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Posted:  24 September 2007

Rejecting employee vacation leaves

By: Reylito A. H. Elbo Business World

In any situation, the first rule of management is to conserve yourself for major decisions.  Don't allow your mind to be preoccupied with minor issues like vacation leaves of people.  In other words, let other people -- the line supervisor (if there's one) or the concerned employee to make the decision.

Otherwise, people will view you as someone who micro-manages every detail, granting or disapproving leave requests that there will be little incentive for them to explore other options to cope with personal difficulties either at home or work.

If both the line supervisor and the employee concerned have become too careless and reckless with their enjoyment of leaves, then try this tack, say:  "Are we on track with our schedule and target?"  More often than not, they will be pressured to say in the affirmative.

If they say "yes," then request them to give you a brief backgrounder on their progress.  Probe it to your satisfaction.  If they can't justify it, you've created a psychological pressure against people for taking their leaves too easily and irresponsibly.

On the other hand, if people say "not yet," then they will surely get the message.

The point is, you should be able to create a balance between the impact of leaves against an employee's quality of work and the department target.  This could be placed on the responsibility of concerned line supervisors and their workers.

Whenever possible, try to work out a compromise to enable a prospective vacationer to do assigned task well ahead of time, and of course,  at the desired quality and quantity.

But what if people continue to avail of emergency leaves like hospitalization of a family member, death, or any unforeseen events beyond  the control of the employee?

The trouble with some employees is that they can be creative in using as many emergency cases to justify a leave.  But on certain few occasions, you have no recourse but to approve the leave.  More than the approval of a leave, you must be sympathetic with your employees.

If this happens, make it a policy that people on emergency leave contact you or the line supervisor personally.  They should not be allowed to leave a message with the secretary or other employees.

More than a telephone call in this age of high-technology, people should have more reasons to personally convey a message through a mobile phone.  It also affords the opportunity for you to subtly talk to the concerned employee and send your personal best wishes as well as to express a wish:  "Will you be in on Monday?"

Elbonomics:  To enjoy a much-needed vacation, you must first realize that you're doing it after completing a task to the satisfaction of your boss.