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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.

My family is actually 1250 miles away from where I stay all by myself. My team-mates, who mostly, are from nearby, go to their families over the weekend. But I need atleast a week to go "home".

I have joined newly and my first request for a time-off on an important religious festival was turned down because of an important project work. My 'then' manager asked me to re-schedule it and promised me to approve the new dates I came up with.

Now, in due course, my manager has changed and I really want to go home. I don't know how to go about asking for a time-off.

Should I first go talk to the new manager or straight away apply through the HR website?

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    Related: workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/5917/… It is funny that you have nearly the exact same experience as the person who posted this question just today. You two wouldn't happen to work at the same company would you?
    – maple_shaft
    Commented Oct 31, 2012 at 17:19
  • A boss should never ask you to put work before your religion, that is completely wrong and unacceptable.
    – maple_shaft
    Commented Oct 31, 2012 at 17:20
  • haha. no maple_shaft. Its just that the procedure seems to be the same. I guess its the standard now-a-days. Besides, I don't view that as a work v/s religion thing as I am not a religious person. Just that I wanted to go home using the festival thing as an excuse.
    – R11G
    Commented Oct 31, 2012 at 17:25
  • @R11G you really shouldn't lie to your boss. That will not end well for you professionally...
    – enderland
    Commented Oct 31, 2012 at 17:32
  • 1
    Just a clarification for those who use words differently - "native" means your hometown right - in other words - the place where you came from - your family, close friends, and the former place you lived. Right?
    – bethlakshmi
    Commented Oct 31, 2012 at 17:47

2 Answers 2

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Talk to your current manager before going through the formal HR process. Explain the whole situation.

Tell them that last time you had to reschedule your vacation in response to a business need, and you did not get to see your family for X amount of time as a result of that.

Any decent human being should understand and grant you your time off. Once you have an informal understanding you can go through the HR process to book the vacation.

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  • You're right. I did talk to my current manager and he approved it. Yay! :D
    – R11G
    Commented Nov 1, 2012 at 15:50
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Talk to your new manager first and work from his point of view - this builds a much stronger case when you submit. The system is just a layer of procedure but the root of it is your request.

Keep in mind:

Some times you have to be a team player and take one for the team. This is part of working - making sacrifices....so you need to figure out if this is one of those times.

For example, at the time you are requesting off, have 5 other people requested it off before you? Is there a high priority deadline right at this time and everyone else is working over time? Does he need extra help, etc...

The key here is being a team player:

For example, don't just look at it as your time off - but see how it fits in with the whole team, project deadlines, metrics, etc.

Try to analyze this data with you manager and determine the effects of you not being there.

If your manager and you can both see it as having a small impact, he will be sure to accept the request.

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    And when you want a week off around a holiday, be the first to put the time in. Then you are the least likely to get it turned down.
    – HLGEM
    Commented Oct 31, 2012 at 19:46
  • @HLGEM: exactly.....I know people that put it in at the beginning of the year.
    – Greg McNulty
    Commented Oct 31, 2012 at 23:24

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