WORKPLACE Juggling holiday schedule requests

Managers must balance keeping employees happy and getting the work done.
WASHINGTON POST
'Tis the season ... to tiptoe around our manager at work, nonrefundable airline tickets in our back pocket, hoping we really did remember to ask to take off the week between Christmas and the new year. And that the boss really did say yes. Hoping we're not like some of our co-workers, who simply assume they have those days off because Aunt Mildred expects them.
But what about you managers? How do you handle last-minute requests -- the pleading, the tears and, sometimes, anger when an employee begs for another day off or insists he was promised those days around New Year's Day.
One more thing to add to a manager's holiday stress list.
A couple of years ago, Kathy Albarado, president of Herndon, Va.,-based HR Concepts, found herself in a vacation-time quandary. An employee e-mailed her during the week of Thanksgiving to say, "Remember, I won't be in on Friday."
Wait a minute, Albarado thought. She had no recollection of telling this employee she could have the day off, although she apparently had -- six months before. But now the office was in the middle of an important project, and this woman was critical to the work.
Albarado conceded she had probably okayed the time. But, she thought, a reminder two weeks earlier, when they were already very much mired in the project, would have been helpful.
Finding a compromise
Knowing the day off was important to her employee, who was going out of town, Albarado worked with her to find a solution. The employee agreed to do some work remotely, just to get the department through that Friday. Albarado was happy; the employee was happy. But it doesn't always work out that way.
So how does an employer make sure the whole office doesn't end up in a year-end holiday-schedule scramble? Make rules, be flexible and hang on for the bumpy ride.
And when the schedule starts to go awry?
"We advise our managers to remain flexible but have an enormous amount of communication with employees," said Mary Massad, director of human resource development for Administaff, a company that provides human resources services.
Tell them when they must have their vacation dates in, let them know what you have decided and why, and make sure everyone knows the expectations the company has -- how many people have to be at work on New Year's Eve, who may have to be on call, what time those at work may be able to squeeze out.
Sharon Eller, who with her husband owns Landover, Md.-based Creative Surface Interiors Inc., a Corian countertop fabricator and installer, said this time of year is exhaustingly busy for them, as builders and contractors try to finish projects before year end.
This year, the company had to work out a schedule between two workers who requested the week between Christmas and New Year's off. Both employees have worked at the company for several years, and both have critical positions. So they can't be gone at the same time.
So right now, Eller said, the managers of the two employees are trying to get them to stagger their weeks off so at least one of them is there for most of that time.
Both employees seem amenable to staggering their weeks, though Eller is waiting to hear the final decision. If the employees can't work it out, then the person who asked first will likely get his time off, and the second will have to change his vacation time. "We kind of walk that delicate balance of trying to have that give and take with our employees," she said.
The more a company is willing to work with employees' holiday schedules, the more willing people may be to schedule the time off well in advance and perhaps be flexible if someone else suddenly needs a different day off.
Paid holiday time
For some, the holiday scheduling conflicts are all but erased because they count the entire week between Christmas and New Year's Day as paid holiday time. EFX Media Inc. in Arlington, Va., started to give employees the week off about three years ago.
"By the time December hits, my folks are usually exhausted," said Jennifer Cortner, president of the company, which makes video and other media products for corporate clients. "And my clients are quiet that time of year. So instead of fighting the system, we thought we'd join the system."
The employees get a paid week off, in addition to regular vacation time. It simply made sense, Cortner said. "A lot of people want that week off anyway, so we got all these requests."
And of course, taking the week off doesn't only mean employees get a week to refresh. It means their bosses can cross one major holiday stress off their list.