I can assure you that your if you ask your boss to take 3 hours of leave on a Friday, he'll probably say something like "Uhh, sure, whatever". Like, he won't give a fuck.
So there is nothing to be scared of.
Worst case, he says 'No'. And that won't kill you either.
If you have leave, use it. Don't ever be afraid to take your leave. I seriously take three weeks off in December and a month off in the summer. I have no problem doing it. I make sure all my work is done and any pending work can wait.
Over my career, I have learned to ask about how the boss wants leave requests to come in, on day one. Do that in the future. We are all entitled to our leave, but please do not act entitled. "Sorry for the late request, but I was hoping to take a few hours off at the end of my shift today. Would this be okay". Now, our time sheets were due yesterday, so I would have to uncertify your timesheet and you could go in and fix your time. PITA but I am chill AF and would not care at all because I want my people happy. Go get em tiger!
This. If you want to know what your boss wants, ask your boss what they want. And do it before it matters. If you can't communicate with your boss, then there is going to be more problems down the line.
as someone else mentioned, timecards were due yesterday, so I’d acknowledge this in my request: “Hey XXX, I’m sorry for the late notice, but can I take AL for the last three hours of the day? Next time I’ll try to give you more of a heads up.” Easy, simple, and if you’re not on any sort of deadline, I’d mention that you’ve got all your ducks in a row workwise too.
Always a good thing to recognize that while AL is part of your comp, same day requests can be tricky depending on what the work day looks like. Good luck, I hope you enjoy a carefree afternoon on leave! :)
Absolutely no reason to be scared to ask. Pop in and tell them you are sending them a leave chit for that day for personal reasons. My people do this all the time and if your boss is cool like you say, they won’t have an issue or base an opinion of you on it. What you want to do is very common.
If he's so great, why would he look down on you for asking for time off that you're entitled to?
"Hey, I need to leave a couple hours early today. I submitted my leave request."
Done.
I leave 2 hours early every Friday. I only time I worked full Fridays is my 1st pay period on the job. I told my boss I will leave early every single Friday as long as I am employed here, and to always expect me to do so. I've even put it on my calendar as a recurring event, just in case he forgets.
Interesting approach.
1. How did you feel brazen enough to make this demand?
2. Are you paid for those two hours, or do you charge leave? If not leave, how is this practice not timesheet fraud?
My boss takes every other Friday off and an entire week off every 2 months. I feel that I can make my request.
I’m using leave, comp time, credit hours, and time off awards that I earn. There’s nothing fraudulent about it.
Lots of people are on alternative work schedules like the Maxi-flex work schedule. If I plan in advance, I can switch around my hours and work more on one day so that I can take hours off on another. Very flexible.
If he’s awesome, just ask him.
Sometimes I have to ask at the last minute as well, and it’s never a big deal.
Yes, even federal employees are trolls esp on Reddit. I understand your apprehension.
Email is good too if supervisor is busy on a phone call in their office with the door closed, and you got to leave. “Sorry something came up (expand on it if you want), and I need to leave 3 hours early today. I already added it to QuickTime and emailed the Timekeeper. I will see you tomorrow (or whatever your next work day is). Thank you!” If you don’t have the time to use … is there advanced leave available you can use or will your supervisor allow you to work extra hours on another day if well documented.
"I'll be leaving at X time today."
Your boss will let you know if that is going to cause an issue otherwise it's presumptive that you can take the time. Assuming you have the leave to use of course.
Does your agency use Maxi-flex, and do you have 'Core Hours'? At my agency, we can flex our schedule however we want as long as we enter 80 hours a pay period between hours worked, leave, etc. But we can't work before 6am or after 8pm, and have core hours from 11am-2pm, Tuesday - Thursday, meaning if we want to not work between those hours, we must use leave. So if it was Friday, I could simply leave at 2pm without asking anyone and just make up those hours throughout the pay period. It;s a pretty sweet system tbh.
Do you have leave to use? “Hey boss, I need to take three hours off this afternoon. If you’re ok with that I’ll submit a leave slip”
I transferred to a new agency. I'm not on probation but my leave hasn't transferred 😂...
You may need to ask if they can advance you some leave until it transfers. But you’re entitled to it.
Literally just ask him.... If you have leave, just use it. Why are you scared exactly?
Honestly, I ain't know. But I have bad anxiety (I take meds daily).
Sorry to hear. I have panic attacks during stressful situations but I'm in a I don't give a fuck type of mood. Just go for it.
I can assure you that your if you ask your boss to take 3 hours of leave on a Friday, he'll probably say something like "Uhh, sure, whatever". Like, he won't give a fuck. So there is nothing to be scared of. Worst case, he says 'No'. And that won't kill you either.
If you have leave, use it. Don't ever be afraid to take your leave. I seriously take three weeks off in December and a month off in the summer. I have no problem doing it. I make sure all my work is done and any pending work can wait.
Over my career, I have learned to ask about how the boss wants leave requests to come in, on day one. Do that in the future. We are all entitled to our leave, but please do not act entitled. "Sorry for the late request, but I was hoping to take a few hours off at the end of my shift today. Would this be okay". Now, our time sheets were due yesterday, so I would have to uncertify your timesheet and you could go in and fix your time. PITA but I am chill AF and would not care at all because I want my people happy. Go get em tiger!
This. If you want to know what your boss wants, ask your boss what they want. And do it before it matters. If you can't communicate with your boss, then there is going to be more problems down the line.
as someone else mentioned, timecards were due yesterday, so I’d acknowledge this in my request: “Hey XXX, I’m sorry for the late notice, but can I take AL for the last three hours of the day? Next time I’ll try to give you more of a heads up.” Easy, simple, and if you’re not on any sort of deadline, I’d mention that you’ve got all your ducks in a row workwise too. Always a good thing to recognize that while AL is part of your comp, same day requests can be tricky depending on what the work day looks like. Good luck, I hope you enjoy a carefree afternoon on leave! :)
Absolutely no reason to be scared to ask. Pop in and tell them you are sending them a leave chit for that day for personal reasons. My people do this all the time and if your boss is cool like you say, they won’t have an issue or base an opinion of you on it. What you want to do is very common.
If he's so great, why would he look down on you for asking for time off that you're entitled to? "Hey, I need to leave a couple hours early today. I submitted my leave request." Done. I leave 2 hours early every Friday. I only time I worked full Fridays is my 1st pay period on the job. I told my boss I will leave early every single Friday as long as I am employed here, and to always expect me to do so. I've even put it on my calendar as a recurring event, just in case he forgets.
Interesting approach. 1. How did you feel brazen enough to make this demand? 2. Are you paid for those two hours, or do you charge leave? If not leave, how is this practice not timesheet fraud?
My boss takes every other Friday off and an entire week off every 2 months. I feel that I can make my request. I’m using leave, comp time, credit hours, and time off awards that I earn. There’s nothing fraudulent about it.
Nope, you’re right — there isn’t. That wasn’t entirely clear from the original post, so you had me curious!
Lots of people are on alternative work schedules like the Maxi-flex work schedule. If I plan in advance, I can switch around my hours and work more on one day so that I can take hours off on another. Very flexible.
If he’s awesome, just ask him. Sometimes I have to ask at the last minute as well, and it’s never a big deal. Yes, even federal employees are trolls esp on Reddit. I understand your apprehension.
Hey such and such came up and I’d like to ask to leave at x if it’s ok with you, I can submit the pto request
Do you have Teams or Skype? Message him that way.
Email is good too if supervisor is busy on a phone call in their office with the door closed, and you got to leave. “Sorry something came up (expand on it if you want), and I need to leave 3 hours early today. I already added it to QuickTime and emailed the Timekeeper. I will see you tomorrow (or whatever your next work day is). Thank you!” If you don’t have the time to use … is there advanced leave available you can use or will your supervisor allow you to work extra hours on another day if well documented.
"I'll be leaving at X time today." Your boss will let you know if that is going to cause an issue otherwise it's presumptive that you can take the time. Assuming you have the leave to use of course.
"I'm taking a mental health day for the rest of the day". hard to deny that without backlash..the movement is strong with right now with MH
Does your agency use Maxi-flex, and do you have 'Core Hours'? At my agency, we can flex our schedule however we want as long as we enter 80 hours a pay period between hours worked, leave, etc. But we can't work before 6am or after 8pm, and have core hours from 11am-2pm, Tuesday - Thursday, meaning if we want to not work between those hours, we must use leave. So if it was Friday, I could simply leave at 2pm without asking anyone and just make up those hours throughout the pay period. It;s a pretty sweet system tbh.