People Are Sharing Their Opinions On Companies Forbidding Taking Time Off During Holidays After A Tweet About It Went Viral
Interview With Author
People are not machines and cannot work without breaks. And sometimes they need a little longer break or some extra days off, even if it means taking a Friday or a Monday off to have a longer weekend. Usually taking time off isn’t a big problem; you just notify your boss in advance and they let you go.
‘Usually’ is the right word to use here as in some workplaces, you are just simply not allowed to take time off for any reason. This Twitter user whose handle is @Progressive_RN shared a note that was put up on a wall in his workplace which read “No time off requests will be accepted from November 20, 2021 until January 2, 2022.” That sparked a lot of reactions in the thread and we invite you to join it!
More info: Twitter
Twitter user Nurse D shared a notice he found at his workplace saying that employees will not be allowed to take time off during the winter holiday season
Image credits: GoToVan
A Twitter user who goes by Nurse D on the platform posted a photo of a memo on the wall saying that everyone will have to work during the winter holidays and nobody will be allowed to take time off. Nurse D added a sarcastic comment above the photo: “This is sure to help morale & staff retention.”
The tweet attracted the attention of over 280k people who liked it and then shared their own similar experiences and thoughts on this topic. Many of them were saying that this is usually what happens in retail as the couple of months leading up to Christmas are their busiest and management will not let them take time off.
Image credits: Progressive_RN
In the past year, we’ve seen a lot of articles and statistics published about a big shortage of employees. There are several factors that contributed to that. One of them is definitely the pandemic, while another one is that people are searching for better workplaces and won’t settle for a minimum wage with no securities.
Because so many places are short-staffed, they can’t afford to let people just go and take time off. But looking from the employee’s point of view, it seems unfair and inhumane to forbid them to escape work for a while.
The tweet went viral and people were sharing their own experiences and their opinions on how they view the situation
Image credits: Nadea0716
Bored Panda reched out to Nurse D and we got to know he’s been an registered nurse for almost 20 years, 9 of which was in frontline nursing management. He had to leave his management position earlier this year because in his eyes administration was not trying hard enough to focus on improving patient outcomes by, among other things, respecting and retaining staff. Now he is working in the ICU as a travel nurse and is starting his own nursing-related business.
The viral tweet was posted on Otober 12 and the situation didn’t change since then. Nurse D exlained that many nurses are used to working during holidays as it’s just part of the job–people get hospitalized rgardless of the time of the year. But he still thinks that the rule is not logical, “In inpatient nursing, we generally work 3 12-hour shifts per week, so less than half of the nurses are working on any particular day. Generally, there is a rotation established each year where major holidays (like Christmas and Thanksgiving) and minor holidays (like labor day & memorial day) are assigned and split up between all nurses. In my department (ICU), we’re usually full all the time, so there is no reason why being full over the holidays would be any different than being full any other time of year. It’s just not necessary to make a rule preventing people from taking any vacation time, and it’s certainly not necessary to communicate that rule the way this sign did.”
Image credits: FosterFoster835
People in the thread shared that they saw very similar memos in their workplaces or that it was an unwritten rule because it’s a busy time for a lot of companies. It’s actually what surprised the nurse the most, “The interesting thing about the reactions to my tweet were how many people related with it. A ton of people shared similar (and often even more egregious) examples of the same thing, especially from the retail sector, restaurants/food service, Amazon, UPS, the postal service, and others. A lot of people shared anecdotes of putting in their 2-week notice or just walking off the job when a rule like that comes down from management.”
Turns out, employers prohibiting taking time off during certain periods of the year is more common than you would think
Image credits: 3catsandaspider
Image credits: MaryELynn
The nurse also added that “It’s unfortunate that repressive rules and restrictions like this are so common that they are just accepted as the standard. There are plenty of ways for companies to cover premium shifts or soften the impact on those who work these shifts, but profits and mandates are often prioritized over treating employees well.”
It is especially common in retail when the end of the year is dedicated to gift shopping and Black Friday
Image credits: tsias
Image credits: PhoebeAfterDark
Some people view this as normal as they understand the companies who need all people working to get all jobs done
Image credits: PoppaCoins
As Nurse D mentioned, even though it doesn’t make sense in Nurse D’s workplace, people were pointing out that in retail, this is common practice and funnily enough they reasoned such a decision by saying the period is so busy that companies need all hands on deck.
Image credits: Maysaristhename
Others are arguing that this should not happen and time off could be planned in an orderly manner when everyone leaves at a different time
Image credits: em_30w
However, not all people agree and argue that just because it’s normal, it doesn’t mean that it’s right. Sadly, in the US, companies have total dictatorship on vacations. There is no actual law that says employers must give employees paid vacation. What is more, companies have the right to determine when the employees can and cannot have vacation, so what retail companies and Nurse D’s boss are doing is totally legal.
When asked if management is allowed to just prohibit taking vacation, Nurse D didn’t even think to qustion the decision’s legality, “Honestly, it never occurred to me that this might be a violation of federal labor standards–nurses are used to working unusual shifts like weekends and holidays, so the idea of working holidays isn’t unusual.”
Image credits: JohnDCognac
Image credits: jeffpmeyer
Twitter users saw this kind of attitude as the reason why people don’t want to work in some areas and that’s what creates staff shortage
Image credits: DavidGoesPlaces
Image credits: RevMoonshine
Some people who worked in retail may be used to vacation “blackouts,” but others see it as disrespect for the employees and think that this kind of attitude from the higher ups is what’s perpetuating the staff shortage. Even the Twitter user who started this whole thread pointed out that this will really not help with staff retention.
While others were having a serious conversation, some people tried to lighten up the situation with some humor and witty remarks
Image credits: Bryan4Aurora
Image credits: canahataa
However, the tweet author admitted that there was probably no malicious intent behind the message, “Rules like this are put in place in an attempt to protect staffing and ensure there are enough nurses available to work and take care of patients. It’s not done out of cruelty or spite, I think the intentions are good.”
But he also believes that it’s not the best decision that could have been made, “I just know through my training and experience that this is not the right approach. Nobody in any industry wants to be talked down to, treated poorly, or have their work-life balance restricted by their employer. There are plenty of ways to manage staffing appropriately, but many of them cost money that employers are not willing to spend, and they instead choose to treat their staff like pawns instead of people.”
Image credits: MCSmoothgiggles
Image credits: sarakimm
Image credits: adam3bdullatif
Were you ever denied vacation over any holiday season? Do you think the companies are justified in doing that or do you think it’s not the employees’ problem if workplaces are lacking staff? Maybe they can plan ahead so that both the staff and clients and in this case, patiens would be satisied? Share your opinions in the comments!
To be honest, I find it little bizarre that an RN posted this. I've worked emergency medicine (EMT/Paramedic) and this is kind of what you signed up for. People don't schedule there emergencies to fit your need. It's absolutely vital that the staff are available 24/7/365. It sucks to miss holiday time with the family, but it's part of the job. My wife still works health care and last year had work Christmas Eve, Christmas day and New Years Eve. Someone's got to be on call/on duty and we should be thankful that they are.
Yes, my mom, aunt, sister, & niece were/are all nurses, and we always planned our family celebrations around their work schedules! And if Mom worked Thanksgiving Day, we had our dinner the next day she was off, same for Christmas. Sometimes we even had our family get-together the weekend before or after. And if a nurse works a holiday one year, the next year they get it off. Everyone alternates, and it has always been that way. But with so many health care workers burned out over the pandemic & quitting, the shortage is real. I can see both sides - my sister is an ICU nurse & it's heart breaking to know what she's been through.
Load More Replies...
What I don’t understand is why they don’t split. My workplace has a 50/50 rule for christmas etc.: Half the staff has to be there, half can take time off. If you have to work this year, you can take time off next year. I get that 50/50 isn’t possible in every field and may have to be 70/30 for some, but allowing NO time off isn’t right. If you can’t afford to give anyone a few days off at all, you clearly need to hire more people.
Having employees rank holidays isn't perfect, but it makes more sense than having everyone work the exact same holidays. For my mother in long-term care, we alternated between two caretakers. The Catholic one took Christmas holidays around the 25th, the Orthodox Christian had her holidays in January. At my job (before the pandemic), I took the 24th off, but came in between the 26th and New Year's Eve because I got more work done in a quiet office. When I worked in retail, I didn't mind overtime in December because I got paid extra and had no family commitments.
At my job we each are required to work one holiday. Back in the day I used to choose Independence Day because all the food stuff happened after I got off work anyway. These days I choose New Years day that way I can take off a week and a half for Christmas then work one day that I no longer need as a recovery day because I'm too old to stay up til midnight partying anyway
Load More Replies...
If more staff is needed at ANY job, then management should be hiring more people. And training them in advance. Medical staff should be working shorter shifts all around. Nurses and doctors, residents and interns. Having exhausted health care workers doesn't do anyone any good. And in retail? Just hire more people! What? People don't want to work? Maybe you need to improve the working conditions. IDK, like give all part timers medical benefits after 30 days? Also let part time employees get paid sick days.
I work in a nursing home and getting help is next ti impossible. Between Covid and the type of work we do, it can be hard! Not a lot of people want to do it. For thw work your doing, the money is rarely enough but it's not about the money. You are risking your health & the health of those around you. I caught Covid from my job and didn't know it until I was got a call with the test results from work. Most of our staff got sick. We are not mandated to be vaccinated, it's our choice. My family never got sick because I isolated myself from them. I was mainly tired but still have numbness in my arms and fingers. A lot of people, if they risk going into the medical field, go to hospitals for better pay and less risk.
Load More Replies...
This is one of the reasons I always start my holiday shopping and pre early. For Christmas I start Christmas shopping in July and putting things up after Halloween. Stores are already packed with people they dont need me in their adding to their already busy shifts. Plus I dont have to deal with the nuts in the stores either.
My family gets together for a week in the NC Outerbanks every Thanksgiving. I will give this up for no one.
I always took my vacation end of Nov (thanksgiving-ish) through Jan 1. Never was a problem. A new HR director comes on board and puts up a notice no vacays over the holidays. She says to me "it looks like you are going to lose your 4 weeks, because I said so". I gave her a eff you look and went back to my work. Thanksgiving comes around and I'm gone. HR tried to fire me until the board fired her. Dear god, what a scrooge she was!
A registered nurse wouldn't have any problems at all finding a new job since there's a nursing shortage in the US. Take your holidays and screw the "It comes with the job" people.
My husband is a teacher so I put in for the week between xmas and nye off so we could enjoy ourselves. Even though I've been with the company over 10 years I'm fairly low in seniority so I put my notice in sometime in the spring. It took until November before I was told "maybe" for the time off. Technically we don't get vacation days. We get PTO hours. I flat out told them to plan on me being sick because I'm not losing a vacation I planned two months ago. Took the days off. Therapist signed a doc note so I would get paid for the pto and holidays. Still got dinged on my review for using too much of my PTO hours as sick time. .|.. ..|.
Oh and I ended the year with over 100 PTO hours to use. I work in a factory making silicone medical equipment. We don't have a busy time. I've worked on days when we literally had 7 people on shift because the rest of the crew took off for orthodox xmas.
Load More Replies...
My workplace does this (Canada, healthcare) but it's after the holiday book offs are complete, like basically "deadline has passed, there's no more coverage, if you didn't already get your vacation request in, then it's not happening" and we all book the holidays up to a year in advance so. We have to give at least a months notice anyways
Lol here in Mexico you can have anything on weekends since forever so people just skip the day because life is more than a low pay job. BTW welcome to the third world every day lol
That's a lot healthier than the crap some employers pull. But many countries have strange regulations that are solely due to the greed of companys. In Austria, at least the shops are generally closed on Sundays. (Only gas stations and certain stores at the train station have open. ) On Christmas Eve (24 December) stores close at noon. December 25 and 26 are holidays and the stores are closed. NO ONE is starving because of this and I am really glad that there are days when families/friends can meet more easily and it is not about shopping. I find these days VERY relaxing and valuable. However, even here the companies whine that they want to open Sunday. I hope that this never happens!
Load More Replies...
Did they mention the part where they were accepted before then? That's usually how it works you have to put in for it early! And then they don't allow it this is very common and necessary
My 18 year old son, working in retail, requested time off at Christmas early in September, which was approved. When the holiday schedule for the next 3 months was available online in October he checked, and it was still approved. When he received his rota in the middle of December he was down to work on the 24th and 26th, but the entire family had booked flights to Spain (which his boss knew). When queried, his boss said that someone more senior had requested holiday at the same time so he had cancelled my son's holiday WITHOUT A WORD. My son agreed to stay all alone for 10 days to help out if the company whisflights, which they refused. reimburse reimburse his flights
He came on holiday with us, but lost the job 😡😡
Load More Replies...
I work for a home cleaning company. They always have the same shortage for cleaners during Christmas when there are a lot of bookings. What they do is sending messages to all the cleaners 1 month in advance to remind them to either inform early about holiday plans or let the company know they're willing to take on more hours during this peak season. Those who take on more hours get a small bonus on top of their regular pay. It works out. I imagine it's because the cleaner lot are very culturally diverse and not everyone needs to celebrate Christmas.
And employers are wondering why their employees are quitting. Clueless to the max!
I worked as a refueler at a large airport. You got holidays -- and even birthdays -- off IF it landed on your regular day off. I worked every Thanksgiving for 35 years (We eventually started celebrating on Fridays). I had very few Christmas mornings -- I was allowed to come in 2 hours late, ONCE. However, this being said, I really didn't mind the double time and a half!
I actually like the calmness of everything shutting down during the Christmas period, as it is one of the few times a year when the fast pace society gears down a little. Do some propper planning, and you really do not need to go shopping in those days, which we ought to be spend with family instead. Of course there still is some institutions that must be kept open as emergencies and disesase do not respect time of, so the firestations, hospitals etc. need to be staffed according to needs. But if the management is a bit flexible, it can be done in such a way that it hurts the employers the least, e.g. by having the muslim nurses work during christmas, as they usually do not value this day as much as the christians, and then giving the time of during the eid or something similar.
Not quite the same thing but I'm working christmas and new year this year, we are a 24-7 company and we need emergency engineers on standby at all time and we take it in turns of course, I haven't done it for 3 years so fair enough, plus I get triple pay on Christmas day just for being sat at home doing not a lot.
They should have enough staff to cover ppl on holiday. a part of staff working during Christmas and the other part working during New Year. Next year they can switch. Is it that hard?
It is true that some things need to be staffed 24/7, or that there are periods where a place must be fully staffed. All good reasons why on certain times, employers should hire more to allow people to have a proper rota. If the place falls apart because one or more staff has an emergency, it probably means they were understaff in the first place.
I think this happens at most companies. Payroll at mine almost never gets 3 day weekends because payroll has to be processed or 40k+ people will throw a shitfit. But we're lucky in that the company bascially leaves itu p to each department and my boss is really cool. The only rule we have is that we just can't have no one covering so at least one person needs to be working. And since I don't have family and so never travel during the holidays, I dont mind letting my co-workers take that time off. And they always reciprocate when I take PTO during the rest of the year.
The curiosity is that constant working for everyone except the very rich was the absolute norm until very recent history. Before the industrial revolution, work was six days a week, 52 weeks a year, with only the Sabbath (or equivalent) as a day of rest, and only as general wealth increased did holidays and shorter working weeks become standard. I'm not saying we should return to those practices, but we need to be thankful for the era in which we live!
I knew somewhere which didn't allow for requests to be put in over the holiday season, mainly to get their staff to plan their time off so they could plan for cover. It was basically book any holiday season time by the 1 week of October (I think that was the date). I thought that was quite clever as it wasn't denying holidays but asking for them to be planned in enough time. I think they also limited how many days a person could take off as well. I think they were considering doing similar for school holidays but the parents didn't think it was fair that the childfree people could also book time off then and they wanted priority over them - I lost contact with the person who worked at this place before the summer holiday idea was implemented.
Only in America... well, mostly. Like, the world will not end if businesses close for major holidays. People will just have to get off their lazy bums and make sure they have what they need the day before. Employees are entitled to holiday time. In the USA, a huge number of employees never take their pittance of vacation days, because the system is such that there is no backup or support for the job they do. Capitalism at its finest.
Best way to kill your business is to have all your employees walk out and to gain a bad reputation that you are a crappy employer. If you have no one working for you then you can't meet demand, customers go elsewhere. Then you are the one unemployed. So treat your employees with respect. My eye opener, when I worked at a groomers, was when we had notice that a hurricane was due to hit our area. Our boss said we had to work still...grooming dogs!! I was like WTF! I finally got her to let us go home when I pointed out the liability she'd be facing if an employee or customer got washed off the road trying to make it home in a hurricane. Money talks sometimes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is utterly normal. It may suck, but, you know what you signed up for when you took the job. There are many jobs where no vacation is allowed during this time, because that is all hands on deck time. Don't like it? Work elsewhere. Create your own business.
You earned PTO, you deserve to take it. If you're in a company that works holidays, your company needs a fair system so employees can rotate breaks. If your company is "so busy" that no one can take breaks, f**k that. They need to hire more people. That's not your problem to deal with as a low level worker. Organize with your union. Get a fair system in place.
Denying time off at certain times isn't really odd or problematic, unless you always treat staff badly. Like, we're not really allowed to take off during the first few weeks of September, as the new schoolyear begins and we have a lot of work during that time, but we can take off at any other time (we do coordinate, so there's always 1 or 2 people of our team at work), including holidays. And during summer vacation, we can all take off at the same time if we want. No one complains about the mandatory working in September :)
Hear ye! Hear ye! A new law has been passed! [Cut to Emergency Shift being in the Book of Laws]
Yeah on this one, just sit with your team and get them to plan their leave allocations for the year. If they have a random event (E.g/ wedding/funeral) that they didn't foresee - because no-one can- then you negotiate with the whole team as to who will stand in for them. Keep a digital calendar of who is on leave so when you schedule meetings etc you know who is away and who is not available, you can track who is there, etc. It's really not hard. I've never turned down a staff member for leave in 4 years.
My last job was with a major U.S. candy company, & our 'season' of no requested time off started in late June-early July thru the end of September. Gotta get the holiday specials made & shipped so they were on the store shelves well in advance of the actual holidays (yeah, folks, all those sugary goodies are at least 2 months old before you buy them!). I was in the Health & Safety department as Work Comp admin. So July, August, & September = huge spike in work injuries that ALWAYS required time off, especially during the week before a holiday!
This is very common is retail and in the security industry. If your work schedule falls on a holiday then you have to work it. many industries run 24/7. like hospitals, public transit etc. The world does not revolve around Holidays.Funny how only people who celebrate the Christian holidays are the ones complaining. I never hear of someone celebratingRamadan or Passover freaking out if they happen to be booked that day.
It seems fair to me that if you work in a warehouse you’ll need to not take time off for vacations during busy season. Or if you’re a nurse you won’t be able to take vacation time during a pandemic or flu season. People are stupid to think they can all ask for time off on the same holidays and just get it. I pay employees by contract and they just kind of take off whenever and we barely talk about it BUT if some shít is happening and I need workers during holiday times, I’m not going to act like their holiday fun is more important than the company. It never will be. As humans they are important, but the holiday vacation days aren’t that important. I love Christmas but sometimes you work on Christmas. It doesn’t ruin the holiday. You still have tree and lights and presents and all of that.
Every hospital I’ve worked in has this sort of policy. No PTO during the week of a holiday. And you get written up if you call in during the week of a holiday. This is why I switched to agency work and get to make my own schedule now
Sorry this got so long...This has happened to me and it sucks. I worked for a company that would do maintenance to industrial facilities. When the facilities shut down,that's when we went in to fix all their broken crap. Guess when the shut down...Holiday weekends. The busiest time was Thanksgiving ( 4 day shutdown) and the week between Christmas and New Years, but all holidays were fair game. It was a small,family owned business so managment didn't give a damn about you as long as you got the job done because that ment money in their pocket. I remember one Labor day weekend, the on call boss called me up wanting me to come in to work a job that would take at least 30 hours to do. While on tje phone, there was a god-awful noise going on. I thought he was at the factory that needed something fixed.It was so bad,I couldn't understand what he was saying and told him he needed to get away from the noise. He say" Hold on..." and the noise stopped.
Then he said" Me and my family are spending the weekend on our boat. I had to throttle back the engine. Can you hear me better?" So this a&$hole wanted me to go in and work all weekend while he enjoyed the holiday on the lake.I told him I would come in and work when he got there to keep me company cuz if you're gonna screw up my holiday, his was gonna get screwed up too. The worst thing though...This pisses me off and it didn't involve me...This was in 2008, when the recession was in full swing and jobs hard to find. There was a guy that had been looking for work for awhile and he finally got hired as a mechanic where I worked. Over the Christmas holiday, this guy took a couple days off so he and his family could visit his in-laws that lived out of state. On Christmas day, when everyone was off for the day,a rush job came in that "needed to be done ASAP." So they call up this guy and tell him to go in and fix it. Guy says "I'm in XXXX with my in-laws." Boss says he didnt give a...
Load More Replies...
This is a largely American problem. In most European countries, December and January are accepted 'slow times', where a large portion of the staff takes time off.
Not sure where you life in Europe and what you work, but i can say, if you work in retail you have the same rules.
Load More Replies...
America. Land of the fr... Oh! Capitalist slave on $7.50/hr where bosses still threaten with termination. Wake TF up.
I can almost guarantee this guy is making more than $7.50 an hour. He signed up for this job. If he claims ignorant about this, he should have asked about it during his interview. And most people have to realize, they black out those times so you can't have a whole week off, but you will get your days off.
Load More Replies... To be honest, I find it little bizarre that an RN posted this. I've worked emergency medicine (EMT/Paramedic) and this is kind of what you signed up for. People don't schedule there emergencies to fit your need. It's absolutely vital that the staff are available 24/7/365. It sucks to miss holiday time with the family, but it's part of the job. My wife still works health care and last year had work Christmas Eve, Christmas day and New Years Eve. Someone's got to be on call/on duty and we should be thankful that they are.
Yes, my mom, aunt, sister, & niece were/are all nurses, and we always planned our family celebrations around their work schedules! And if Mom worked Thanksgiving Day, we had our dinner the next day she was off, same for Christmas. Sometimes we even had our family get-together the weekend before or after. And if a nurse works a holiday one year, the next year they get it off. Everyone alternates, and it has always been that way. But with so many health care workers burned out over the pandemic & quitting, the shortage is real. I can see both sides - my sister is an ICU nurse & it's heart breaking to know what she's been through.
Load More Replies... What I don’t understand is why they don’t split. My workplace has a 50/50 rule for christmas etc.: Half the staff has to be there, half can take time off. If you have to work this year, you can take time off next year. I get that 50/50 isn’t possible in every field and may have to be 70/30 for some, but allowing NO time off isn’t right. If you can’t afford to give anyone a few days off at all, you clearly need to hire more people.
Having employees rank holidays isn't perfect, but it makes more sense than having everyone work the exact same holidays. For my mother in long-term care, we alternated between two caretakers. The Catholic one took Christmas holidays around the 25th, the Orthodox Christian had her holidays in January. At my job (before the pandemic), I took the 24th off, but came in between the 26th and New Year's Eve because I got more work done in a quiet office. When I worked in retail, I didn't mind overtime in December because I got paid extra and had no family commitments.
At my job we each are required to work one holiday. Back in the day I used to choose Independence Day because all the food stuff happened after I got off work anyway. These days I choose New Years day that way I can take off a week and a half for Christmas then work one day that I no longer need as a recovery day because I'm too old to stay up til midnight partying anyway
Load More Replies... If more staff is needed at ANY job, then management should be hiring more people. And training them in advance. Medical staff should be working shorter shifts all around. Nurses and doctors, residents and interns. Having exhausted health care workers doesn't do anyone any good. And in retail? Just hire more people! What? People don't want to work? Maybe you need to improve the working conditions. IDK, like give all part timers medical benefits after 30 days? Also let part time employees get paid sick days.
I work in a nursing home and getting help is next ti impossible. Between Covid and the type of work we do, it can be hard! Not a lot of people want to do it. For thw work your doing, the money is rarely enough but it's not about the money. You are risking your health & the health of those around you. I caught Covid from my job and didn't know it until I was got a call with the test results from work. Most of our staff got sick. We are not mandated to be vaccinated, it's our choice. My family never got sick because I isolated myself from them. I was mainly tired but still have numbness in my arms and fingers. A lot of people, if they risk going into the medical field, go to hospitals for better pay and less risk.
Load More Replies... This is one of the reasons I always start my holiday shopping and pre early. For Christmas I start Christmas shopping in July and putting things up after Halloween. Stores are already packed with people they dont need me in their adding to their already busy shifts. Plus I dont have to deal with the nuts in the stores either.
My family gets together for a week in the NC Outerbanks every Thanksgiving. I will give this up for no one.
I always took my vacation end of Nov (thanksgiving-ish) through Jan 1. Never was a problem. A new HR director comes on board and puts up a notice no vacays over the holidays. She says to me "it looks like you are going to lose your 4 weeks, because I said so". I gave her a eff you look and went back to my work. Thanksgiving comes around and I'm gone. HR tried to fire me until the board fired her. Dear god, what a scrooge she was!
A registered nurse wouldn't have any problems at all finding a new job since there's a nursing shortage in the US. Take your holidays and screw the "It comes with the job" people.
My husband is a teacher so I put in for the week between xmas and nye off so we could enjoy ourselves. Even though I've been with the company over 10 years I'm fairly low in seniority so I put my notice in sometime in the spring. It took until November before I was told "maybe" for the time off. Technically we don't get vacation days. We get PTO hours. I flat out told them to plan on me being sick because I'm not losing a vacation I planned two months ago. Took the days off. Therapist signed a doc note so I would get paid for the pto and holidays. Still got dinged on my review for using too much of my PTO hours as sick time. .|.. ..|.
Oh and I ended the year with over 100 PTO hours to use. I work in a factory making silicone medical equipment. We don't have a busy time. I've worked on days when we literally had 7 people on shift because the rest of the crew took off for orthodox xmas.
Load More Replies... My workplace does this (Canada, healthcare) but it's after the holiday book offs are complete, like basically "deadline has passed, there's no more coverage, if you didn't already get your vacation request in, then it's not happening" and we all book the holidays up to a year in advance so. We have to give at least a months notice anyways
Lol here in Mexico you can have anything on weekends since forever so people just skip the day because life is more than a low pay job. BTW welcome to the third world every day lol
That's a lot healthier than the crap some employers pull. But many countries have strange regulations that are solely due to the greed of companys. In Austria, at least the shops are generally closed on Sundays. (Only gas stations and certain stores at the train station have open. ) On Christmas Eve (24 December) stores close at noon. December 25 and 26 are holidays and the stores are closed. NO ONE is starving because of this and I am really glad that there are days when families/friends can meet more easily and it is not about shopping. I find these days VERY relaxing and valuable. However, even here the companies whine that they want to open Sunday. I hope that this never happens!
Load More Replies... Did they mention the part where they were accepted before then? That's usually how it works you have to put in for it early! And then they don't allow it this is very common and necessary
My 18 year old son, working in retail, requested time off at Christmas early in September, which was approved. When the holiday schedule for the next 3 months was available online in October he checked, and it was still approved. When he received his rota in the middle of December he was down to work on the 24th and 26th, but the entire family had booked flights to Spain (which his boss knew). When queried, his boss said that someone more senior had requested holiday at the same time so he had cancelled my son's holiday WITHOUT A WORD. My son agreed to stay all alone for 10 days to help out if the company whisflights, which they refused. reimburse reimburse his flights
He came on holiday with us, but lost the job 😡😡
Load More Replies... I work for a home cleaning company. They always have the same shortage for cleaners during Christmas when there are a lot of bookings. What they do is sending messages to all the cleaners 1 month in advance to remind them to either inform early about holiday plans or let the company know they're willing to take on more hours during this peak season. Those who take on more hours get a small bonus on top of their regular pay. It works out. I imagine it's because the cleaner lot are very culturally diverse and not everyone needs to celebrate Christmas.
And employers are wondering why their employees are quitting. Clueless to the max!
I worked as a refueler at a large airport. You got holidays -- and even birthdays -- off IF it landed on your regular day off. I worked every Thanksgiving for 35 years (We eventually started celebrating on Fridays). I had very few Christmas mornings -- I was allowed to come in 2 hours late, ONCE. However, this being said, I really didn't mind the double time and a half!
I actually like the calmness of everything shutting down during the Christmas period, as it is one of the few times a year when the fast pace society gears down a little. Do some propper planning, and you really do not need to go shopping in those days, which we ought to be spend with family instead. Of course there still is some institutions that must be kept open as emergencies and disesase do not respect time of, so the firestations, hospitals etc. need to be staffed according to needs. But if the management is a bit flexible, it can be done in such a way that it hurts the employers the least, e.g. by having the muslim nurses work during christmas, as they usually do not value this day as much as the christians, and then giving the time of during the eid or something similar.
Not quite the same thing but I'm working christmas and new year this year, we are a 24-7 company and we need emergency engineers on standby at all time and we take it in turns of course, I haven't done it for 3 years so fair enough, plus I get triple pay on Christmas day just for being sat at home doing not a lot.
They should have enough staff to cover ppl on holiday. a part of staff working during Christmas and the other part working during New Year. Next year they can switch. Is it that hard?
It is true that some things need to be staffed 24/7, or that there are periods where a place must be fully staffed. All good reasons why on certain times, employers should hire more to allow people to have a proper rota. If the place falls apart because one or more staff has an emergency, it probably means they were understaff in the first place.
I think this happens at most companies. Payroll at mine almost never gets 3 day weekends because payroll has to be processed or 40k+ people will throw a shitfit. But we're lucky in that the company bascially leaves itu p to each department and my boss is really cool. The only rule we have is that we just can't have no one covering so at least one person needs to be working. And since I don't have family and so never travel during the holidays, I dont mind letting my co-workers take that time off. And they always reciprocate when I take PTO during the rest of the year.
The curiosity is that constant working for everyone except the very rich was the absolute norm until very recent history. Before the industrial revolution, work was six days a week, 52 weeks a year, with only the Sabbath (or equivalent) as a day of rest, and only as general wealth increased did holidays and shorter working weeks become standard. I'm not saying we should return to those practices, but we need to be thankful for the era in which we live!
I knew somewhere which didn't allow for requests to be put in over the holiday season, mainly to get their staff to plan their time off so they could plan for cover. It was basically book any holiday season time by the 1 week of October (I think that was the date). I thought that was quite clever as it wasn't denying holidays but asking for them to be planned in enough time. I think they also limited how many days a person could take off as well. I think they were considering doing similar for school holidays but the parents didn't think it was fair that the childfree people could also book time off then and they wanted priority over them - I lost contact with the person who worked at this place before the summer holiday idea was implemented.
Only in America... well, mostly. Like, the world will not end if businesses close for major holidays. People will just have to get off their lazy bums and make sure they have what they need the day before. Employees are entitled to holiday time. In the USA, a huge number of employees never take their pittance of vacation days, because the system is such that there is no backup or support for the job they do. Capitalism at its finest.
Best way to kill your business is to have all your employees walk out and to gain a bad reputation that you are a crappy employer. If you have no one working for you then you can't meet demand, customers go elsewhere. Then you are the one unemployed. So treat your employees with respect. My eye opener, when I worked at a groomers, was when we had notice that a hurricane was due to hit our area. Our boss said we had to work still...grooming dogs!! I was like WTF! I finally got her to let us go home when I pointed out the liability she'd be facing if an employee or customer got washed off the road trying to make it home in a hurricane. Money talks sometimes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is utterly normal. It may suck, but, you know what you signed up for when you took the job. There are many jobs where no vacation is allowed during this time, because that is all hands on deck time. Don't like it? Work elsewhere. Create your own business.
You earned PTO, you deserve to take it. If you're in a company that works holidays, your company needs a fair system so employees can rotate breaks. If your company is "so busy" that no one can take breaks, f**k that. They need to hire more people. That's not your problem to deal with as a low level worker. Organize with your union. Get a fair system in place.
Denying time off at certain times isn't really odd or problematic, unless you always treat staff badly. Like, we're not really allowed to take off during the first few weeks of September, as the new schoolyear begins and we have a lot of work during that time, but we can take off at any other time (we do coordinate, so there's always 1 or 2 people of our team at work), including holidays. And during summer vacation, we can all take off at the same time if we want. No one complains about the mandatory working in September :)
Hear ye! Hear ye! A new law has been passed! [Cut to Emergency Shift being in the Book of Laws]
Yeah on this one, just sit with your team and get them to plan their leave allocations for the year. If they have a random event (E.g/ wedding/funeral) that they didn't foresee - because no-one can- then you negotiate with the whole team as to who will stand in for them. Keep a digital calendar of who is on leave so when you schedule meetings etc you know who is away and who is not available, you can track who is there, etc. It's really not hard. I've never turned down a staff member for leave in 4 years.
My last job was with a major U.S. candy company, & our 'season' of no requested time off started in late June-early July thru the end of September. Gotta get the holiday specials made & shipped so they were on the store shelves well in advance of the actual holidays (yeah, folks, all those sugary goodies are at least 2 months old before you buy them!). I was in the Health & Safety department as Work Comp admin. So July, August, & September = huge spike in work injuries that ALWAYS required time off, especially during the week before a holiday!
This is very common is retail and in the security industry. If your work schedule falls on a holiday then you have to work it. many industries run 24/7. like hospitals, public transit etc. The world does not revolve around Holidays.Funny how only people who celebrate the Christian holidays are the ones complaining. I never hear of someone celebratingRamadan or Passover freaking out if they happen to be booked that day.
It seems fair to me that if you work in a warehouse you’ll need to not take time off for vacations during busy season. Or if you’re a nurse you won’t be able to take vacation time during a pandemic or flu season. People are stupid to think they can all ask for time off on the same holidays and just get it. I pay employees by contract and they just kind of take off whenever and we barely talk about it BUT if some shít is happening and I need workers during holiday times, I’m not going to act like their holiday fun is more important than the company. It never will be. As humans they are important, but the holiday vacation days aren’t that important. I love Christmas but sometimes you work on Christmas. It doesn’t ruin the holiday. You still have tree and lights and presents and all of that.
Every hospital I’ve worked in has this sort of policy. No PTO during the week of a holiday. And you get written up if you call in during the week of a holiday. This is why I switched to agency work and get to make my own schedule now
Sorry this got so long...This has happened to me and it sucks. I worked for a company that would do maintenance to industrial facilities. When the facilities shut down,that's when we went in to fix all their broken crap. Guess when the shut down...Holiday weekends. The busiest time was Thanksgiving ( 4 day shutdown) and the week between Christmas and New Years, but all holidays were fair game. It was a small,family owned business so managment didn't give a damn about you as long as you got the job done because that ment money in their pocket. I remember one Labor day weekend, the on call boss called me up wanting me to come in to work a job that would take at least 30 hours to do. While on tje phone, there was a god-awful noise going on. I thought he was at the factory that needed something fixed.It was so bad,I couldn't understand what he was saying and told him he needed to get away from the noise. He say" Hold on..." and the noise stopped.
Then he said" Me and my family are spending the weekend on our boat. I had to throttle back the engine. Can you hear me better?" So this a&$hole wanted me to go in and work all weekend while he enjoyed the holiday on the lake.I told him I would come in and work when he got there to keep me company cuz if you're gonna screw up my holiday, his was gonna get screwed up too. The worst thing though...This pisses me off and it didn't involve me...This was in 2008, when the recession was in full swing and jobs hard to find. There was a guy that had been looking for work for awhile and he finally got hired as a mechanic where I worked. Over the Christmas holiday, this guy took a couple days off so he and his family could visit his in-laws that lived out of state. On Christmas day, when everyone was off for the day,a rush job came in that "needed to be done ASAP." So they call up this guy and tell him to go in and fix it. Guy says "I'm in XXXX with my in-laws." Boss says he didnt give a...
Load More Replies... This is a largely American problem. In most European countries, December and January are accepted 'slow times', where a large portion of the staff takes time off.
Not sure where you life in Europe and what you work, but i can say, if you work in retail you have the same rules.
Load More Replies... America. Land of the fr... Oh! Capitalist slave on $7.50/hr where bosses still threaten with termination. Wake TF up.
I can almost guarantee this guy is making more than $7.50 an hour. He signed up for this job. If he claims ignorant about this, he should have asked about it during his interview. And most people have to realize, they black out those times so you can't have a whole week off, but you will get your days off.
Load More Replies...
91
75