Managing Employee

Hi,
I am the HR of a company. One of my employee want to take leave on every Saturday [Our office remains open on Saturdays] to pursue his MCA course. Should i allow it? Will it affect the other employees? How shall i justify it to other employees in case they ask or even do not ask?

Dear ,
That type of situation depends on your company policy.
or
His/her links with his/her seniors
But its not possible according to your self power.
Satish
Sr.HR Executive
Surya Group

Sir,
Actually i am new with this company and there was no HR department previouslu. Even the concerned H.O.D s don't have the idea like what to do. They differentiate it man to man basis. But i just thought to streamline it. Can you please help?
Thanks,
Praheli

Hi Praheli,

We all have two options – either to learn by making mistakes or learn from others mistakes. The situation you narrated is something that many of us have faced in the past.

If you want to learn by making mistakes you will do the following:

(a) At present on a case to case basis give such permission to your employees

(b) At one stage you will find that one person has misused this leniency

(c) The company will immediately react and say scrap the rule and no exemption for any one

(d) Employees will complain as the company is growing big, it is losing its old people touch

(e) As an “HR with a conscience” you will carry all these burden on your shoulders

By learning from others experience you will do the following:

(a) Communicate the reason why you are working even on a Saturday, in the first instance

(b) Suggest your management not to take any lenient view on a case to case basis – at this stage – it generally leads to more problems than resolving the few ones you have in hand

(c) Create a simple set of guidelines based on which such scenarios will be handled

(d) Of course, give due weightage to exception cases

(e) This way people will perceive HR / Management as transparent and empathetic at the same time

In my view – the reason of higher studies does not fall under exception cases. There is a possibility you will be flooded with requests of multitude nature – you will never be able to distinguish genuine and not so genuine requests.

Sir
Since its a genuine reason, you can permit the employee...you can even ask him work extra hours to compensate saturday's leave...other employees might ask seeing him, but its upto you to decide the gen-unity of the employees.
Regards
Rajeshwari
HR Executive

Hi There,
If he signed a contract saying that he would work Saturdays, then he has to work Saturdays and its at your discretion to allow him not to.
Depending on your staffing levels, if you will be left understaffed say no, and if there's a likely hood that other staff members will ask the same thing, definitely say no, as this could set a precedent that would make saying no to other staff hard.
Tope

strictly you can say it is not possible for the company to allow. This would be better to the organization in making a culture and climate.

Generally, we must not allow any employee to take leave with whatever reason they present bcz Employer has no concern Employee’s personal need or requirements and Employee has to think about how he/she can manage this i.e. study or other personal work. Bcz he already knows the rule, culture and atmosphere of company and while joining the Organization, he has agreed on the terms of Employment, so have to follow the same. Every single employee in Organization has to follow the rules/policy laid down and have to maintain in every condition. It is also the HR & Admin people’s duty to take care of atmosphere of Company/Organization and not allowing anyone to disobey the rules. And if one employee will allow to take leave for his/her personal work (Leave for Study also comes under Personal Work), then other will certainly ask the Employer to grant them leave for their work and more, and Employer can’t bear this at any cost.

Also these days every second/third employee is studying and needs time for it but it doesn’t mean employee can disobey the rule of employment or can ask/request for leave in this regard bcz it is a person problem and Employer have no concern with it.

I agree with Rajeshwari. He can work extra hours to compensate Saturday’s leave but with prior consent of your and his supervisor/ Boss. Henceforth, It is completely depends on you and on your Boss’s and on your company policy whether you allow him or not.

You said you are new and there is no proper HR setup in your Organization, in that case you need to discuss with your and his department supervisor and Boss on this. If the Boss’s are ready, you can ask the Employee to take half day leave but only when it is required most. But without taking proper consent of HOD’s, do not take any decision.

With closing of this response I would say NO, you should not allow him for this.

• Well said Mr. Chandru.
• Few points from my side:
• Approving or not approving leave is not HR's job. Hr's job is to make policy, rule and process framework. Sanctioning or Not Sanctioning Leave is responsibility of concerned supervisor or manager. In case he needs any clarification or guidance on policy/rule he will approach HR for that.
• Leave on every Saturday and for how long ? This call has to be taken by concerned manager. Simply tell the manager to follow the rule / policy.
• To take the decision ask concerned manager to ask few questions to himself and his answers to those questions will help him to decide either way.: How Saturdays' work assigned to that employee will be managed ? What will you do in case other employees also ask leave of similar nature ? How will you ensure that such leaves are not misused ? can you postpone Saturday's work continuously ?
• Do not take decisions for others. Help others to take their decisions.

I think one needs to make a distinction between such a need of a person and potential benefit to the organization. If one needs leave every Saturday for travelling to his home (visiting parents/family) then it could be a no no situation.

If he wants the leave for higher learning and if that learning is likely to help the organization then it is going to be a win-win situation.

It would be cunning to ask for a bond but the bonding to the individual may keep him/her attached to the company for long.

Denying learning opportunity to an ambitious person means he would look for job elsewhere. If his manager can handle the absence by sharing work among colleagues, where is the harm?

It indeed is the supervisor / manager who has to take a call on relieving him every Saturday. Such things can be done on a case to case basis.

Growth is possible through learning at good institutions and not through making mistakes.

Let him learn and utilise the knowledge to train a few colleagues. That way organization can gain a lot.

For avoiding misuse, one can ask him to get a letter from the Principal of the Institute about requirement of attending lectures etc. every Saturday.