47
Denying a Direct Report's Vacation Request

STRATEGY

While many companies have policies about vacation approval it's often in a manager's and the company's best interest to remain flexible. After all, if you know there's not much to get done this Friday letting a direct report take the day off makes sense. It's more effective to base vacation approval on one simple question: Will providing the time off potentially hurt the business? If it could, the request has to be denied. That said, offer compromise solutions if possible.

TACTICS

  • Attitude: There's no need to be apologetic. The interest of the business comes first. Be firm and direct, yet sympathetic.
  • Preparation: If you have advance warning of the time off request research the project due dates and work load of the requester and their coworkers.
  • Timing: Don't put off denying a request. Delay makes the denial more difficult for the direct report to deal with. Give them as much time to make changes to their plans as you can. However, if you need time to review due dates and workloads, postpone decisions until you have all the information you need.
  • Behavior: A face‐to‐face denial may be more uncomfortable for you but it's the right approach if possible. If the request is made via email respond with a face‐to‐face meeting or a telephone call.
Flow diagram depicting a course of action for 47. Denying a Direct Report's Vacation Request with an opening statement, situations, and responses.

ADAPTATIONS

This script can be modified to:

  • Turn down requests to hire direct reports' family members.

KEY POINTS

  • Don't apologize. The interest of the business comes first.
  • Offer a compromise on timing if it makes sense.
  • As much as you, or they, might like to, don't agree to anything that could overload other direct reports.
  • Make sure you've provided the company with time to deal with last minute changes.