vent
NaeNae55
3,243 Posts
Every year for about 7-8 years now we have offered our employees the opportunity to close the office the day after Thanksgiving with them using PTO time. Every year except one the employees have voted to do so. The agreement is that we must have 100% vote to close and use PTO for it to work (hourly employees cannot come in without supervision).
This year we offerred both the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.
We had an employee vote to stay open in November but close on Christmas Eve. That is ok, but her email to me really annoyed me. She starts off so well, and then tells me we are unfair. Grrrr
She said:
I’m very glad to be a part of a company where we have the opportunities to ‘vote’ and close our doors down on special occasions. I know that wouldn’t be an option with bigger employers. However, for the past two years I’ve been the only person (that I know of) that has actually not wanted to take time off on these days. I realize that my day-to-day life is different in the sense that I do not have family to be with and my significant-other generally has to work these days due to his job. I have only taken these days off in the past because I don’t want to negatively impact the holidays of my co-workers.
This year, I do not want to use my time to take off the day after Thanksgiving. I would much rather save my PTO for times when I would actually like to take vacation or require sick leave. On the same note, I still do not want cause *Names removed*, or anyone else who would have to spend the day here with me.
I would like to take Christmas Eve off, as Mondays are days that my significant other has off anyway.
I hope that there is some way that we can work this out. I understand that I am not a manager, and there for, it would probably not be an option to give me a key for a day to let myself in and out of the building. However, with the close proximity in which several people live (you, *Names removed*), I wonder if someone could let me in and return later to let me leave at the end of the day.
Please let me know what we can do to work this out. I do not feel that it is fair to put me in a position where I have to decide whether or not I should use my PTO for myself or to benefit others.
Thank you for your consideration,
There ya go. No matter what you do you are being 'unfair' to someone. It is unfair to offer them the chance to take the day off. How rude of us!
Nae
This year we offerred both the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.
We had an employee vote to stay open in November but close on Christmas Eve. That is ok, but her email to me really annoyed me. She starts off so well, and then tells me we are unfair. Grrrr
She said:
I’m very glad to be a part of a company where we have the opportunities to ‘vote’ and close our doors down on special occasions. I know that wouldn’t be an option with bigger employers. However, for the past two years I’ve been the only person (that I know of) that has actually not wanted to take time off on these days. I realize that my day-to-day life is different in the sense that I do not have family to be with and my significant-other generally has to work these days due to his job. I have only taken these days off in the past because I don’t want to negatively impact the holidays of my co-workers.
This year, I do not want to use my time to take off the day after Thanksgiving. I would much rather save my PTO for times when I would actually like to take vacation or require sick leave. On the same note, I still do not want cause *Names removed*, or anyone else who would have to spend the day here with me.
I would like to take Christmas Eve off, as Mondays are days that my significant other has off anyway.
I hope that there is some way that we can work this out. I understand that I am not a manager, and there for, it would probably not be an option to give me a key for a day to let myself in and out of the building. However, with the close proximity in which several people live (you, *Names removed*), I wonder if someone could let me in and return later to let me leave at the end of the day.
Please let me know what we can do to work this out. I do not feel that it is fair to put me in a position where I have to decide whether or not I should use my PTO for myself or to benefit others.
Thank you for your consideration,
There ya go. No matter what you do you are being 'unfair' to someone. It is unfair to offer them the chance to take the day off. How rude of us!
Nae
Comments
This lady is crazy.
"I do not feel that it is fair to put me in a position where I have to decide whether or not I should use my PTO for myself..."
Perhaps it's just the way I view her wording, but you ALWAYS have to decide whether or not to use PTO for yourself! I just think it's funny.
Do I sympathize with her situation, yes! I never said I didn't. And, I sympathize with Nae's situation because that has to be so frustrating! Just giving a little support to a colleague who is venting!
We are a small company (14 EEs) so there is no way that some would not figure out who voted, so I do sympathize with her there. I also happen to know she has had some health issues and has used up some of her leave. She wants to take 3 days at the end of this month, and since she is not certain her health issues are over she does not want to use her leave up friviously. I get it.
Her remarks about the fairness of this is what bothers me. Should we NOT offer it to our other employees because her S.O. whom she CHOOSES to live with does not get Friday off? After all, she is happy to do Christmas Eve! Should we penalize our other employees who chose to have families and/or live near them?
The truth is I did not need an explanation one way or the other. I just needed a yes or no vote. The company certainly did not need the slap in the face for trying to be generous.
BTW - she is currently accruing 176 hours per year PTO which will switch ti 216 next month. She also gets holiday pay and 2 float holidays per year. We require all available leave be used before leave without pay.
Thank you for letting me vent. And thank you Coffee for your support.
Nae
>bothers me. Should we NOT offer it to our other
>employees because her S.O. whom she CHOOSES to
>live with does not get Friday off? After all,
>she is happy to do Christmas Eve! Should we
>penalize our other employees who chose to have
>families and/or live near them?
Wha? Are you criticizing her for choosing a mate who doesn't get the Friday after Thanksgiving off? "It's your choice to partner with someone who has a crappy work schedule - if you don't like it, get a new mate!" That seems like a silly argument.
The employee's point is not that it's unfair of you to give your employees the option of having the day off; it's that it's unfair of you to put her in the position of being the spoiler for everyone else in the office. Heck, even Irie has criticized this employee for being inconsiderate, and Irie isn't even one of her coworkers! You ask if you should penalize your other employees who have families. I'm not sure what you mean by that, since it seems that they're already penalized by having to forfeit their Thanksgiving Friday off due to the unusual circumstances of a single employee. Maybe a solution could be to just close the office no matter what and give people the option of using PTO for it if they want to be paid for that day. Sure, people might complain that they're being forced to take certain days off, but oh well - it's not really any different than being forced to take Saturdays and/or Sundays off, even though there are plenty of people who'd like the opportunity to earn money on those days.
Also, I'm all for offering support for people who are venting, and I sympathize with your situation, but I also think one of the benefits of a forum like this is the exposure to lots of different points of view. Sometimes taking a closer look at the other person's point of view can help keep things in perspective. If you're just looking for people to agree with you and shout out, "Yeah! How dare she call you unfair!" well I guess that's fine too, but if that's the case maybe just give me a head up next time. ;-)
She has the right to spend her time how she wants to no matter how much leave time is available for her, and if she chooses to work she certainly may. EVERY employee is given the same power, and EVERY employee can be the 'spoiler' as you put it. If she wants to elect to work she certainly can, and without repercussions. Since every employee is given the same options we are not being unfair. If her lifestyle choices lead her to prefer to work that day that is not our problem, nor is it right to lable us as unfair because she doesn't like how her choices may affect others. It is ultimately the company's choice as to whether the business is shut down that day anyway, and not hers.
If we were to go with your option of allowing them leave without pay nothing would change. We would still be the ones who forced her to have a short check or be forced to use her PTO time instead of saving it. It wouldn't change us from a bad guy to a good guy.
Our CEO has decided that only her manager will be forced to work that day. That comes with the territory for them. We have told employees we will be open and asked for volunteers.
In any case, I did understand her comments and what she thought was unfair. I just think expecting us to do anything else because she is single is rediculous. And I never appreciate a slap in the face.
Nae
Would she be allowed to take time off with no pay in the future if she had no PTO left?
I can't imagine anyone wanting to work the day after Thanksgiving or on Christmas Eve if they don't have to. IMHO she is being inconsiderate to her co-workers.
We give the option here they can use their paid time or take it without pay. I love having both of those days off so it would never be a problem for me but we do have those who for religous beliefs don't celebrate these holidays and they would vote no here for that reason. So we say if you want paid you can use the time, if not, it is without pay when we decide to add an extra day to our holidays outlined as paid days in our handbook.
I can understand why she'd LIKE to just work and save her PTO for days when she wants it, but too bad for her. I would love to have a surprise day off!
It bugs me when employees complain about "fairness" on issues such as this. She is not being forced to suffer working on a popular holiday such as Christmas, for example, when usually you are closed. Then again, it's a big enough deal to her that she wrote two paragraphs about it.
It does appear that she put a lot of thought into her comments, and clearly she trusts you to consider her opinion without backlash. I've seen a lot worse, as I am sure you have too. x:-)
We ended up with we will work 1/2 day on both holidays with a volunteer staff.
The problems we have come across are larger than the one you stated in your post.
We have some employees that do not celebrate the holidays because of religious beliefs and have stated that we are discriminating against them in forcing them to take time off over our religious holidays. Especially at Christmas Time.
We also have a couple of retired people that have reintered the workforce, have no family and do not wish to be alone on those days.
We have some new people that have not had time to accrue PTO and do not have any and cannot afford to take a day off.
What I have done in the past is allow those (2) people to work at home on thier computer through VPN access. It works well for us. This year we have some large IT projects going on and many of those employees wanted work at least 1/2 day so we are open 1/2 day for those that wish to work the 1/2 day.
I think if you give a vote you can expect at least one person to vote no. It would make more sense to me to have a 3/4 vote and majority rules that way if only one person objects they are overruled and since it was the rules of majority rules they would have to respect that decision.
Shirley
Nae
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.