Leave allocation

Robbie1966 · Post by **Robbie1966** » 19 Oct 2017, 23:07

I am just enquiring is there a national agreement concerning allocation of annual leave or is it down to local agreements..been with royal mail 32 years which means nothing when choosing annual leave.. I preferred the seniority way as we all started at the bottom..exampales of how your office deals with leave would be appreciated

doorstepped · Post by **doorstepped** » 20 Oct 2017, 08:35

first two weeks - seniority
second two weeks - juniority
weeks 5 and 6 ( if available ) start from the middle out.

I do the Holidays at our office and it's worked out really well the last few years with only a few clashes which are normally sorted out between the parties envolved.

everyone gets a sheet with weeks 1 - 6 on it with week 1 being the highest prority week. down to week 6 the lowest.

superports · Post by **superports** » 20 Oct 2017, 09:00

Our office has just started a new system which management say is national, I'd be interested to hear if it actually is.

Previously we had 8 or 9 people on a rota, which rotated annually ie 1st dropped to 2nd, then 3rd etc. Worst case scenario was there would be 7 people picking before you, but we could normally get more or less the slots we needed or wanted.

Now however we have 9 blocks containing 8 or 9 people. The blocks will rotate annually, as will the people in the blocks. So now instead of having maximum 7 people infront of us, we can now have 70 to 75 infront of us.

We are told we will be signing for holidays on a particular day, and to have a look at what has been signed for so far so that on our day we can sign straight away even though there can be still two people picking infront of us. Basically, we are called into the office and told to pick a week there and then. No taking it home to discuss with family, no checking school holidays, no checking when long weekends fall, no checking football fixtures, no checking flights etc etc.

This is absolutely horrific, never in my life have I worked for anyone that treated us with such contempt.

Bahia Feliz · Post by **Bahia Feliz** » 20 Oct 2017, 09:02

We sign for 3 weeks to start,I normally get what I ask for,Not sure how my book room man does it,seniority involved somehow i'm sure! The 2nd lot of 3 weeks is pot luck usually I find.

Driver74 · Post by **Driver74** » 20 Oct 2017, 13:56

Year 1 it’s seniority pick first for summer leave and juniority pick first for winter leave then following year it’s other way round

clashcityrocker · Post by **clashcityrocker** » 20 Oct 2017, 16:28

superports wrote:
The blocks will rotate annually, as will the people in the blocks.

I felt dizzy just reading that.

postmandick · Post by **postmandick** » 20 Oct 2017, 17:04

we pick senior down for 2 weeks and then junior up for 2 weeks

so

the junior postie gets to pick 4 weeks

and then the 5th week is picked senior down .....

reverse for next year Junior to senior so next years senior postie gets to pick 4 weeks
but
the 5th week is still senior down

and then the bun fight starts over the odd days

all should be done within 6-8 weeks but you have to be firm with the ones who bugger off with the leave list as we skip them

they soon come running back bleating

and thats over 44 staff

DGH · Post by **DGH** » 20 Oct 2017, 18:40

There are no statutory rules detailing the order in which employee holidays should be prioritised.

Businesses may give preferential treatment to employees who have childcare responsibilities or with regard to employees’ seniority. Giving such preferential treatment to certain employees, or to certain groups of employees opens the door to possible discrimination claims.

The least risky approach for employers is usually to grant holiday requests on a “first come, first served” basis.

That said, I'd prefer a system where folk were grouped in 8s or 10s or whatever and within those groups picked their weeks in an initially random order two weeks at a time, then reversing (so last picker gets first pick of his second lot of two weeks and first picker has to wait til then end for his second two week picks) and then that being rotated through on an annual basis with newcomers slotting into a group wherever there was a vacancy (not at the bottom). That would be easy to administer and transparently fair. I have no idea why RM haven't adopted that policy as it would make leave allocation a lot simpler than the current mess.

bloot · Post by **bloot** » 20 Oct 2017, 18:52

mentioned it before on here , simply put , the years holiday is laid on my table with a block of three weeks and a block of two . i have no input into these blocks whatsoever .

bmccoll · Post by **bmccoll** » 21 Oct 2017, 22:10

We used to have a system where the most senior got the pick of the summer weeks and the lower ranks got the pick of the winter. Although there were some groans it worked exceptionally well until it changed a good few years ago. Apparently it was something to do with anti-age discrimination?!?!?! I know the ins and outs of this and the reasoning was all crap! We switched to alternating groups, with PMN alternating within those groups. An over complicated system for something that other firms seem to work with ease. We have had no end of bother since it was brought in and I'm talking of 15 years or more.