How to Remind Your Boss About Your Vacation Without Annoying Them
Workplace advice from Wired recommends announcing paid time off in stages and across several channels. Repeating the message helps prevent a manager from forgetting an approved vacation.
Technology magazine Wired has published guidance for employees on making sure managers and colleagues do not forget planned paid time off (PTO). The core idea is that repeating a message two or three times works well at work, because something important to you may not matter as much to the person receiving it. What counts is the timing and the channel of each reminder.
Requesting and verbal reminders
Employees who like to plan ahead can request leave four to six months out, though not every manager welcomes that much notice, since they may not know the future workload. If there is no clear guidance, roughly four to six weeks ahead is a reasonable starting point. When an event cannot be moved and cancelling would be costly, such as a wedding or a nonrefundable trip, six months or more is acceptable, with occasional reminders. The request should be recorded in an HR system, a shared calendar or an email with a clear subject line, and the boss should confirm approval.
About two weeks before leaving, the employee can remind the manager and colleagues verbally, in a weekly one-on-one meeting and a team meeting, raising the topic at the end. Questions about covering responsibilities are better discussed privately with the manager.
Written reminders and status
A week before departure, clients or other departments should be told in writing by email, Slack or Microsoft Teams. Two business days before, a short message should open with the dates the person will be out and the date they return, which is the day they are available again, not their last day of leave. Extra details such as who is covering go in a separate paragraph, and lengthy instructions belong in a shared document with a link.
On the first day off, the employee can set a status in the team messaging platform with an emoji and the return date. For especially forgetful colleagues, an automated message can be scheduled for 8:30 a.m. that day, kept concise, kind and humorous.
