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I work in a call centre. Never one to make a fuss or take any time off, recent events have pushed me to boiling point. Even the current situation i find myself in is something that I previously may have usually allowed to run me over. But the ill health of my partner this year and the unbelievable determination she has shown has inspired me to not just let myself be walked all over in the face of a blatant injustice which I would like to outline in this post. I am new to the forum and this is going to be quite a lengthy first post but I don't know where else to turn to for help and I can't begin to say how thankful I would be if anybody has the time to read and comment on my situation please.
All teams in our department work a 10 week rota. We have a computer system that shows all our shifts and holidays for each individual up to 30 days in advance. Holidays over Christmas are limited so in November everybody submits their requests for what days they would like off. Individual teams then decide between themselves if on any given day there are more of us who want a certain day off than the holiday allocation allows. This involves either amicable agreement or drawing from a hat.
At the start of December we had a team meeting as the Xmas holiday allocations had been released and we needed to decide what to do on the days which were over allocated. I had requested Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th off. The allocation for the 23rd was 2 people and I was fortunate only 1 other team mate also wanted that day.
The 24th had an allocation of 2 people but 4 of us requested it. On our computer system, our whole team was scheduled to work 8:00 till 16:30 on Xmas eve.
At this point, a lady on the team agrees to give up her holiday request and work Xmas eve as eventhough she has children, finishing at 4:30 will be ok which she announces to us all. My manager thanks her and gratefully makes note. I then follow suit, offering to work Xmas eve as the 4:30 finish will still allow me to visit church with my partner and her family. Again, my manager thanks me and takes note. It is important to add that at no point was there any hint of a suggestion that the 4:30 finishing time may be changed by my manager.
1 week later we receive an email from our manager that reads as follows "Just a reminder that for those of you working on Xmas eve, as it is the turn of our site to work until close at 8pm this year, your shifts will all be changing from 8:00 till 16:30 to 11:30 till 20:00."
I work for a major mobile phone network and we are just 1 department within that company. Half of our department is based at another location in a different part of the country.
I questioned my manager about this immediately to which I was advised that each site takes turns every year to work until the 20:00 close on Xmas eve so the other site can all finish early.
This was not something I have ever been aware of and certainly something that we should have been advised of at the time of making our decisions on which holidays to sacrifice for our team mates. However we were not.
Now the reason I needed to finish early is due to last year my partner who is 25 was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour on her inner thigh the size of half a football. She started treatment in December 2012 and right on cue, her hair fell out on Christmas day morning just after opening our presents. Needless to say she was inconsolable and that is a Christmas I would rather forget and quickly replace with fonder memories.
After the year of uncertainty we have had, it is safe to say that the small things mean a lot more to us. One of these is beginning Christmas by going to church with her and her family on Christmas Eve. My partner and I were obviously very pleased when I told her that although I was working until 4:30 on Christmas Eve, I would be finished in time for us to go to Church.
But now suddenly my manager turns around and tells us that we will be working until 20:00 without any consultation or prior warning. Needless to say my partner was close to tears at the news and the response of my manager was basically "tough, you're working until 20:00".
Now surely we should not have been asked to give up our holiday without first being advised the shift may be subject to change. Our manager and/or senior manager would have known this to be the case before we decided upon who should have their holiday on Christmas eve and yet we were not advised until after we had already offered to sacrifice our holidays and with no consultation whatsoever.
Our contract states that we should be given 30 days notice if our scheduled shift is to change however it is not required. Yet if it is not possible to give 30 days notice, a consultation between manager and employee is to be expected. Clearly this did not happen. Now our managers are refusing to budge on our Christmas eve holiday. This leaves us feeling as if we were tricked into sacrificing our Holiday and an overwhelming sense of injustice. Do you believe I am within my right to decline to work the amended shift on the basis that I was not consulted first and sacrificed my holiday in good faith that I would finish at 16:30?
My manager and my senior manger are both new and it is the first time either of them have held such positions. I feel that at least one of them has been negligent, possibly deliberately. So far they have stuck up for each other and I fear going higher than my senior manager for risk of being embarrassed and putting my employment in jeopardy.
I apologise this is so long but thank you very much if you have gotten this far and I would be eternally grateful if you have the time to share your opinion on the situation.
All teams in our department work a 10 week rota. We have a computer system that shows all our shifts and holidays for each individual up to 30 days in advance. Holidays over Christmas are limited so in November everybody submits their requests for what days they would like off. Individual teams then decide between themselves if on any given day there are more of us who want a certain day off than the holiday allocation allows. This involves either amicable agreement or drawing from a hat.
At the start of December we had a team meeting as the Xmas holiday allocations had been released and we needed to decide what to do on the days which were over allocated. I had requested Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th off. The allocation for the 23rd was 2 people and I was fortunate only 1 other team mate also wanted that day.
The 24th had an allocation of 2 people but 4 of us requested it. On our computer system, our whole team was scheduled to work 8:00 till 16:30 on Xmas eve.
At this point, a lady on the team agrees to give up her holiday request and work Xmas eve as eventhough she has children, finishing at 4:30 will be ok which she announces to us all. My manager thanks her and gratefully makes note. I then follow suit, offering to work Xmas eve as the 4:30 finish will still allow me to visit church with my partner and her family. Again, my manager thanks me and takes note. It is important to add that at no point was there any hint of a suggestion that the 4:30 finishing time may be changed by my manager.
1 week later we receive an email from our manager that reads as follows "Just a reminder that for those of you working on Xmas eve, as it is the turn of our site to work until close at 8pm this year, your shifts will all be changing from 8:00 till 16:30 to 11:30 till 20:00."
I work for a major mobile phone network and we are just 1 department within that company. Half of our department is based at another location in a different part of the country.
I questioned my manager about this immediately to which I was advised that each site takes turns every year to work until the 20:00 close on Xmas eve so the other site can all finish early.
This was not something I have ever been aware of and certainly something that we should have been advised of at the time of making our decisions on which holidays to sacrifice for our team mates. However we were not.
Now the reason I needed to finish early is due to last year my partner who is 25 was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour on her inner thigh the size of half a football. She started treatment in December 2012 and right on cue, her hair fell out on Christmas day morning just after opening our presents. Needless to say she was inconsolable and that is a Christmas I would rather forget and quickly replace with fonder memories.
After the year of uncertainty we have had, it is safe to say that the small things mean a lot more to us. One of these is beginning Christmas by going to church with her and her family on Christmas Eve. My partner and I were obviously very pleased when I told her that although I was working until 4:30 on Christmas Eve, I would be finished in time for us to go to Church.
But now suddenly my manager turns around and tells us that we will be working until 20:00 without any consultation or prior warning. Needless to say my partner was close to tears at the news and the response of my manager was basically "tough, you're working until 20:00".
Now surely we should not have been asked to give up our holiday without first being advised the shift may be subject to change. Our manager and/or senior manager would have known this to be the case before we decided upon who should have their holiday on Christmas eve and yet we were not advised until after we had already offered to sacrifice our holidays and with no consultation whatsoever.
Our contract states that we should be given 30 days notice if our scheduled shift is to change however it is not required. Yet if it is not possible to give 30 days notice, a consultation between manager and employee is to be expected. Clearly this did not happen. Now our managers are refusing to budge on our Christmas eve holiday. This leaves us feeling as if we were tricked into sacrificing our Holiday and an overwhelming sense of injustice. Do you believe I am within my right to decline to work the amended shift on the basis that I was not consulted first and sacrificed my holiday in good faith that I would finish at 16:30?
My manager and my senior manger are both new and it is the first time either of them have held such positions. I feel that at least one of them has been negligent, possibly deliberately. So far they have stuck up for each other and I fear going higher than my senior manager for risk of being embarrassed and putting my employment in jeopardy.
I apologise this is so long but thank you very much if you have gotten this far and I would be eternally grateful if you have the time to share your opinion on the situation.
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