Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
(OP)
thread732-295305: Anybody else having difficulty taking vacation time?
So about a year ago, I posted a thread about the difficulty of taking vacation. I did finally get to take the vacation, it was really tough, I had to basically train an employee who had just relocated to my area a week or two before the time I went on vacation.
This year I hope to take vacation again. Emailed my boss a few weeks back, he said it should be ok, but I didn't mention specific dates since i was in the process of finalizing it.
Emailed him again this week. Vacation time i need is slightly over a month from now. Have only taken off maybe one or two days since last years one week vacation. In the meantime my boss and many of my coworkers have taken several vacations.
It is the only time my wife can also take off due to her schedule. So we bought the tickets to our destination since we found a good deal. Of course this is kind of risky while waiting for final approval.
I am pretty much resigned to sending her on with a friend if my company denies me.
I have so much vacation time stored up it's unreal. I am kind of worried that this will be a recurring issue in my worklife, in particular with this company.
For whatever reason, the more years I have in the workforce, the more vacation time I get in theory, and the less I am actually able to take.
So about a year ago, I posted a thread about the difficulty of taking vacation. I did finally get to take the vacation, it was really tough, I had to basically train an employee who had just relocated to my area a week or two before the time I went on vacation.
This year I hope to take vacation again. Emailed my boss a few weeks back, he said it should be ok, but I didn't mention specific dates since i was in the process of finalizing it.
Emailed him again this week. Vacation time i need is slightly over a month from now. Have only taken off maybe one or two days since last years one week vacation. In the meantime my boss and many of my coworkers have taken several vacations.
It is the only time my wife can also take off due to her schedule. So we bought the tickets to our destination since we found a good deal. Of course this is kind of risky while waiting for final approval.
I am pretty much resigned to sending her on with a friend if my company denies me.
I have so much vacation time stored up it's unreal. I am kind of worried that this will be a recurring issue in my worklife, in particular with this company.
For whatever reason, the more years I have in the workforce, the more vacation time I get in theory, and the less I am actually able to take.





RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
http://www.nceng.com.au/
"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning."
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
If this is an ongoing resource problem then either they need to live with it or let you have more and better qualified direct reports under you.
It isn't all that unusual for engineers to not take their entitlement, I used to accrue lots of time till HR introduced new rules about the company not giving pay in lieu and not allowing more than so much to be carried forward one year and one year only) but this is usually because engineers would rather be working than sitting on some beach minus computer because the partner won't allow it. But when the company denies the engineer the right to take their entitlement that is something else and may not be legal. Technically, they are in breech of your contractual terms.
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
First of every year I scheduled all of my vacation (except 2-3 days) for the year. I set the dates, informed my boss (who always said yes to dates in the future) and MOST IMPORTANTLY put it on my calendar. Then when meetings or milestones were being discussed I would say, "I'm not available _____ thru ____". People would then find dates that worked the best for the most people. Sometimes "important" meetings (today I have to wonder how important most of them really were) would have to fall on my vacation and I simply missed them. I held 2-3 days back from the schedule for stuff that pops up. If I decided to take a day for a kid's field trip I could. If I didn't have anything come up, I'd take a couple of long week ends, but I took every minute of vacation due me.
The big mistake that people make is not fixing the date of their vacation. "It is going to be sometime in May", means that no one can ever consider your vacation in their planning (unless they block out all of May for you) so they don't.
I had a friend once who always carried most of his vacation over to the next year. He was a pretty senior guy with 5 weeks vacation. The last year I worked for the company I asked him "If you can't make yourself take 5 weeks this year what makes you think you are going to take 10 weeks next year?" The company only allowed carrying over last year's vacation to the next year and if you didn't use it it was deleted from the books so he worked for free for 5 weeks a year when he lost the accrued time for the year before.
If you treated a project schedule with the same caviler attitude that you apply to your vacation you'd be fired. Stop doing it.
David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering
"Belief" is the acceptance of an hypotheses in the absence of data.
"Prejudice" is having an opinion not supported by the preponderance of the data.
"Knowledge" is only found through the accumulation and analysis of data.
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."
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RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
It is basically the same exact time I took off last year, which was a colossal headache to take also.
I also like hearing about people who plan ahead and book things. Of course we do this with other projects, but never with vacation. I need to learn my lesson.
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering
"Belief" is the acceptance of an hypotheses in the absence of data.
"Prejudice" is having an opinion not supported by the preponderance of the data.
"Knowledge" is only found through the accumulation and analysis of data.
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
I'm not sure if its the same across the globe, but if you're using your employer as a bank for your entitlements, then if they happen to go broke you can be sure that it won't be easy to recover.
Sure, there are supposed to be laws guaranteeing entitlements and all of that (again, subject to location) but any business who gets themselves in that position has probably already used up the 'entitlements' that are meant to be kept for employees. It can also add up to quite a bit of tied up capital (for the business) so theres obvious reasons why its not a good idea.
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
Variations most often specified as terms of employment might be that they must be taken during a shut down period like Christmas Or if you are maintenance staff, they cannot be taken during Christmas shut down or they may not be taken during a specified season when it is known production is at it's busiest due to seasonal trends.
Here, if you do not take your owed leave it does accumulate and may be paid as a lump sum on termination which is a nice safety net for employees but a nasty financial liability to employers as it is often paid at a higher rate of pay than when first due.
I have had employers insist that they must be taken within a year of falling due or else they will be lost, That was in fact a bluff as it is illegal.
Regards
Pat
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RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
If you can't plan YOUR life how would you be trusted to plan anything else?
Cheers
Greg Locock
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RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
Thinking you are banking prior year's vacation as a safety net on termination has to be one of the riskiest things I've ever heard of. So many things can go wrong with that plan that it would be irresponsible to rely on it.
David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering
"Belief" is the acceptance of an hypotheses in the absence of data.
"Prejudice" is having an opinion not supported by the preponderance of the data.
"Knowledge" is only found through the accumulation and analysis of data.
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/22/why-dont-most-americans-take-all-their-vacation-time
It seems the excuse that 'you're too busy to take vacation' is a common one as well as loosing vacation time.
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
I agree 110% with that... The day your compagny will go bankrupt... You probably won't even get your last pay.. so imagine what will happen with your accumuled hours !
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
It may be true, I cannot possibly comment, but it is perhaps better not to mention it.
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
There is the odd payroll clerk that is in HR (because that is a convenient place to stack them) who is useful, but they are really rare. Mostly HR is just slime on the shoes of management.
David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering
"Belief" is the acceptance of an hypotheses in the absence of data.
"Prejudice" is having an opinion not supported by the preponderance of the data.
"Knowledge" is only found through the accumulation and analysis of data.
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
(PS, reminder to self, short fuses are: Snorgy for MBAs, Dave for HR, self for Bill Gates).
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering
"Belief" is the acceptance of an hypotheses in the absence of data.
"Prejudice" is having an opinion not supported by the preponderance of the data.
"Knowledge" is only found through the accumulation and analysis of data.
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."
Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the best use of these Forums?
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
It would be nice if, when doing a standard week's work (i.e. about 20% more hours than the hourly paid) and then spending the whole weekend in another country on trials weekend after weekend for a couple of months, HR would stand behind you when you ask your manager for time in lieu and he says "It goes with the territory" (and the idle bugger himself sticks strictly to his contractual hours. Fortunate as it turns out because limiting his working hours limits the amount of damage he can do.)
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
I scheduled my vacation every year, even with kids in school, soccer, etc and a working spouse. It is NOT difficult, you just have to be willing to let the drama play out without you.
David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering
"Belief" is the acceptance of an hypotheses in the absence of data.
"Prejudice" is having an opinion not supported by the preponderance of the data.
"Knowledge" is only found through the accumulation and analysis of data.
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
It's one thing if your employer can handle the fact it's tentative, but if they want it set in stone it gets difficult.
That said, I haven't had any significant trouble getting time off when I've wanted it except for my first year here when every long weekend I planned (and having given several weeks notice etc.) I got told the Wednesday or similar I'd have to work. Then every time without fail, after cancelling/rearranging plans I got told I didn't need to work that day after all.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
1) the drama - it seems that it is while you are away that things happen. The company get's sold, goes bust, merges etc. Or some great scandal bursts into the world and is a memory when you return like an outsider. And some client will have a drama and you get calls on your beach that the SB heartily disapproves of (but you are secretly grateful for). So far mobile phones have not been banned from my holidays.
2) the workload - it seems that when you are gone it is an opportunity for every man and his dog to offload work onto your undefended desk. Together with the blame and responsibility that goes with it.
A weeks holiday and you need two weeks to recover from the holiday in any event and then you need two to three weeks to sort out the mess that work has become.
At my first company I eventually had a nice office suitably cluttered and messy. While I was on holiday the General Manager had nothing better to do than tidy my office for me. I have no idea what he threw out, but it was a lot, and it took me forever to find where he had put things he hadn't thrown out.
Some of us seem to work better in chaos than order. Or think we do.
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
Some wonk wrote a book about this point several years ago, which I skimmed in the bookstore. It changed my understanding of their function and explained quite a bit of my interactions with HR folks and managers.
Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
My airline tickets are through Priceline and nonrefundable. I hope the other boss allows me to take it as planned. It will be very hard to explain it to my wife and the family that i am visiting that I can't go and it'd be very mentally tough on me since i take such little time off.
RE: Vacation time again, any troubles taking one?
rmw