I've been with a small firm (7 people) since July. Our company handbook states that we can't take vacation until we've been here for 6 months. It's quite frustrating because we're in the office five days a week and have the option for 7 virtual days a year, which allows for taking a virtual Friday. Interestingly, out of our senior leadership team of four, two of them work entirely virtually, including the VP who oversees HR. Fridays tend to be somewhat unproductive, with most of us leaving at 4:30, and the boss is virtually absent that day anyway.
My dilemma is that I need to leave early at 2:30 for a flight this weekend on Friday. My supervisor, who is fully remote, said I can't use Flex Time to make up the 2 hours (she thinks we all leave at 5:30, so she told me it's 3 hours). As a result, I'll have to use 3 hours of my vacation time.
I'm becoming increasingly frustrated by the traditional office culture, especially when it seems like some of our senior team members have more flexibility when it comes to remote work. It's challenging to navigate the discrepancies between the rules the younger staff are expected to follow and what's happening at the leadership level. What do you think I should do? Makes me so angry I have to use vacation hours just to dip out of work 2 hours early?