Holiday Agreements

[trythat]

We're due to start negoations for our Local Holiday Agreement (I wish we had more nationial agreements). Our DOM is pretty good whne it comes to this sort of thing, but you need to know what you're on about and what you want before starting.

As leave is one of the things I get most complaints about, I thought I'd tap you all up here to try and get a good agreement.

So if you could tell us all what you think is good in your local agreement, I know my members will appreicate it. Perhaps I can get the ball rolling by asking some questions, just to see what other offices do. -

Do you have seperate lists for part and full time?

How do you work out how many weeks you need for the office, we've 120+ staff here?

What about odd days, how do you go about picking these, how many can you pick in 1 go, how many staff off for odd days each day, do you have seperate columns for odd days?

How much notice do you have to give when picking odd days?

How quick management should give you your slip back, we try and stick to 48 hrs at the moment?

I expect there are loads I've missed, but I look forward to some great pointers.

[fishtank]

We pick our leave in groups of 7.
5 duty holders,the rotator and a leave reserve.
Only 1 from each group can be off at one time.
We pick position from a hat.
In the first round starting at position 1-7 you pick 2 weeks.
Second round starting at position 7-1.....2 weeks.
Third round ...remaining odd days.
Fourth round..purchased leave.
Then the negotiating and swaps begin.
It isn't perfect but it's as fair as we can make it and not a hint of seniority in sight.

[DGP1]

Free for all in my office, still haven't got this years done yet

[SexyLegs]

We pick our leave in groups of 7.
5 duty holders,the rotator and a leave reserve.
Only 1 from each group can be off at one time.
We pick position from a hat.
In the first round starting at position 1-7 you pick 2 weeks.
Second round starting at position 7-1.....2 weeks.
Third round ...remaining odd days.
Fourth round..purchased leave.
Then the negotiating and swaps begin.
It isn't perfect but it's as fair as we can make it and not a hint of seniority in sight.

We do it similar to this, seniority/juniority which changes each year, seems to wrk ok although the people with kids never get the summer off because the 60 yr old packet man with no kids, grand kids or anything insists on having the middle 2 weeks in August, so it's not perfect but it's as good as we can get it.

Annual Leave Tip: When people get sacked, retire or leave for whatever reason get in quick to change your leave to theirs, if suitable......................got xmas week this year by being 'on the ball'

[dvbuk55]

Well next years holiday sheets have been handed out but I haven't got one.

[gerardy]

Something like above only the 7 in each group rotate
year one whoever is first gets 1st pick
year two you then move to second pick and this continues each year allowing for everyone in group to get a fair pick at some stage.

Leave seperated into two groups though, winter (sept - march) and summer (april -august) 2 weeks allowed in each then any weeks that are left at the end can be used for any additional leave or leave built up while off on the sick.

[mazza111]

Similar but with 6-7 on each sheet.

2 Weeks summer holidays are allocated to you, supposedly on a rotating basis. 2 weeks later each year... Which is great if the manager remembers to rotate them. Luckily I worked with an old boy who liked having 2 weeks off in September, so managed to change mine every year. Obviously it was possible to change these 2 weeks as long as no one else on the sheet was allocated them.

The other holidays are chosen by seniority. List starts with the most senior guy and goes to most junior to choose a week, then goes from most junior to most senior to pick the other full week.

Worked very well apart from the bit the managers were supposed to sort, the 2 summer weeks that were allocated.

[bitchface]

i still think you lots talk outta ya ring peices on this one.

here is how every other company on the planet chooses holiday..put a year calender on the wall and wait until you want a holiday.when you have firm dates you want,look at the calender to see if its free , fill in a request form with at least a weks notice,and hay presto ,you 99999999,out of 100000000 get it.

all of this hassel just because the guy who joined a week before you wants to take the piss..

just cos somewhere down the line a new guy got a week that an old crust wanted because he asked first..pathetic.

no doubt a guy with no kids who takes 2 weeks off every somer holidays just because he can

[jxb]

I am after a bit of advice regarding holidays. Our new holiday sheet has just come out but want to run something by you all. Our office is split in to seperate groups and the list is passed around in order where we have to state initially 1/2 or 3 weeks. We are told that the weeks have to be together irrelevent of when in the year you want to take them. For example, I want to take a week in May and a week at the end of October to fit in with my kids school. I have been told that I cannot do this and have to either book in 2 weeks in may or 2 weeks in october and then wait for the list to come back around to me. Why can't I book 2 seperate weeks?

[POSTMAN]

I am after a bit of advice regarding holidays. Our new holiday sheet has just come out but want to run something by you all. Our office is split in to seperate groups and the list is passed around in order where we have to state initially 1/2 or 3 weeks. We are told that the weeks have to be together irrelevent of when in the year you want to take them. For example, I want to take a week in May and a week at the end of October to fit in with my kids school. I have been told that I cannot do this and have to either book in 2 weeks in may or 2 weeks in october and then wait for the list to come back around to me. Why can't I book 2 seperate weeks?

Doesn't sound right and there is nothing like this in the way forward.
If it's a local agreement then who arranged it needs to be shot.
Way forward agreement,page 18 and onwards...
http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communit ... 36&t=11941" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mazza111]

Can see the point though. I don't think it's so much as the booking two weeks off together that's the problem, it's the 2 different dates, you should be able to choose one week then next time the sheet goes round choose whatever week, but doing it the way you're doing it, ur getting the 2 weeks the schools are off and no one else will have a chance at one of them (depending on the size of office ofc) This comes from someone who always got allocated May or September off on holidays sheet cos all the brown noses had the school hols off

[Midnight+13]

The leave in our office has been messed up for the last 2 years, when I came to pick my last weeks leave, there was only 1 week to choose from. Hmmm, not a holiday if you don't have a choice me thinks.

[suz67]

in out office its done on seniority,doesn't matter if you are full or partime,first two weeks are picked on seniority from top to bottom,next two weeks are picked the same but from bottom to top,last two weeks are allocated as fair as possible across the whole year,seems to work ok,never seen any real problems,plus when its all done people are allowed to swap if it suits each other.

[fishtank]

The reason for the two week rule is to stop people buggering it up for everybody else.
If you take the 6 weeks in the summer if postie A picks week 1 and week 4 and postie B picks week 3 and week 5 postie C is left with week 2 and week 6 whether he likes it or not and that fortnight in Benidorm with the kids is screwed.
It's usually only used on the first pick and applied to the school holidays...which are obviously at a premium.
It's a bit of common sense in my humble opinion.

[jxb]

[If it's a local agreement then who arranged it needs to be shot]


Thanks for all the feedback everyone. With regard to the one who arranged it, they are now the manager, so guess i will have to keep my fingers crossed for the dates i would like!