place is simply closing on the evening of the 23rd December and reopening on the 4th January, nearly 2 weeks off for the cost of 4 days leave and no one's arguing over it
We are shutting the doors at noon on the 24th and open again on the 5th.
Saves all the trouble of the usual Christmas holiday bun fight. Most other law firms will be closed then anyway so has no real business impact and it means that everyone comes back after a week+ of holiday and ready for the New Year.
Personally i think that it is wrong that anyone should have to fall in line behind others because 'others' have family overseas or children. If the family are overseas then go see them at another time of the year - you chose to work here not overseas. You have kids? How nice for you!
The only 'fair' way to deal with this is (IMO) to take it in turns as to who does and does not have time off. I am happy to only take 'term time' holidays for the rest of the year as I have no children of my own but am damned if i should have to always give up Christmas holidays for the convince of others.
Saves all the trouble of the usual Christmas holiday bun fight. Most other law firms will be closed then anyway so has no real business impact and it means that everyone comes back after a week+ of holiday and ready for the New Year.
Personally i think that it is wrong that anyone should have to fall in line behind others because 'others' have family overseas or children. If the family are overseas then go see them at another time of the year - you chose to work here not overseas. You have kids? How nice for you!
The only 'fair' way to deal with this is (IMO) to take it in turns as to who does and does not have time off. I am happy to only take 'term time' holidays for the rest of the year as I have no children of my own but am damned if i should have to always give up Christmas holidays for the convince of others.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
If anyone takes all 3 days off, that's 3 days out of their annual leave. But if they are prepared to work one of the days, then they get the other 2 off without taking any of their allowance.
I've seen that work well too. Best thing about it is that there's no b
hing involved, which is invaluable.Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff