Something for the weekend: Booking annual leave in advance generally gives employees something to look forward to. However, if you found out that the leave you booked seven months ago was suddenly cancelled by your boss, you would understandably want a really good explanation as to why.
Michael Sanz, who goes by @theoutsourcingexpert on TikTok and posts videos about the work environment, uploaded a story that was sent to him by manager Nick at an unnamed organisation. When one employee resigned, Nick contacted another member of the team, Noel, to say he was cancelling the leave he had booked seven months ago because the team would be short-staffed and that HR had been informed of this.
Noel replied that he could not cancel the leave as he was due to fly with his family to Bali for his brother’s wedding, with the flights already paid for. He offered to help out more in advance of his trip but could not change the dates.
In Nick’s response, he stated that he was going to have to ask Noel to reduce his leave to fly in and out, and take three days over the weekend, rather than the three weeks that he requested. He followed it up with: “Not sure what you can do for three weeks in Bali haha.” [sic]
Noel then explained that he could not cancel or amend a family trip and had not taken any leave for three years. He instead suggested using a temporary worker instead. After being told again that his leave was cancelled, Noel decided to take his leave earlier and said he would be considering working with a different organisation as a result.
Comments left under the video did not agree with the boss and showed support for Noel.
One said: “Business owner here. Unacceptable by the boss. Not the employees’ problem. Enjoy Bali!”, while another added: “I once heard and never forgot it: ‘Poor management on your behalf, does not constitute an emergency on mine.’”
While we know of few employers that would cancel an employee’s leave out if the blue, this serves as a cautionary tale for any that may ever consider doing so!