Hello! Long time lurker. I just wanted to post my recent experience with requesting some time off for my vacations.
I started working in this company since September last year. Ever since the interviews they have bragged about their floating days program. I don't know if floating days are common but basically they are days added to your PTO if you work on certain days that arent technically holidays. This MARVELOUS program only has three floating days a year haha so, if I work on Nov 2, Dec 24 or Dec 31 I earn a PTO for each of those days.
The first floating day comes and goes perfectly, but with the 24 near our client informs us that we will be working a special schedule for that day and the 31. All of us would start early and leave early, working only 6 hours that day. Cool? Think again. This was mandatory and the missing hours would not be paid. I immediately went to my lead to ask about the situation.
I told him basically that me and my friends were planning a vacation and that I NEEDED those PTOs to be up, and that I was worried that with the shortened shifts they would not be awarded to us. I was even willing to work 2 extra hours of back office in case it was an issue. He told me not to worry, that since this was a request from the client everything should go as normal. I believed him and moved on.
Two months before my trip I reminded him about the situation, and he told me that everything was fine and that I should tell him 1 month before to start working on setting everything up for my vacations. Sweet.
One month passes and here is where it starts. We jump into a teams call so he can explain to me how to use the company system to request PTO and, surprise, I had only one day available. I was confused, but he was speechless. He told me that he would email HR and get back to me ASAP. Here is where it gets interesting: HR said that, since we did not work the full shift, the PTOs would not be loaded. It doesn't matter if it was a client request or if I wanted to work overtime to compensate but was told not to.
My lead comes back to me, frustrated, and I swear the first thing he says is “I know you told me this would happen, and I know I told you that it would be fine. My bad. Lets work something out” and we arrive at the idea of just asking management to approve three days of undertime so I can go. Not the best because not paid, but at least I could go and I kept my one PTO with me.
Then my lead comes back. “Management refused our request. It's just a lot of days… And I have to leave now. Would it be okay if I call you on your personal phone to keep discussing this?” A little bit weird, but I said okay. I just wanted to go, man. I asked if the shortened shifts would affect the floating day shit, I offered to compensate the shortened shifts with back office work, I did everything as it was supposed to.
My lead calls me… “So here is what we're going to do. You're going to go on your vacations, I'm going to have to send you an email because you have not come to work, you're just going to reply that for personal reasons you need to be away until monday. I'm going to probably be requested to write up something on your profile that's going to stay there for 30 days, but I'm going to make sure that that is as far as it will go. You're safe. Have fun.” LET'S GOOOO
It happened exactly as he told me. And I'm grateful to have an understanding lead that probably risked himself because he saw through the bullshit of HR and Management. I went on my vacations, it was awesome, came back to work happier than ever. Three days without pay and a write up on my profile? I will even send them a selfie if they want to advertise me as worst employee. I honestly don't care at all for the first time and it feels great. And it feels great to have someone on your side for once.