How To Handle 'Revoked' Holiday/Vacation Time?

Question

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:

1. Completely dishonest
2. 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.
3. 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.

Answer 1

In my experience, it is a fairly common occurrence. Usually, but not always, people are careful to do this only when there is a genuine need for you to be there.

You were asked to come in, so you could have responded with "I have unchangeable plans and I got permission to go then and we were aware of x, y, z at the time of the request."

You could also have responded with "Sure but I want ..." Use this with caution and only if they are asking you to cancel some major amount of vacation time that involves a non-refundable cost.

Or you could just do it.

All of this depends on the context of the request and the actual plans you have. For instance, we had a urgent issue come up out of the blue one time and the CEO of the company asked me to cancel a week's vacation and reschedule later. There was a cost associated with cancelling and he paid it, He also gave me extra vacation days.

I changed the plans because it wasn't really a big deal if I went this week or the next and it never hurts to have the CEO of the company in your debt. However, if my week-long vacation had been for my wedding, there would be pretty much nothing he could offer to make me willingly cancel those plans. Normally, if you then tell the person, why the plans can't be moved and they know you planned this well in advance, they will find a way to work around you being absent.

When a client asked me to come in when I was on bereavement leave, the company told them "no way" which I always appreciated. Had the company asked me to come in, I would have told them that I wasn't able to do so. (If it had been a matter of losing my job, I would have come in though as I had just lost half my family income and I really couldn't have afforded to lose my job too; luckily there aren't too many professional workplaces that don't recognize that people actually need bereavement leave.)

Just doing it will often give you far more benefit in good will of those above you than the lost vacation time. They will see you as a team player. So if the vacation doesn't include unbreakable plans, you should consider just doing it. It will be to your advantage in the long run.

One case where you don't want to just do it is when cancelling your plans will upset your spouse or kids. Yeah, maybe you aren't terribly thrilled about attending that class play and are willing to work instead, but it is important to your daughter. Make sure it is critical to keeping your job before you disappoint your family. A job is not worth losing your family over. And cancelling too many times because you have to work is a good way to put yourself on the road to divorce. I have seen workaholics go down this route. They don't even need the company to ask them to cancel, they will do it on their own just before the event because they can't bear to let someone else handle whatever came up. Don't be one of these people.

If you truly have unbreakable plans, then do what you can to make sure that your designated alternate has the information he or she needs to do the work while you are out and that the person making the request is informed of who you have planned to handle your work while you are out. Making sure the company isn't left in the lurch because you are the only person who knows what to do will help you get to take that vacation. You can say something like: I can't come in that day because..., but I will fully brief George on that issue and then detail what you will do before that day to make sure George can handle the problem.

If somehow an emergency always comes up, then I have unbreakable plans. In fact I would deliberately make unbreakable plans and expect compensation if they ask me to break them. I would also be on the look out for a better company to work for.

Answer 2

1. Don't lie. You could asked for a receipt or something and then you are caught between a rock and a hard place.
2. I think you should just work that day in this case. If you have actual plans that you can't/aren't wiling to cancel, that would have come up when asked. Better realtime replies are: "No, I need to do X that day", "No, I need that day off for personal reasons.", "I'll look into whether I can adjust my plans and let you know tomorrow." All of these have in common that you aren't committing to being open to canceling vacation.
3. There is always a choice. Most of the time you won't be fired for not canceling a vacation. It isn't presented that way because it is easier for management if you "volunteer" to cancel. I've done my share of re-arranging. But not if I have a flight or the like.

Answer 3

If I was being conspiratorial, I would say that this smells like a seriously blown deadline. Someone higher up in the food-chain is making a mighty ruckus about it and heads risk rolling. Your boss's boss does not want to be the one blamed, so he's doing what he can to appear to be managing it. That includes calling people in for overtime. He probably knows the deadline is blown regardless, but I will at least make him look like he did everything he could. I've been in similar situations, forced overtime on obvious death-marches just so some boss can cover his ass to his boss who needs to cover to his boss etc. If the project is big enough, you'll eventually have individual managers competing about who worked their teams closest to the bone to fail at some impossible deadline.

So, if your feeling is that you skipping your day off would make a serious difference to the success of the project then I would say do it. Depending on the culture where you are, this can be played out different ways. In Sweden, asking people to move a pre-agreed vacation is pretty serious so it would be highly legitimate to negotiate compensations like extra time off later, double overtime or similar. Don't know where you are, so can't really say. It's pretty universally good to be considered a team-player though.

If, on the other hand, this is a pattern at your company and bosses usually roam around and try to shame people into stuff like this, then politely refuse. maple_shaft wrote a good answer and I'll refer to that.

Answer 4

Sometimes these things happen. At a place I worked, one of the leads had three weeks off planned, but then his most veteran employee (by which I mean the person who has been around the longest and had many responsibilities) gave his notice - he had no choice but to cancel.

Circumstances change and a date that was OK for the company is suddenly not so OK - it is fine for management to ask you to change your plans. Note that though in your eyes this was not phrased as a request, you could still say no.

It is possible that your manager did not consider your presence to be essential at that date, but that your manager's manager does (or simply want to cover all bases) - you may or may not agree with that assessment, but that's immaterial here - what's important is what they believe.

In your particular case, you lost nothing. If you had invested money that were non-refundable, or this were a once in a lifetime event you were going to, that would be a good reason to say no.

Whatever you do - do not lie. You can do that, but being caught in a lie is career limiting.

Since, as you said, the actual time off is not for something important to yourself, you are not in a position where you are losing something significant. I understand your concerns about being asked to give up a date that was already approved, but unless you find this becomes a regular occurrence, you should accept this - if nothing else, this would be viewed favourable by your manager's manager.

Answer 5

Don't do any of this, accept that you made a mistake by saying Yes immediately and take it as a lesson for the next time this happens.

The only appropriate thing that you could have done is say that you have plans that can't be cancelled. Your manager will just look for somebody else to bully or pawn his problems off onto. If they continue to put pester and nag then ignore and continue to act as if you will throughly enjoy your time off.

Don't be Manipulated

The point is that you want to make it as difficult as possible for your manager to devalue your paid time off. You want to be stone cold and rock hard stubborn because this is the only way that you won't be taken advantage of or manipulated. Also don't think for a second that by not allowing yourself to get manipulated that you are hurting your chances for advancement in the company.

If being a pushover and being manipulated gets you advancement then the company is looking for drones to control, not talented workers that know how to take responsibility and get the job done right.

Force your manager to play hard ball

You basically play hard ball, politely, and if it is a true emergency he will have to toughen up and order you to come into work that day. Nine times out of ten it either isn't that important, or he/she is too weak to confront you and order you to do this. Weak managers look for easy targets and most managers in my professional experience are weak.

Answer 6

Be honest with yourself and evaluate the requirements : Would it be

1. Fair on your team mates

2. Logistically feasible (with regard to X,Y and Z)

If you went ahead and took that day off? Also:

1. Are you some kind of load-bearing employee, In whose absence things will fall apart?
2. Are you being singled out often to make such a sacrifice?
3. Were you aware of X,Y and Z and your relevance therein, prior to scheduling your day off

I think such an "infraction" is hardly cause for alarm or worry over the value your manager places on your vacation time. Think of it as taking one for the team. If it happens 2 -3 more times, you might put your foot down (see immediate 3 above before you do this).

Answer 7

It's clear your manager's manager could have been a little more tactful, but you've got to ask yourself what you're trying to gain here.

If you are trying to win one over on your management by taking the day off, you're going to lose in the long term. You will just convince them you are someone that's not going to help them out when things get tricky.

My advice...

If you like the company and want to move up, ask your management what need to be done. Work Friday. And Saturday. And even Sunday if it's going to make everyone successful. You've then got some credit in the bank for next time and all you're lost is some TV time.

If you think the company is trying to take advantage of you, then work Friday, but spend Saturday and Sunday starting to look for a new job. You're not going to change a large organization and the one you are in doesn't align to your personal goals. Don't stress - just move on.

I've had to ask people to cancel leave in the past and it is never fun. Especially when I though things would be fine, but projects didn't quite deliver on time. I do remember the people that help out though and next time the trip to somewhere interesting comes up they are the ones at the top of my list.

Answer 8

It sounds like no one in this scenario is perfect:

• if the change in a vacation day was really going to drive you crazy, you should have said "nope, can't do that" instead of "sure..." when first asked.

• The conversation could have many overtones depending on tone of voice and body language - but at first glance, the manager could have approached this with more finesse - "would you mind canceling your plans?" or "what would be the impact of canceling your plans?" would have been a better way to go. But communication is a two way street and it was as much your job to say something as his job to ask.

• I wouldn't be a bit surprised if in a closed office somewhere your vacation-approving manager and the vacation-canceling manager didn't have a chat that ended with the vacation-approving manager saying "oh expletive, I forgot that!" Where they have now realized they are short handed and need your help.

My thought would be to realize that a single event is different from a pattern. Vacation time is not sacred - in many jobs there is an expectation that for key dates, workers will be available (as you said, you planned around the big dates you knew about), and there is an expectation also that managers will allow employees to take vacation unless there is a critical risk to the mission. In this case, you ARE justified in saying "hey, why do you need me? Just asking so I can be prepared." It's a fair and conscientious question.

There's a mutual trust in most circumstances:

• The employee should be able to trust that his approved and requested vacation time will not be treated lightly - that the company will take due caution in approviing vacation and that once permission is given, the retraction of permission is taken very cautiously and rarely. If this is just one time, they haven't broken this promise to you.
• The employer should be able to trust that if a justifiable emergency arises, there is reason to believe that all employees that are needed can be available to help ... most of the time. Certainly different employees take vacation time for different reasons, but its reasonable to believe that everyone can take one for the team... once and a while.

If this scale tips too often in favor of one group or the other, it's fair to say someone's getting taken advantage of - but this is really only true when you are talking about a repeatable pattern. And if you are the one guy no one can live without, it's also fair to ask if you are compensated accordingly.

Answer 9

As others have stated, don't lie. This is why, when I take a single day off, I make sure that I have planned at least one appointment/event that can't be changed easily.

If the deadlines were known before you put in the request, and your manager approved the request, then his manager (the person who came to you, asking you to reschedule) needs to talk to your manager. Your manager's manager needs to talk to your manager, regardless - not come directly to you. You were approved for time off, now because of some factor presumably outside your control (but quite possibly within someone else's control, and they should have been able to adjust for your time off), they're taking it away.

Your manager should be the one coming to you saying "I know I approved your time off, but we're getting a lot of pressure on project Y from upstairs and it would really help us out if you were here on Friday."

Unless that day/weekend is your go-live date and it's "all hands on deck" to get things rolled out, missing a single person for a single day should not be a problem if the project is being managed well and should have been accounted for weeks ago.

Answer 10

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.

It is the same in most companies.

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.

This happens: priorities change, managers need to have enough people in office to be able to handle unexpected events, etc. A manager should know that while approving your holiday, just as he should expect that asking you to reschedule, may incur sunken costs for you, or pushing you to cancel other made commitments.

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.

This is/was your mistake. A manager is used to delegating. If you give an answer that sound so ... positive, most managers will consider they asked you to "handle the problem" and you said "yes". It wouldn't surprise me if you spoke with him again and he will go "you said you'd cancel".

It is probable that if you try to back out now, you will appear as unprofessional (if the manager thought he can rely on your presence after your conversation). Basically, you're better off in this situation, going to work on that day.

Can people share their opinions on this? Does this seem like a reasonable thing to ask an employee to do?

Yes, it is reasonable for him to ask, if he needs you in office. It is equally reasonable for you to say no to such a request, and your manager should expect that (if he needs you in office, all he can do is ask - and you can say "yes" or "no"). It is probable he was simply proposing it to you, and half expected you to say "no" to his request.

Once you did say "yes" (you made a commitment - no matter how fuzzy phrased it was), saying "no" is more difficult since it affects your professional image.

I feel like it is crossing a line and sets a precedent where my vacation time isn't seen as valuable.

It is only crossing a line if you cannot say "no" in the first place. In most situations where this happened to me, it involved saying "no" to requests for overtime.

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...

This is risky, and a bad idea overall: it doesn't sound like a big think, but it is fraud (you are stating there is a cost for you, which is not there).

Also, if they offer - for example - to move the reservations for you, or to pay for new ones - you may get caught (and if they offer to pay you the money, do so, then find out there was no cost at all, you will at least damage your profesional image - but you may also be accused of fraud).

Another aspect in this, is that by explaining why you cannot cancel your free time, you are putting yourself at a disadvantage, and transmitting a wrong image (regardless if you really had any reservations or not).

You do not owe him (or anyone else in the company) any explanation ( unless your boss is also your wife/husband ;) ). Stating that you cannot come is enough.

The wrong image you are transmitting is that if it weren't for the reason you have (the commitment you want to mention cancelling or not) you would be perfectly fine with canceling your time off. This is not true and should not be true.

If you do this, next time your manager has to choose between cancelling your time off and compromising on what the team can deliver, he may just go "it's no big deal to get user3497 to office on this Sunday and he will take care of it).

Your manager may do this, assuming that there is no reservation to hold you back this time.

It is easier to make a generic statement that implies you have costs (which may not be necessarily monetary) associated with canceling:

"I'm sorry but it is difficult to cancel my plans" / "I have already made commitments to be that require me to be out of town on Friday".

You can also point out that the management was perfectly aware of the situation when they approved the original request.

Answer 11

• You can't be blamed for giving an ambiguous answer in person. It's hard to know what to do in those situations, that's why managers create them.
• If you're perturbed enough to post to this site, you already know it's offensive to rescind an employee benefit and you don't have to comply.
• It doesn't matter that you don't have plans for the time, that is no one's business. Restorative days off are essential to mental health. You wouldn't have to have "plans" for your entire paycheck in order to justify keeping all of your money.
• You're doing things on the record and your manager is doing them off the record. Try to get him or her to send you something in writing about the request to reschedule.
• Now decide if it's worth it to reschedule. If you think it is, reschedule for as soon after as possible. If not, then don't. You're not obligated to. Refuse in writing and be as vague as possible. You are not obligated to provide a lot of detail as to why you want to take the time off. If you do choose to reschedule, remember, it's your choice. If you think you're going to hold a grudge, then don't do it. It's better to be firm when you are in the right then bitter and ultimately in the wrong.

Answer 12

You should probably just do as they ask. If I were you I would refrain from appealing unless you really do have important other plans. If you do have other plans, it makes sense to appeal. They'll probably will not bend.

But by appealing when it's important to you, you do them a favor. You'll be giving them advance warning of the cost of such requests. That's the kind of information a manager needs to plan ahead.

A similar thing happened to me personally once. Unfortunately I received a non-negotiable demand one Friday from my former employer to work the next day. I did have other plans -- important plans -- for that Saturday, but they wouldn't bend.

So I did as they asked, cancelling the other plans.

It was a seriously missed deadline. My department was doing fine, but we were being driven crazy by power-mad DBAs who would never accept any production requests after noon on Fridays. (Never mind it was a staging system.)

The DBAs didn't show up that Saturday, so the folks in my department sat around looking busy.

And a month later, I bid that employer goodbye.

This is a very costly move on the part of an employer, especially when they do it without regard to assembling the right team to get things done on the extra day.