The Cubicle Man - Lesson Three
Using Annual Leave.
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In my company, I have the authority to approve/ disapprove any request to use annual leave for the people that I take charge off. On most occasions, I would approve because it is their leave and I feel they ought to use it any way they wish to. On top of that, it is also my doctrine that the company will not 'shut down' because one person is missing from his or her post.
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This occasion however, I chose to say
'No, I cannot approve your leave'
Why? Well because I'm truly short-handed, I did reject the request months ago because I foresaw the need to have more workers around this critical time and I did ask her not to make any plans.
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She did make plans anyway. She did ask again anyway. She just added the 'please-please-pretty please' look.
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I still said 'No.'
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Then a fellow co-worker stepped in and asked on her behalf. She said "just let her go, work will carry on anyway." After some thought, I relented and agreed.
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I felt like rejecting her out-right because she actually dared to play this game of chance with me. I told her not to make any plans for her own good because if I do reject her leave application, the money used to place a down payment for her traveling plans would have been non-refundable. Still, she chose to go ahead, pressuring me to give in because now money is involved. Not giving in to her would effectively cause her to 'lose' money. That's not a very nice thing.
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After the dust has settled, after I've approved her leave, I do hope she have fun on her trip, but when she returns, I do hope she have a good think about what all of this means. Think about it.
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One would think that her co-worker was just being nice by sticking up for her. But in fact (to me) - because I see the big picture - her co-worker was actually suggesting that her work here is insignificant, anyone else can do it.
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So then I think, from a supervisor's point of view. If her work is so easily re-distributed to others without any complains from them, then why do I still need her around. And with the company's cost cutting efforts (they do not know of this) her trip could very well cost her her job. I might need to go through the dreaded exercise of retrenching again.
-------
Somehow, I just do not feel any empathy for her (more pity than anything else) , because she just made an unwise decision coupled with very bad timing mixed in with a very juvenile attitude.
-------
In my company, I have the authority to approve/ disapprove any request to use annual leave for the people that I take charge off. On most occasions, I would approve because it is their leave and I feel they ought to use it any way they wish to. On top of that, it is also my doctrine that the company will not 'shut down' because one person is missing from his or her post.
-------
This occasion however, I chose to say
'No, I cannot approve your leave'
Why? Well because I'm truly short-handed, I did reject the request months ago because I foresaw the need to have more workers around this critical time and I did ask her not to make any plans.
-------
She did make plans anyway. She did ask again anyway. She just added the 'please-please-pretty please' look.
-------
I still said 'No.'
-------
Then a fellow co-worker stepped in and asked on her behalf. She said "just let her go, work will carry on anyway." After some thought, I relented and agreed.
-------
I felt like rejecting her out-right because she actually dared to play this game of chance with me. I told her not to make any plans for her own good because if I do reject her leave application, the money used to place a down payment for her traveling plans would have been non-refundable. Still, she chose to go ahead, pressuring me to give in because now money is involved. Not giving in to her would effectively cause her to 'lose' money. That's not a very nice thing.
-------
After the dust has settled, after I've approved her leave, I do hope she have fun on her trip, but when she returns, I do hope she have a good think about what all of this means. Think about it.
-------
One would think that her co-worker was just being nice by sticking up for her. But in fact (to me) - because I see the big picture - her co-worker was actually suggesting that her work here is insignificant, anyone else can do it.
-------
So then I think, from a supervisor's point of view. If her work is so easily re-distributed to others without any complains from them, then why do I still need her around. And with the company's cost cutting efforts (they do not know of this) her trip could very well cost her her job. I might need to go through the dreaded exercise of retrenching again.
-------
Somehow, I just do not feel any empathy for her (more pity than anything else) , because she just made an unwise decision coupled with very bad timing mixed in with a very juvenile attitude.
