Are companies allowed to forfeit your unused leave?

0:00Hey, welcome back to our Ask Work It segment of the podcast. If you have a question that you're struggling with in the workplace and you have no one to turn to to help you with your problems, why not turn to us, you can write in or you can comment wherever you're listening from. Today Gerald, we have a question sent in by a listener by the name of Jasmine. Jasmine says that she works in an MNC and recently realized that her company has a use it or lose it policy with its leave. So she didn't manage to clear all of her leave because of workload and her remaining days were forfeited at the end of the year. What confuses her is that her overseas colleagues in the same organisation seem to be able to carry forward their leave for many years without losing it. So she's wondering and she's asking why is her local employer allowed to forfeit leave that she didn't even have the time to take and is this fair.

1:01Have you seen this happen a lot, Gerald? Maybe not so much because most of the companies they have equal at the same HR policy across maybe even different markets. Most of the time. But there are some situations where some companies in other markets they may have different policies. Some might allow you to keep accumulate your leave, some want you to clear faster, cannot take beyond one year. So I think sometimes you really have to check your handbook and no point to check other people's handbook. Is it normal for someone in one country to have a different leave policy to someone in another country in the same company? It happens. Yes. It happens. So in some countries they have different label laws, they may have the company themselves in another part of the world may want to promote certain type of culture. For example, there are places where their lot employs to take sabbaticals. So they can accumulate their leave for that. For that reason, maybe after they work two years, you can go on, I don't know, like a six months leave.

2:02So you can crop up your leave for that, but I think in Singapore, most of the time I see the companies will want you to take a regular leave and not accumulate too long. I have had instances where I'm coming up to the last week of the financial year or the calendar year, and I still haven't taken a few leaf dates yet. How come you don't take regularly? This is a question for a different net. But what my manager or sometimes, you know, HR would tell me to do is, hey, how about we take it as you've taken the leaf, you know, just for our system. And in the new FY, we give you more time to take paper leaf. So you can just take it as off in lieu. It's like a truss basis. It's on a truss basis a little bit, like you don't have to apply in the system because it's already taken. And your manager is the one who tracks, like, okay, you have a news five. So you've got five more to use, try use within this month, see your workload, whether you're able to take some time off. But I'm a big believer of taking regular leave.

3:03When I was working much earlier, I used to take regular leave like once a week. So I would have like a four day work week. Oh, wow. Yeah. Wait, could you do that? Does 52 weeks in a year? Yeah. So I drive 52 days. So I'd like maybe one month. I take two days off. And I'll pick my favorite days. But if I don't feel like working on a Monday, then I would not come in on Monday, right? If I want to have like a little shorter week Friday, you know, it makes me at least feel like I'm taking care of myself. And in the long run, it makes me also make sure that I'm more productive in the time that I'm in a work. Right. So I'm a big believer of like using your leave intermittently. And of course, you want to accumulate some of them safe for the seven days or 14 days, you know, to go overseas and find you have to do that. But with the leftover days, all of the new days, above daily, for whatever leave you have, right? I think you try not to keep it. Yeah. I understand for some people though, who like to stock up on leaves and they don't want to use leaves on days where they're just going to be at home. They want to use leaves for when they're going on holiday, you know, going overseas.

4:07Maybe they are friends getting married in a different time zone and they want to fly over for a week or something. But for the days that they are kind of just taking time off from work, they feel very hesitant to use their leaves. I belong to the group that if I take leave to go overseas, I need a leave from that leaf. Because I'll come back. I'm tired. So for me, like having that little bit of space and even just chilling in Singapore, right? Like going for a staycation or just spend a day out doing something fun. I find that that's quite refreshing actually. What you mentioned is a valid point there. There are a lot of us. We cannot switch off work when we are in Singapore. I think that's a big problem. And hopefully we get to overcome that sooner. So going back to Jasmine, her question is this fair. Yeah. Well, it's not your employee handbook, right? Yeah. You don't work in that market. So. And if there's something that she can do, though, or is it because she already cannot take those leaves that she has forwarded. Maybe Jasmine would need to talk to her HR person and to see what can be worked out.

5:12Normally, HR people that are really afraid of setting precedents, right? So especially when something, if it's within the company, I think you can still say, I mean, we didn't company in Singapore. I think you can still find a friend and find a friend and we go room around. But if it's overseas market, I think it's easier for them to just say they apply there. It doesn't apply here. Right. And it's always been like that. So it depends where the boss's boss is based. Like is this a Singapore company with international presence or a foreign company with a Singapore presence? Yes. Yes. That said, of course, we don't know whether the other foreign market, the other foreign office, whether they actually have the same policies as they implemented differently. It might be like a not written pen on paper, kind of policy, where the manager is just a little bit more lenient with their workers. Yes. I think if I'm working in the shoes, I think go to talk to HR manager a little bit and see where can you have some wiggle room. Sometimes, you know, you can get, if that's a valid reason, like you really, really cannot take the leave even you wanted to. No, it wasn't like you were, you forgot, you know, or you're trying to encourage your

6:13leave. So I think that maybe they can find some work around for you. Okay. So for those people who might be in just-min situation or potentially reaching just-min situation because we are coming up to what is regularly the end of the FY, how could they confront their manager, their HR person or their boss to ask for leniency or to ask to be able to carry forward the several days of leave that they didn't take? The reason behind why you would, one, you need to have this extension to bring forward your leave. I think you need to have a very clear reason why it is so. And of course, you know, don't let it drag for another year beyond that. You know, make sure that you consume all the leave as best as you can. Make sure that you just start the conversation earlier. But also, no managers will reach out to you, say, guys, you gotta clear your leave. Just remember, because some of these things get flagged out, you know, so then it doesn't look good for the department as well. So start the conversation early and make sure that you have a plan.

7:18You have a plan to clear it soon. Right. Okay, well, Jasmine, it looks like you're in a tough situation. We hope that you're able to work this out with your manager, with your boss. Maybe don't compare so much with people in other markets, but try to get the best deal you can for yourself within your own situation. For the rest of you guys listening or watching, if like Jasmine, you have a work related dilemma. Why not write to us? We are at cnapodcastatmedicorp.com.sg. I'm Gerald. And I'm net, plan your leave, like your bosses, plan your deadlines.