NWR: Booking a Vacation

LakeR2014

Question/Poll:   When planning on booking a vacation do you A) Look for the vacation then see if the dates are available for you to take off from work before booking the vacation or Book the vacation, put down a non-returnable refund, and then see if the dates are available to take time off work.

I ask this only because - after putting in for and receiving time off from work from my boss, a new co-worker responds to the department wide email that goes out stating i've been approved for that time off so FYI to others not to book that week with a 'Hmmm hope that's not the same week I just booked my non-refundable hotel for.'  

Have I done it backwards all my life by seeing if the vacation time is available before booking the vacation?

OliveOilsMom

I think it really depends on your work place.  I only requested off for my 2 week vacation in January about 4 weeks in advance.  It's not that big a deal around here.  But it also depends on our work load too, if we are at trial I try to give as much notice as possible.

climbingsingle

I guess it depends on your workplace. We're a very small company, and my assistant backs me up. Before I book anything, I'll check with my assistant to be sure it doesn't conflict with anything she might have going on. 

southernbelle0915

Depends on the workplace and scope of work. I can plan vacations and then request time off because it'll be approved. 

If I were in an industry where my PTO was contingent on work flow/others' schedules and may/may not be approved, I would definitely ask for the time off before booking anything non-refundable. 

mikenberger

My current workplace: I can take off any time I want at any time. At my old job though, I had to set up coverage (I was on call 24/7), find someone to answer emails if possible, voicemail, be available in emergencies... I took exactly 1 vacation in 2.5 years. Which was a long weekend. 

Like I said though, in my current position, we frequently take off time with little to no advance warning.

novella1186

I've had jobs where I requested time off A YEAR IN ADVANCE and didn't get the time off, so I would never plan/book anything until I was 100% sure I could go. 

At my current job, no one really needs to "cover" for me unless an urgent project comes up, in which case there are a couple people that could take care of it. So requesting the vacation time is pretty much just a formality. My boss has never turned anyone down. Knock on wood lol 

morewineplease

I don't put money down on anything until I at least check the leave calendar to see if the people that would cover me will be in the office. 

Except of course this wedding planning… They will not approve leave this far out (over a year). They do know when it is as a heads up and I planned around the busy time of year while avoiding holidays so it should be the best time of year to take a lot of leave. 

lovegood90

I always book off (well I don't "book" anything off, I just verify with my boss that the time is okay and put it in their calendar) before putting payments on anything.

Usually I look at flights to see when is cheapest to go, then get my ideal dates so I know what $ I'm in for, then book off work, then put $ down.

Where I work we have "busy" times where we are encouraged to not take vacation and we need to make sure we're not taking vacation at the same time as other people on our team.

Maggie0829

Really depends on your work place.  For me I could book a huge trip that is fully non-refundable and pretty much know that I can get off for the dates I need.  We really don't ask off, but rather just tell our boss "hey, I will be out from this date to this date."

But even though I know this I still would never book something without first telling my boss I need off, because as with all things in life you just never know what may happen.

thisismynickname2

Agree with the others; I get what I want.  I always check for any major events but if there's nothing else on the calendar, I'm free to go!

Before I booked my honeymoon, we scheduled a huge work event the Monday through Wednesday after my wedding. So, we booked our honeymoon to leave on Thursday. No biggie at all. Then the event got cancelled away, go figure. 

My sister and BIL have a really rough time getting time off because there's no one to cover for them at their small companies.  It's employee policy; I rarely say anyone "deserves" anything, but this is one thing we're all legally entitled to per our handbooks. Fight for it. 

jenna8984

I always ask for the time off first. In accounting I must be there the first week of the month to close the books, and I must process commissions the 2nd week of the month. So I'm only allowed to take vacation the 3rd-4th weeks of the month. So I know as long as it's within those weeks it'll be approved but I still ask first.

And I do what @lovegood90 does with checking the cheap flights/ day first. I will plan to go somewhere "around" August 16th but then I'll look and see plus/minus 5 days to see when the cheapest is. And put in for those days.

ETA tagged wrong person

theartistformerlyknownas

I've never had a time off request be declined. I book vacations around the cheaper travel days, then schedule my time off. But it's always more of an "FYI, I'm gonna be gone" with my job(s) rather than a request.

With the new job it'll be a little different since there will be work travel involved, so we'll see how that shakes out. Probably not a lot of extended vacations in the near future though between buying a house and having a baby.

Bubblegum5586

I work in the event industry so I need to make sure there are no events happening or anything I am specifically responsible for. Outside of that it is easy to get time off. I am very friendly with my boss and she usually knows that I'm planning a trip before I even ask for the time off. Lately she doesn't even have me fill out the request forms and just to remind her before I leave so she can mark it accordingly with finance.

amelisha

I don't really have to formally ask either. If it's a week or longer, I do check to make sure we don't have any major meetings or anything I should be there for or will have to find someone to deal with, and I do try to schedule my vacations in less busy times and/or when my boss is gone as well (I'm an EA so it's nice to go when my boss won't be in the office, which is kind of the opposite of most people. But other people can wait for stuff until we get back, whereas it's tougher for her to be in the office without any assistance.)

I do usually say "Hey, I'd like to take x days from this date to this date, would that be okay?" before I book it though. That just seems like good business practice to me.

beethery

FI gets his schedule a year out, so we'll figure out when we want to go somewhere, and depending on what type of vacation we're doing, he'll request the time off a couple of months out, and then we'll book it all once he's gotten the approval.

However, for the wedding and honeymoon, since he's going to be taking 3+ weeks off, he was at work the day the schedule came out (1/1/15) and he requested it all off then and got approval by EOD. Wanted to have that all locked down just in case anyone else tried to get it.

lovemesomemonster

I always find a back up first, if my primary back up can't do it or I am backing them up then I have to find two. We are all pretty close in the department so it's a quick convo and then book away. No approval needed  as long as someone can cover you but I know not every company is this way. They are also really good about last minute "Oh snap this came up, can I leave?" situations. I was offered an all expenses paid trip to Bermuda one year that happened to be 3 days after a week vaca that was already planned, the response of my supervisor "well you can't turn that down, we'll make it work!"

huskypuppy14

Looks like I was tagged by Jenna

My husband has to get coverage for his job, so two people on the same shift/same job can't take vacation at the same time. They sort have set times where the people who work his shift go on vacation, so X goes on vacation in October, we go on vacation in July/August, and Z goes on vacation in December. This is a known thing, so the others don't take vacation the same time someone else usually does.

We might not be able to go to a wedding in October (out of town), because that might be the same time someone else already takes vacation. (Well I suppose I could go without my husband).

I can take whatever time off I want, and it's just a formality to get "approved'. 

LabLove86

Because of the fact that I schedule patients out 3-6 months ahead of time my boss prefers I give 3-6 months notice for extended vacations. Its not as big of a deal if I only need a day off - but they prefer 2-3 weeks notice for even that.

BUT - my schedule is Mon-Thursday 730-530. So I have a pretty fantastic schedule as it is. With 3 day weekends every weekend. 

WinstonsGirl

I teach, so I'm always a date before booking person otherwise I pay dearly in lost wages, supply teacher costs and lost pension.

DH tries to look at dates before hand, and usually checks on major things, but he tends to forget, we book and then he remembers to ask for time off. He has a lot more flexibility with his job though

hellohkb

We book and then tell our jobs what days we won't be there. 

flutteringinfl

I'm the only one who does my job, so it doesn't really matter when I take time off as long as I have the PTO. I try to always warn my boss ahead of time, preferably before I book. It helps build goodwill.

ETA: FI, however, is one of many people who do the same work as him, so if he wants time off he has to make sure not a lot of other people have already put in for that day. In the case of holiday times, that sometimes means booking way far out, especially since in his line of work you don't automatically get holidays off. For example, we're taking our honeymoon over Christmas, and to make sure he can actually take it he's already submitted for the days off.

So yeah, definitely depends on your workplace and what you do.

teddygirl9

My work is pretty flexible. The only time I cannot book vacation is a few weeks in January. Unfortunately, I don't know WHICH 2 weeks in january until October/November ish, so I just leave jan open. So generally, I book the vacation (or have a 99% idea) and then tell work. If you're looking at booking, you can also feel out your mgr, and let them know you are looking at these few weeks for vacation, are there any conflicts.

levioosa

My last job you wouldn't know if you had the time off you requested until the day the schedule was posted for the week (sometimes it would be released at 3:23am on Wed. morning for the Wed. shift), and the manager liked to do a lot of power trips by denying time requested off even if you had done it a year in advance.  It was shitty. 

With my current job, all I do is decide when I'm going on vacation and then I let them know.  There's not really a "request" so much as an FYI.  I've only been told once I couldn't take a day off, and that was around the holidays when 90% of our office was gone and because I'm the youngest employee they made me come in to "man the office."  I understood, but truthfully the whole office should have been closed.  None of our customers (or the banks) were open, nothing could ship, and the three people in the office literally did nothing all day.  It wasn't the end of the world, it was just annoying. I've been lucky though to have a job where I just inform them when I will be out.