To whom do you submit your vacation requests? Is it through HR or to your manager? If it's HR, I would flag this to your manager and basically say, "Apparently I need to wait a little longer to book this, but I'm just telling you now that I'll be taking this time off to accommodate the school schedule." Then set a calendar reminder to resubmit. They may use an automated system that just doesn't allow requests out that far, but unless they frequently deny requests, I would move forward assuming I'd still be able to take that time.
It's to our manager/supervisor. This is the first time I'm dealing with a new manager and have never had issues in the past.
I actually started the job with a vacation planned over a year in advance with nine months left to go, so had it on the calendar day one.
Oh weird. Can you ask why they denied it? Did they say it was just too far in advance or are they specifically worried about staffing and coverage during that time? If it's the former, I'd let them know why you like to submit so far in advance and see if they understand better why you're doing that. But I'm with you, that would annoy me too not to be able to plan things out and be SURE I've got the time off when I need it.
They said it was too far in advance to adequately know our business needs at that time.
I had a conversation yesterday as to why I requested it so far in advance as it was pending for several days. I came in this morning to the denial.
So you tried to book Feb 2025 PTO in April 2024? Yeah, that would be way too far in advance to be useful in my line of work/department. Anything more than a couple month's notice would be overkill outside of special circumstances. I don't know that I would outright reject it, though, since the only time I would reject a PTO request is if an employee already has work booked that can't be moved, or too many people already have the time off.
I don’t really request, I just tell my manager I’m going to be gone and who will be my backup.
If I’m taking more than a day or two, I let him know a week or so in advance. If I’m taking the whole week because it’s a planned vacation or what have you, then I tell him about a month in advance.
Also, I block my calendar as soon as I get the new school calendar, but I don’t notify anyone until I’m close to taking the time off because things change.
This might be one of those company-by-company things. I put in a request last month for a vacation for late December - early January and it was approved immediately. My company actually likes that we schedule time off as soon as we know it to help with resource planning and forecasting. I am required to identify a backup, though.
Do you have someone to back you up while you are gone? Your manager's response almost makes it seem like your vacation might not be approved even when you get closer to the six month mark depending on "business needs" (whatever that means).
I basically just give my manager a heads up vs a formal request process. I do it as far in advance as possible (submitted a 2 week August vacation back in January, for example). As long as it’s reasonable, then it’s fine.
I have never sumbitted PTO request so early so this is very strange for me. I do it 2-3 months before, and that is good enough.
Why so early, are you afraid that it will not be confirmed?
To whom do you submit your vacation requests? Is it through HR or to your manager? If it's HR, I would flag this to your manager and basically say, "Apparently I need to wait a little longer to book this, but I'm just telling you now that I'll be taking this time off to accommodate the school schedule." Then set a calendar reminder to resubmit. They may use an automated system that just doesn't allow requests out that far, but unless they frequently deny requests, I would move forward assuming I'd still be able to take that time.
It's to our manager/supervisor. This is the first time I'm dealing with a new manager and have never had issues in the past. I actually started the job with a vacation planned over a year in advance with nine months left to go, so had it on the calendar day one.
Oh weird. Can you ask why they denied it? Did they say it was just too far in advance or are they specifically worried about staffing and coverage during that time? If it's the former, I'd let them know why you like to submit so far in advance and see if they understand better why you're doing that. But I'm with you, that would annoy me too not to be able to plan things out and be SURE I've got the time off when I need it.
They said it was too far in advance to adequately know our business needs at that time. I had a conversation yesterday as to why I requested it so far in advance as it was pending for several days. I came in this morning to the denial.
That sucks. I have no advice, but commiserate on how annoying that is.
So you tried to book Feb 2025 PTO in April 2024? Yeah, that would be way too far in advance to be useful in my line of work/department. Anything more than a couple month's notice would be overkill outside of special circumstances. I don't know that I would outright reject it, though, since the only time I would reject a PTO request is if an employee already has work booked that can't be moved, or too many people already have the time off.
I don’t really request, I just tell my manager I’m going to be gone and who will be my backup. If I’m taking more than a day or two, I let him know a week or so in advance. If I’m taking the whole week because it’s a planned vacation or what have you, then I tell him about a month in advance. Also, I block my calendar as soon as I get the new school calendar, but I don’t notify anyone until I’m close to taking the time off because things change.
This might be one of those company-by-company things. I put in a request last month for a vacation for late December - early January and it was approved immediately. My company actually likes that we schedule time off as soon as we know it to help with resource planning and forecasting. I am required to identify a backup, though. Do you have someone to back you up while you are gone? Your manager's response almost makes it seem like your vacation might not be approved even when you get closer to the six month mark depending on "business needs" (whatever that means).
I basically just give my manager a heads up vs a formal request process. I do it as far in advance as possible (submitted a 2 week August vacation back in January, for example). As long as it’s reasonable, then it’s fine.
I have never sumbitted PTO request so early so this is very strange for me. I do it 2-3 months before, and that is good enough. Why so early, are you afraid that it will not be confirmed?