We have the below leave policies in our office for the better workflow,
1. Any CL/Approved leaves can be permitted only if it requested before 3 weeks
2. Leaves (planned /Unplanned) are not allowed preceding or succeeding any Holiday(declared)/Weekends.
If it's taken, the combined holidays will also be considered to be a leave and it’ll be deducted from your leave balances.
What can be done if they request the unavoidable leave before 3 weeks and asking for approval and the leave falls between Holidays.
If we didn't approve it, what will be the issue and how to handle this?
From India, Chennai
1. Any CL/Approved leaves can be permitted only if it requested before 3 weeks
2. Leaves (planned /Unplanned) are not allowed preceding or succeeding any Holiday(declared)/Weekends.
If it's taken, the combined holidays will also be considered to be a leave and it’ll be deducted from your leave balances.
What can be done if they request the unavoidable leave before 3 weeks and asking for approval and the leave falls between Holidays.
If we didn't approve it, what will be the issue and how to handle this?
From India, Chennai
Generally granting leave to an employee is directly relevant/(combination of ) to the following factors:
1) Official exigencies, meaning, the workload on hand can be handled by others on duty;
2) How much crucial, the leave, for an employee. Say if he/she is sick or their own marriage or close relatives, friends, colleagues.
3). Sometimes a person require immediate off duty or leave after a hectic continuous work;
4) Also, some important festivals, ceremonies to attend etc. Like this there are so many reasons.
Denial of leave will have the following reasons-
a) Work pressure & commitments on hand to be fulfilled
b) Shortage of staff on duty to make alternate arrangement, at short notice.
c) Strained relationship with the reporting officer
d) Habitual absentee
e) Non availability of leave to his/her credit and so on.
Granting Leave in normal circumstances, is not a right and therefore not reporting to duty when leave is not granted it's a dereliction of duty and therefore it's indiscipline. However, obtaining prior approval to leave is the responsibility of an employee.
From India, Bangalore
1) Official exigencies, meaning, the workload on hand can be handled by others on duty;
2) How much crucial, the leave, for an employee. Say if he/she is sick or their own marriage or close relatives, friends, colleagues.
3). Sometimes a person require immediate off duty or leave after a hectic continuous work;
4) Also, some important festivals, ceremonies to attend etc. Like this there are so many reasons.
Denial of leave will have the following reasons-
a) Work pressure & commitments on hand to be fulfilled
b) Shortage of staff on duty to make alternate arrangement, at short notice.
c) Strained relationship with the reporting officer
d) Habitual absentee
e) Non availability of leave to his/her credit and so on.
Granting Leave in normal circumstances, is not a right and therefore not reporting to duty when leave is not granted it's a dereliction of duty and therefore it's indiscipline. However, obtaining prior approval to leave is the responsibility of an employee.
From India, Bangalore
While leave is not an entitlement but denial of authorised leave has negative impact on individual and reputation of company.
Leave plans can be thought off for earned leave.
Casual leave requirements come up suddenly and denial as a routine will be bad for morale and lead to absence.
Idea of not attaching declared holidays with other forms of leave is again not a wise thought process.
This will again lead to employee coming up with excuses and repeat requests.
Company needs to plan leave,have stand by for duties in each department and be liberal with leave to the extent possible.
Making leave difficult is not good and will ensure employee turnover.
From India, Pune
Leave plans can be thought off for earned leave.
Casual leave requirements come up suddenly and denial as a routine will be bad for morale and lead to absence.
Idea of not attaching declared holidays with other forms of leave is again not a wise thought process.
This will again lead to employee coming up with excuses and repeat requests.
Company needs to plan leave,have stand by for duties in each department and be liberal with leave to the extent possible.
Making leave difficult is not good and will ensure employee turnover.
From India, Pune
Dear Colleague,
The leave policy cannot lose sight of the purpose for which it is provided.Various types of leaves like, CL, Sl, PL and ML has distinct purpose and the policy should aim at facilitating availing leave by an employee to meet his genuine family/social commitments or personal sickness/pregnancy etc
At the same time , the policy should also facilitate curbing tendency of very small number of employees who avail it as a matter of right and without taking prior permission or at least immediate intimation.Refusal of leave in such cases is quite justified.
But your policy of three weeks prior permission for CL is unjust and it is practically impossible to plan leave that in advance. General practice is 1/2 days' advance intimation is followed.
As regards treatment of holidays falling in between leave period and prefixing or suffixing them , is left to the company policy or governing legislation ,if any. ( In Maharashtra, under Shops Act, intervening holidays and holidays beginning or endind of the PL/CL are not counted as part of the leave .)
In your instant case , follow your rule/policy as regards grant of leave and treatment of Holiday joining leave period
Regards,
Vinayak Nagarkar
HR-Consultant
From India, Mumbai
The leave policy cannot lose sight of the purpose for which it is provided.Various types of leaves like, CL, Sl, PL and ML has distinct purpose and the policy should aim at facilitating availing leave by an employee to meet his genuine family/social commitments or personal sickness/pregnancy etc
At the same time , the policy should also facilitate curbing tendency of very small number of employees who avail it as a matter of right and without taking prior permission or at least immediate intimation.Refusal of leave in such cases is quite justified.
But your policy of three weeks prior permission for CL is unjust and it is practically impossible to plan leave that in advance. General practice is 1/2 days' advance intimation is followed.
As regards treatment of holidays falling in between leave period and prefixing or suffixing them , is left to the company policy or governing legislation ,if any. ( In Maharashtra, under Shops Act, intervening holidays and holidays beginning or endind of the PL/CL are not counted as part of the leave .)
In your instant case , follow your rule/policy as regards grant of leave and treatment of Holiday joining leave period
Regards,
Vinayak Nagarkar
HR-Consultant
From India, Mumbai
Qy:1.Any CL/Approved leaves can be permitted only if it requested before 3 weeks -
Comments: It's not not justifiable to impose condition like '3 weeks' prior application. Of course, in some instances it may be may possible such as marriages, planned outing for social gathering etc. But not in every reason, say sudden illness, accident, family/socially relevant events at short notice etc.
Qy.2. Leaves (planned /Unplanned) are not allowed preceding or succeeding any Holiday(declared)/Weekends.
= It's not a fiction, it's a fact most of the employees are opting to prefix or suffix holidays in continuation of planned or unplanned leave/week ends. Sometimes human tendency is to avoid travelling during day time, instead prefer to travel or drive during nights and utilise day time for their engagement. This is not a fault, after all we would also like to take off and relax, if possible. This should not be curbed or denied. Of course, if there are compelling commitments back at the office such facilities can be avoided by conducive discussion with appropriate authorities.
Qy.3.If it's taken, the combined holidays will also be considered to be a leave and it’ll be deducted from your leave balances.
= Normally intervening holidays during (in between) leave is counted as leave. There could be some estts. which allows these holidays not counted as leave. It depends, but prefixing and suffixing should be permitted.
Qy.4. What can be done if they request the unavoidable leave before 3 weeks and asking for approval and the leave falls between Holidays.
= As I said earlier, insisting for a 3 weeks advance application is not practical in all instances. Though prior approval may be imposed as a requirement, there should be room to accommodate emergencies and urgencies. And also this criteria should be applied in case of habitual nature and in case to case basis is appropriate.
Qy.5. If we didn't approve it, what will be the issue and how to handle this?
= Your leave policy should tell clearly what should be done for offenders. If you have your SO in vogue there should be a clause to tell you how you should handle in the circumstances.
From India, Bangalore
Comments: It's not not justifiable to impose condition like '3 weeks' prior application. Of course, in some instances it may be may possible such as marriages, planned outing for social gathering etc. But not in every reason, say sudden illness, accident, family/socially relevant events at short notice etc.
Qy.2. Leaves (planned /Unplanned) are not allowed preceding or succeeding any Holiday(declared)/Weekends.
= It's not a fiction, it's a fact most of the employees are opting to prefix or suffix holidays in continuation of planned or unplanned leave/week ends. Sometimes human tendency is to avoid travelling during day time, instead prefer to travel or drive during nights and utilise day time for their engagement. This is not a fault, after all we would also like to take off and relax, if possible. This should not be curbed or denied. Of course, if there are compelling commitments back at the office such facilities can be avoided by conducive discussion with appropriate authorities.
Qy.3.If it's taken, the combined holidays will also be considered to be a leave and it’ll be deducted from your leave balances.
= Normally intervening holidays during (in between) leave is counted as leave. There could be some estts. which allows these holidays not counted as leave. It depends, but prefixing and suffixing should be permitted.
Qy.4. What can be done if they request the unavoidable leave before 3 weeks and asking for approval and the leave falls between Holidays.
= As I said earlier, insisting for a 3 weeks advance application is not practical in all instances. Though prior approval may be imposed as a requirement, there should be room to accommodate emergencies and urgencies. And also this criteria should be applied in case of habitual nature and in case to case basis is appropriate.
Qy.5. If we didn't approve it, what will be the issue and how to handle this?
= Your leave policy should tell clearly what should be done for offenders. If you have your SO in vogue there should be a clause to tell you how you should handle in the circumstances.
From India, Bangalore
Dear Stenoline,
All the above friends with rich experience in the realm of Human Resource Management particularly in the branch of industrial employment have offered nice answers to all your queries. I think that myself, as a person with little direct experience of leave management in such a sector contributing a great deal to the economy of a nation, would not be in a position to add anything more to their answers.
However, the undercurrent running through all your questions, seems, of course to me, that in essence is how to effectively discourage the tendency of taking leave in the minds of the employees only. Leave is a statutory employment benefit conferred on the working class irrespective of the status of employment. That's why it is classified into lapsable and non-lapsable leave and even the encashment of lapsable leave is statutorily permitted to the contingency of termination of employment only.
When there is a rule for the grant of a particular benefit, a progressive employer should always find the ways and means to its implementation rather than its negation. Of course, the exigencies of work and the preventive checks on the tendency to misuse leave may be exceptions. But, exception can not be a rule. For example, the rule prescribing 3 weeks prior application for CL defeats the very purpose of the provision for it under the Leave Rules. Similarly, when a particular intervening day or a week end day is declared as a holiday, what the employer is going to achieve by not allowing the employee to avail of such a holiday when he applies for it well in advance? The dictum that leave is a matter subject to prior approval of the employer has equally all the practical connotations underlying the dictum that leave can not be claimed as a matter of right by the employee. The degree of compliance in leave matter should be corresponding to the degree of compliance in all other employment matters like overtime, incentives, bonus etc.
Any rigid approach by the employer on the contrary would certainly affect the morale of the employees and even may lead to more employee turn over in the long run as it could be a cause for work-life imbalance. A bottom up approach involving the different functional heads in devising the leave policy of the organization can be of effective implementation without any heart burns.
From India, Salem
All the above friends with rich experience in the realm of Human Resource Management particularly in the branch of industrial employment have offered nice answers to all your queries. I think that myself, as a person with little direct experience of leave management in such a sector contributing a great deal to the economy of a nation, would not be in a position to add anything more to their answers.
However, the undercurrent running through all your questions, seems, of course to me, that in essence is how to effectively discourage the tendency of taking leave in the minds of the employees only. Leave is a statutory employment benefit conferred on the working class irrespective of the status of employment. That's why it is classified into lapsable and non-lapsable leave and even the encashment of lapsable leave is statutorily permitted to the contingency of termination of employment only.
When there is a rule for the grant of a particular benefit, a progressive employer should always find the ways and means to its implementation rather than its negation. Of course, the exigencies of work and the preventive checks on the tendency to misuse leave may be exceptions. But, exception can not be a rule. For example, the rule prescribing 3 weeks prior application for CL defeats the very purpose of the provision for it under the Leave Rules. Similarly, when a particular intervening day or a week end day is declared as a holiday, what the employer is going to achieve by not allowing the employee to avail of such a holiday when he applies for it well in advance? The dictum that leave is a matter subject to prior approval of the employer has equally all the practical connotations underlying the dictum that leave can not be claimed as a matter of right by the employee. The degree of compliance in leave matter should be corresponding to the degree of compliance in all other employment matters like overtime, incentives, bonus etc.
Any rigid approach by the employer on the contrary would certainly affect the morale of the employees and even may lead to more employee turn over in the long run as it could be a cause for work-life imbalance. A bottom up approach involving the different functional heads in devising the leave policy of the organization can be of effective implementation without any heart burns.
From India, Salem
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