Requesting leave from your employer is an exciting time, as normally you have some fun, relaxing or challenging time away from work ahead of you (depending of course on how you like to spend your leisure time!).
Depending on the relationships you have with your Manager and/or your employer’s leave policy, this can be daunting to ask as it may not be a sure yes and timing can be everything.
Increase the chances of your leave being granted:
- Determine the leave dates and number of leave days you will be taking
- Establish if you will have enough leave to cover the period of time (if not, how do you propose to go on leave? Use unpaid/flexible leave etc)
- Identify any role/business clashes that may impact on your ability to be granted leave and determine possible solutions for these (whether it is completely tasks earlier, working extra hours before you go, renegotiating deadlines, organising extra resources etc)
- Identify if any of your Manager and/or other team members have planned leave at the same time that may cause a problem (I was recently speaking to an employee who had their leave request refused as another member of their team had already planned leave at that time…. Therefore keep that in mind and get in early!)
After you’ve prepared here’s how you can increase your chance for leave approval:
- Ask your Manager when they’re in a good mood. I think we all know, we are more inclined to say yes when we’re feeling good. Now unfortunately some of you may work for Managers who don’t ever seem to be in a good mood ever… (firstly I’m very sorry to hear that).
Hopefully you’ve worked with them long enough to know when a good time of the day would be to ask, perhaps even when you’ve just received a compliment from them for work that you’ve done or they’ve just received some good news. - Complete the form/request so it’s ready to go when you have the conversation, this will help you to lock in your leave so that you no longer have to stress whether you’ll be able to go or not.
- Many employers ask for one month’s notice to take leave and should you require longer period of leave, the more notice given the better e.g. taking a month off to get married.
The sooner the employer is notified of any length of leave this will assist them to plan and hopefully guarantee that you will be able to have the time off.
Depending on the nature of your leave can also determine whether it will be granted or not. Sometimes everything can be so overwhelming that you need to take a break at short notice.
I encourage you, should you be in that situation, speak to your Manager about it. I hope that their understanding will allow you to have a break to help you get back to your refreshed self again.
