This recently happened to me and I was so taken aback by it that I didn't really respond (yet) - but I suspect I'll need to act soon (tomorrow).
I'm a salaried employee with X days of vacation per year. The process for vacation here is that I formally request time-off through an HR website then my manager approves or denies it. Generally speaking, time-off is approved except when we'd be too short-staffed to handle business.
I was approved for time-off, then days before the time-off, I was approached my manager's manager asking me to 'reschedule'. The question was phrased in such a way that it wasn't much of a question.
Him: Hey, user3497, I saw you were taking Friday off? Could you go in the HR website and reschedule that since X, Y and Z is happening?
Me: Ummm....yeah, I can take a look at that.
Him: Great - just go ahead and schedule it for another day.
Now, in my particular case, it's a single day off and I don't have any actual plans. I'm a pretty boring guy. I'd probably spend my Friday having a Walking Dead Marathon. But this strikes me as a HUGE no-no.
Can people share their opinions on this? Does this seem like a reasonable thing to ask an employee to do? I feel like it is crossing a line and sets a precedent where my vacation time isn't seen as valuable. I'm tempted to say something alone the lines of,
Well, I tried to cancel, but I setup my reservations for the weekend through a Groupon discount, and it's non-refundable. I'm happy enough to work on Friday, but I'm afraid I'd need to be reimbursed...
That would be:
- Completely dishonest
- Illustrate that my time is valuable and there is an associated cost with asking me to change my plans at the list minute. Many people do plan things and many of those things are non-refundable/carry an associated cost.
- Would ultimately let my boss's boss place a monetary value on moving my holiday time. If he truly feels it's important, $200 is a drop in the bucket for a large company. If $200 is a problem, then certainly, it's not that important that I be there.
Does anyone know of a more appropriate/better way to handle this?
EDIT: To clarify - I was involved with project 'Y' (but not X or Z). It's a software project and deadline came from outside of the company.
It was known when I scheduled the time off and, the day in question is actually after the go-live date. So, I did go out of my way to schedule it for 'after' the project's big push would be over. Likewise, my manager should have been equally aware of the deadlines/dates when it was approved.