I'm in a bit of a tricky situation at work. I am the only PA in the company (there are about 300 staff) and I am also the Governance Co-Ordinator which means I have to get all the papers ready for Board meetings and take minutes, etc.
The issue is that I have two Boards to look after who meet 6 weekly and 8 weekly so about 14 meetings a year. When I was interviewed I was told about these and that I would have to work late on the evenings when Board meetings are held which is fair enough and I have no complaints (one of the Directors has made notes and dictated minutes on the odd occasion I have been unable to attend) and I get time off in lieu.
The problem I have is that they have made it clear that I am not allowed to take annual leave on either the date the papers are due to be sent to the Board (which should be the Monday before the Board meeting but quite often ends up on the Tuesday as they miss the deadline) and I can't take the date of the Board Meeting so for every Board meeting I cannot take two weeks holiday. This year this equates to 26 weeks I am unable to take time off. Its also sometimes difficult to take two weeks at a time.
Am I being unreasonable to think that this is an unfair request and it wasn't something highlighted to me at interview?
The reason its started getting on my nerves is now that Benjamin is older we have been thinking about going abroad (managed a week in April and I'm still catching up at work now!) and we are thinking about maybe going to Florida next year but the times when the holidays are cheaper I'm likely to have Board papers due and a Board meeting to attend. I haven't mentioned this to work yet as OH is still fannying about deciding what he wants to do but its really difficult to plan anything like this due to the constraints I have on my time at work (and the fact that we haven't actually planned next year's meetings yet).
It might turn out that they are perfectly reasonable about it as a one off and are happy for me to arrange for someone else to collate the papers but what if they kick up a fuss (had a nasty episode with one of the Directors last year a month after I started telling me that it was one of my key deliverables to ensure the papers are out on time so I couldn't take that week off (after they had already approved it!) and when I explained about how difficult it was for me to get time off and that I needed a full week so that I could take advantage of the half price at nursery his reply was that he didn't have to worry about that with his kids coz his wife didn't work - I was very close to telling him that unfortunately I didn't have a wife at home!!!).
Sorry this is such a long post, I'm basically asking if you think its fair that my company imposes a 26 week ban on annual leave that I can voluntarily take. In addition to this, if you remove the school holidays, Christmas, etc its even less time that's available.
Has anybody got any advice?
Thanks
Ann
xx
