My manager has asked me to provide some leave dates now to ensure my Dec 2019 year end balance is not more than 2 weeks. I don't need to lodge in system but need to show that I have leave planned.
Do I need to provide this information now?
I feel I shouldn't have to provide the dates now and as long as I take the 4 weeks in 2019 I shouldn't have to commit to it this month?
Edited to remove exact email.
Exactly you don't need to lodge it so just say you want a week over xmas and new years, maybe say a couple of fridays before various Monday public holidays, a couple of weeks in the middle of the year? Doesn't mean you need to commit to it just do what they are asking.
Leave balances are not good for companies so they want it to be reduced for the higher ups.
no way, I take leave based on cheap flight deals, can't plan them 12 months in advance.
I would take 52 weeks leave from that job in 2019 if they try to force this, just quit.
Employment is give and take mate, it's not a right.
is not more than 2 weeks
Da fk?
I have like 2 months leave. lol
You need to get out more
Mortgage is too high! Can't afford to.
Unless you're planning to quit and cash out your leave soon why is it relevant that you have a mortgage to pay? You'll be getting paid the same regardless of if you're on leave or not.
@Quantumcat: i read somewhere about cashing out annual leave while still employed
not sure if it's individual company policy
@Quantumcat: No, i meant I only take leave when I can go on an overseas holiday away from the turd that is Sydney.
You're allocated 4 weeks a year and technically you're meant to take them within that year. There are those who don't take any for years and end up with months and months of annual leave, that's when companies try to force you to take the leave. It's bad for their books if you quit…especially if you've been accumulating it for years on lower salary and you quit on a much higher salary many years later.
I know of people, in particular one guy who put annual leave in the system to get their balances below 4 weeks to make bosses happy, but then just kept postponing the leave, changing the dates, etc they kept doing it for a while until eventually he had to take it. He just stayed home and did nothing.
Other countries, you lose them if you don't use them, so we're pretty lucky.
I don’t see the issue here…it’s not an unreasonable request…look at a calendar, find some suitable dates and let her know.
Just a word of caution. If your manager reads their copied/pasted email on a public forum like this, you might find yourself out of favour with the management very quickly. Seemingly for no apparent reason. If I were you, I'd delete any trace of the original email in your post. Also, you might want to read your company policies and procedures regarding annual leave, your answer is most likely there. The policies should be available to all employees.
Thanks for your advice, I have changed my original post to remove the exact email.
Yeah. OP sounds like an annoying employee - not spreading internal emails on public forums seems like a blatantly obvious commonsense thing. And the request for indications of when leave will be taken is standard too.
It’s just budgeting season. If no annual leave is planned, then your company and/or department is effectively budgeting for too much wages expense (the company gets a saving to their wages expense when you take annual leave).
They’re really just asking for your best guess so they can keep finance happy. As you said as long as you take the 4 weeks during the year that’s the most important thing and any timing difference can be explained in their variance analysis routines.
This.
The email could probably have been handled better, but this is most likely why they're asking.
A lot of places don't bother asking and simply assume that everyone will take their four weeks each year, then generate a naughty list of those with too large a balance at the end of each cycle.
My personal pro-tip work dealing with strange/unreasonable requests from corporate HR droids: Just reply with something vague an non-committal that ticks their "he/she complied" box, so that they can complete whatever report garbage report they're obliged to produce for their betters. You'll likely never hear from them again, regardless of what you write.
I feel the email was clear enough that they only wanted an indication for budgeting purposes. OP is just making a big deal out of nothing - these leave plans, especially since they're specifically not lodged in the system, aren't binding in any way.
Go to the Fairwork website
All your questions are answered.
https://www.fairwork.gov.au/how-we-will-help/templates-and-g…
Personally I just book large swathes of leave in advance then cancel it and rebook it further in future so it keeps my balance down whilst retaining my leave. That said I do take leave every year but keeping a large balance is insurance against losing my job or some financial troubles as my agreement allows me to cash out a portion.
"No need to lodge in system at this stage"
The email says you don't have to commit to it this month.
Where I work, we routinely have to submit our holiday dates a year or so in advance. If you don't, you get made to take leave at a time possibly inconvenient to you if you have too much leave.
As per many posts above, my manager also requires to report to his higher ups that his team are actively "taking leave". His rationale for this is that leave in FY18 is a larger expense to the organization in FY19 etc… which makes sense.
As mentioned, employment is give and take. During my first year of employment, my place was super short staffed for about 12-18 months due to some staff being on workcover and I wasn't "asked" to book or take any leave, so I didn't take more than 2 weeks in that time. This was helpful to my manager at the time, as he did not have to hire temporary staff (locums) to cover this shortfall.
When my new manager started I had about 10 weeks + owing, he asked me if I could take some, or if he could just give me a day off here and there and it worked out fine. As I had no massive holidays planned, I was more than happy having regular 3 day weekends at a higher pay rate than when I first started working.
As others have said, just give indicative dates (you could be open and also say that you are not sure as yet, as you need to plan them and the dates may therefore change).
Do keep in mind (and those others commenting above re accruing more leave) that it would be in your own health interests to take some leave. Regardless of your type of work, just having a break from it provides much more benefits than if you just keep on going to work for long unbroken periods.
I personally need a minimum of two weeks to notice that I have unwound (even when I thought I didn't have any stresses etc.).
Well I now have been asked to lodge the 2019 leave in the system so I am going to find out the policy from HR.
I think its reasonable to give your manager an idea of when you want to take time off. Give him/her a chance to plan things. Also sounds like you have a small team and you probably would want to avoid having two people off at the same time, so this give you plenty of time to work it out.
Obviously you don't have to make any commitments and you arent even formally lodging it. If you want time off at peak times like school holidays and easter/christmas I would suggest getting leave in first as this is usually first in best dressed.