To take your first week as holiday

[JTBB33]

to accept a job offer and then have a holiday in your first week. It was an internal job offer with a significant pay rise. I’ve made lots of plans for their first week, only to just be told their current manager has approved that first week off?
now I have to rearrange all the meetings and plans.
am I being unreasonable to be miffed about this?

Its the fault of their current manager surely? They should have told you about the actual start date. I'm assuming there is a good reason for the holiday being then - maybe it was booked before they got the job?

Yes YABU, it's better they are off in between roles surely, they get a break then a fresh start. Does it matter if they take a week now or next month?

If it’s internal then their holiday plans will just continue, why wouldn’t they? I can get why you are a bit ‘miffed’ but maybe you should have had a chat with them before making all those plans on their behalf..

Surely their current manager can't approve time off for that week given they will no longer be their manager and it needs to be you.

Id weigh up how much it will inconvenience you to rearrange versus the impact on your working relationship.

When is this happening, how was it communicated?

I'd be miffed yes.

YABU they obviously had something already planned for that week. Get over it

Everyone know pre-booked holidaynis honoured and that you agree a start date.

Why didn't you didn't ask them about that before setting up what you assumed would be their first week?

Surely you asked if they had any annual leave booked in already?
I’ve always been asked this at interview whether the job was internal or not

YABU to be annoyed as people can take holiday.

YANBU to think they should have informed you before you went ahead and arranged meetings and, presumably, were put onto your payroll. Might be an internal move, but often the payroll thing can be an absolute killer - it is for my dept. It's pretty logical to assume, in a new role, that a lot of effort will be made in your first week to get you up to speed quickly and that requires planning etc - quite poor not to have considered you/others and to have therefore let you know early.

Onus is on them to tell you about their leave early, not at the last minute. It's just good employment manners.

This is my thinking and no. I offered a start date. It was agreed by them and their line manager. Only to find out their current line manager has approved this holiday? 2 weeks before they transition over?

Pre booked holiday are honoured surely and not an issue. Either you should have asked the person if they had anything prebooked or their manager should have told you when you confirmed the start date.

100%

@JTBB33 Was the holiday request made and approved before or after you had agreed the start date?

Why would you have planned the induction week with meetings etc until having the start date confirmed with prior manager and employee? This is something that happens a lot in the civil service due to internal transfers, the gap between posts is a good opportunity for leave. It really isn’t much effort to shift the induction week, and treat this as a lesson learned for yourself to double check the start date.

It would have been polite for them to check with you too, but it's right that their current manager approved it.

I expect the employee thought that a holiday between the jobs is more convenient, better than doing a week and then taking a week off. Plus, they will want to start their new salary sooner, which is understandable too!

Rearranging meetings is a bit of a pain, not the end of the world! Don't start your new relationship on the wrong foot, be gracious.

It was discussed at length! The holiday has been approved post the agreement

(although I agree with the point that you are the one that approves with leave this side of the transfer).

Oh thats not on!

I am moving roles internally and my holiday was already agreed. I go on leave for 3.5 weeks, 4 weeks after I start 🫣 but I absolutely declared it at interview and on accepting the job and would not dream of asking my current manager to approve holiday for after I start with my new team.

The current manager should not have approved it at least without speaking with new manager.

I would let the new hire know that they have inconvenienced you. And they have therefore started off on the wrong foot.
And I would tell HR all about it and demand that the holiday is paid at the old rate of pay. They don't get the "significant pay rise" until they actually start work in your department.

It's perfectly reasonable to take a week off between leaving one role and starting a new one and it's perfectly reasonable to expect a smooth system for approving this when someone is being promoted within an organisation but the previous manager ought to have contacted you for approval when they received the request for Leave. Save your annoyance for that former manager rather than resenting your new team member who probably doesn't realise she did anything inconvenient, but making a thing of it and starting her on the wrong foot is a bad idea. Keep positive. But insist that her holiday pay for that week comes out of her old department's staff budget at her old rate of pay and her new role start date is when she actually starts.

Have you checked about their plans for leave for the rest of the year btw?

It's a shame this wasn't mentioned in your first post, as it definitely changes things. A lot of posters are going to assume the leave was already agreed before the change in jobs.

YANBU to be annoyed.

Let me get this right, in chronological order:

Candidate was offered the job and accepted.

Candidate, you and her current manager agreed a start date.

Candidate then requested holiday for the week of the start date, which is two weeks from now.

Current manger approved it.

Is that right?

Yes, that's really poor. Both from the new employee and their manager, who should both have realised that it needed to be run past you first.

Have you raised it with them? It would be interesting for you to see if the new employee is apologetic and maybe has some justification for needing the last minute holiday, or whether they don't care.

Defintely should have checked annual leave with applicant. Standard practise in an interview. It's your oversight. Unless I have read this incorrectly, YABU.

The is a skill in managing people, and a skill in being managed. Neither they nor their current manager have it.