Ask HR: Why should someone else decide when I should go on leave?
A frustrated middle-aged man airing his views.
What you need to know:
- By asking staff to take leave, organisations avoid accruing unnecessary leave liability or confronting health and productivity concerns.
- In some cases, organisations have found that some staff who do not take leave or relinquish their roles temporarily to others do so with ulterior motives that could pose threat to the wellbeing of an organisation.
Our organisation has a habit of forcing people to go on leave even when they do not desire it. Why should someone else decide when I should and shouldn’t rest? What if I do not wish to stay away from the office because I don’t have anything to do besides work? Is this not infringing on my freedom? Does this happen in other work places? Please help.
Some people consider leave a welcome escape from the daily grind of work while others see working without leave as a symbol of diligence. Nevertheless, no machinery or being moves without the need for rest. If rest is not taken, its need could assert itself in grotesque forms, including nervous breakdown.
By asking staff to take leave, organisations avoid accruing unnecessary leave liability or confronting health and productivity concerns. In some cases, organisations have found that some staff who do not take leave or relinquish their roles temporarily to others do so with ulterior motives that could pose threat to the wellbeing of an organisation.
Taking leave is therefore not merely a matter of legal provisions or organisational policy but more about wellbeing and optimal productivity. If you desire unfettered personal freedom to take or not to take leave, consider working for an organisation in which you either have all or significant stakes.
Organisations that glorify staff who work without taking leave hang not medals but nooses around their necks. Demonstration of performance prowess should benefit both the employer and the employee.
A break from routine can precipitate a fresh perspective to work and life. Why do you not want to take leave? Don’t you ever get tired? None of us, not even those who thoroughly enjoy their work, have a perpetual system or interminable energy that would not benefit from a regenerative pause.
Do you not have personal endeavours that could consume your leave entitlement? Do you have family and friends with whom you could build better acquaintance during your leave? Where will you go when your time at work is up? Start thinking about it. You are not indispensable. The earth will continue rotating on its axis long after you have left your employer.
HR Practitioner
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