Chronicles of a Mean Boss: Limiting Vacation Time
August 18th 2008 21:00
If you read my blog regularly, you will notice that I have a lot of pet peeves. Another one happens to be when an employee is given vacation time during peak business times. If business is unpredictable, I can understand that you may not know to expect that, but in situations where you know you are going to need that person, why allow them to take time off? It absolutely drives me crazy.
I realize that many supervises don’t feel like they can turn down a request for time off, but there is that option. An employer provides vacation, but doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you can take it any time you want it. I have dealt with a situation for the past two weeks where an essential employee was off work for two whole weeks straight. Everything was backed up, and work couldn’t be done. Nothing had been done in advance to make sure that someone else was available to pick up the slack. In fact, no one else was trained to do this person’s job. This individual's boss assumed she could have the employee work from home during the time off and pay her overtime. WRONG!!!
First, we sent out an announcement that no employee could work overtime without prior approval. This was a shock to that person’s boss. She had assumed that life would continue as it had in the boss, with everyone just doing enough to skate by. Second, this particular boss was immediately included in every single complaint regarding her department. The person who previously held my position would stop absolutely everything to let an essential employee take time off work. Even if that meant that customers were upset about the poor service. By sending complaints directly to this particular boss, I made sure she understood exactly what her actions had cost the company.
I know that I can be so mean when I expect people to do their jobs. Let’s face it if you are getting a paycheck for doing something, the least you can do is actually complete the work. When I made this particular boss deal with the complaints, I let her sit in the hot seat. I will protect my employees and take the heat when I believe that someone is correct, but when someone is obviously in the wrong, they may as well feel the pressure. I hope that it taught her a lesson to not repeat this mistake.
I realize that many supervises don’t feel like they can turn down a request for time off, but there is that option. An employer provides vacation, but doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you can take it any time you want it. I have dealt with a situation for the past two weeks where an essential employee was off work for two whole weeks straight. Everything was backed up, and work couldn’t be done. Nothing had been done in advance to make sure that someone else was available to pick up the slack. In fact, no one else was trained to do this person’s job. This individual's boss assumed she could have the employee work from home during the time off and pay her overtime. WRONG!!!
First, we sent out an announcement that no employee could work overtime without prior approval. This was a shock to that person’s boss. She had assumed that life would continue as it had in the boss, with everyone just doing enough to skate by. Second, this particular boss was immediately included in every single complaint regarding her department. The person who previously held my position would stop absolutely everything to let an essential employee take time off work. Even if that meant that customers were upset about the poor service. By sending complaints directly to this particular boss, I made sure she understood exactly what her actions had cost the company.
I know that I can be so mean when I expect people to do their jobs. Let’s face it if you are getting a paycheck for doing something, the least you can do is actually complete the work. When I made this particular boss deal with the complaints, I let her sit in the hot seat. I will protect my employees and take the heat when I believe that someone is correct, but when someone is obviously in the wrong, they may as well feel the pressure. I hope that it taught her a lesson to not repeat this mistake.
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