Employee Calls Out Manager For Saying Her Reasons For Leave Are Unfounded And Involving The Manager

"We have "unlimited" vacation, workload permitting."

Damjan

• Published in Interesting
• September 7, 2023

In the fast-paced world of start-ups, the delicate balance between flexibility and accountability has always been a tightrope walk. Enter a situation at a local start-up that has raised questions about how to maintain harmony within a team while ensuring fairness and transparency.

OP works in a team of five at a start-up that boasts a dynamic work environment. With a blend of high-pressure tasks and a "work hard, play hard" ethos, the team enjoys the perk of "unlimited" vacation days, provided the workload allows. A mutual understanding prevails, ensuring tasks are evenly distributed and vacation days are fairly managed.

However, recent developments have triggered a mild upheaval in the equilibrium. A new team member began her journey enthusiastically but soon began exhibiting questionable patterns regarding time off. Citing medical appointments and familial emergencies, she was absent on multiple occasions. The absence of clear guidelines for tracking days off compounded the issue.

As the most senior team member in terms of tenure, OP took on the responsibility of addressing the issue. She proposed using an open calendar to track vacations but encountered resistance. The situation escalated when the new member mentioned an indefinite absence due to a minor injury without presenting medical evidence.

Consequently, OP sought managerial intervention, prompting a clash of perspectives. The new team member argued for personal time off, while OP defended the need for open communication to ensure shared responsibilities weren't compromised.

OP works at a high-pressure, flexible startup offering "unlimited" vacation based on workload. In a 5-person team, a new member joined 5 months ago. While initially committed, she became unreliable after the probation period.

OP explained to the manager about the situation

A coworker asserts their entitlement to request time off due to health reasons and proposes that there's no need to engage the manager in this matter.

This person doesn't collaborate well with the team and exploits policies without considering colleagues.

Involving the manager was smart

OP should avoid getting involved and taking the chance of creating difficulties for himself.

OP has to ensure that HR and his manager handle this situation where she's mocking them

OP's coworker isn't at fault for taking time off; OP's boss should have a system to prevent extra work burden on others

This situation highlights the flaw of "unlimited time off" - it's vague and leads to uncertainty.

If feasible, OP could encourage the management to create an equitable system for taking days off.

OP is not the judge; raising team issues is right.

Decision on time off and performance monitoring rests with managers.

Flexibility at work is awesome because it helps people feel happy and have a good balance between their job and personal life. But, it's important that everyone on the team works together nicely and things are fair.

OP did the right thing by talking to the boss and the HR people. This is because their co-worker was taking a lot of time off, and it was affecting the team's work and everyone's mood.

The co-worker's reasons for taking time off were a bit strange, and it made OP and the team wonder what was really going on. While it's totally okay for someone to take time off when they're not feeling well, the reasons given by the co-worker seemed inconsistent.

Damjan