Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Do not sacrifice this time with your mom for a company that will fire you for simply challenging them on the feasibility of pulling together a large scale event on short notice.
They’re idiots - planning this meeting adjacent to a holiday (a time when people already have travel plans), haven’t chosen the city much less the venue, arranged for accommodations, catering, etc. and it’s a mere five weeks away.
I am trying to find a way where I could shorten our time abroad and leave from the work meeting.
It would just be very difficult, plus I honestly did not want to add any more stops to our travel now that my mom is in a wheelchair. It's a good time for us to take a long trip, but not a trip 'broken up' by any additional cities because it makes things logistically way more complicated. Can't recall if I mentioned this already but I've been unable to find respite care so...if I go to work she's going with me. That is a given.
And it's possible we may have to meetup in a city that has a very high likelihood of snow in Nov/Dec.
Wow, your vacation policy sure seems awful. I'd hate to have to depend on the whims of my supervisor regarding taking vacation time. At all the places I've been, I apply for vacation, it either gets approved or not, and if it gets approved that's it. They can't deny your vacation after it's approved. That's why I've always asked and gotten vacation approved first, before making any arrangements.
I guess I've been here so long now that I hadn't thought about the 'process' being off since there is not real 'approval'.
It's basically an acknowledgement which is an implied approval unless or until there is pushback if something comes up. I described a scenario earlier where I got pushback from a previous boss on a scheduled two-week vacation to Europe. The irony of the pushback was that I worked throughout the vacation anyway because we had an important milestone coming up. I work in a place where we're 'always on' anyway...if you're a US employee I'd say. I haven't left my work laptop at home yet in the almost 10 years I've been employed here.
It is difficult for me to imagine the company securing a meeting venue & hotel space for 400 people on such short notice. Typically such meetings are booked at least a year in advance.
Agreed...this will play a big part in determining where in the country we end up going.
It sounds like you've had a challenging year both personally and professionally. Taking a stand when necessary is crucial. Communicate your concerns to your boss and consider your well-being.
I do think my boss understands because I did mention earlier that she has her own personal situation going on that makes this a very tough thing to pull off. At least I know that it seems she did her best to push back on this.
Side note: A similar thing happened last year, and they obliged the request for us to meet the next year (in 2023). They limited attendees to only us 20 something Managers though, 'tacked on' our small meeting to a larger meeting already occurring and allowed the actual spend to happen 1Q2023. So we flew in the middle of winter/snow for that meeting earlier this year. In short, it was nonessential too. We basically just took a bunch of meetings already on the calendar for that month and moved them to be during that week we met in person.
Your lack of awareness of your organizational dynamics is interesting.
From what I gather, your department is overall looked unfavorably upon. You think PTO is a right and doesn’t have to be scheduled and approved in advance. You describe this conference as being desired for awhile with no funds. Obviously it’s end of your have they have some extra money to spend. This is not uncommon.
Read the room, if you enjoy your job in the least, change your plans and make this conference. You work from home exclusively, how often are you really inconvenienced by work?
That is kind of my impression as well.
Here's the way I would feel about it if I reported to the OP. Let's say the OP is a VP, and has several directors and a good amount of first-level managers reporting up to her. All those people are there. It will breed a lot of resentment for the lower level staff to be compelled to be there when the OP isn't there, no matter what the reason is.
Also, with hundreds of other people in attendance around the holidays, it's "not going to be a good time" for a lot of other people there. With that many people, I'm sure other folks have things going on in their own personal lives that make this tough.
Here's the way I would feel about it if I reported to the OP. Let's say the OP is a VP, and has several directors and a good amount of first-level managers reporting up to her. All those people are there. It will breed a lot of resentment for the lower level staff to be compelled to be there when the OP isn't there, no matter what the reason is.
Also, with hundreds of other people in attendance around the holidays, it's "not going to be a good time" for a lot of other people there. With that many people, I'm sure other folks have things going on in their own personal lives that make this tough.
When I spoke with my boss about this she stated that we are not to communicate that this meeting is mandatory, so we are expecting employee attendance to be low.
And I do not disagree with anything you wrote as I have stated that the 'potential resentment' is the exact reason I am trying to decide if I must attend despite everything I would have to forgo.
Side note: I was just forwarded a communication from a leader who is holding a Team meeting early next month that I am just finding out a smaller group of our employees have just been invited to attend in person as well. Interestingly enough the communication that went out announcing the meeting invite coming went something along the lines of:
"Great news everyone; I am reaching out to inform you that I have confirmed with Leadership that each of you have been officially approved to travel in to X city on X dates for a XXX/YYY/ZZZ/etc. Team meeting (barring any personal commitments)! Please see below details and proceed with booking your travel as soon as possible for those who plan to attend; thanks so much in advance.
I wonder if our communication will take the same approach.
When I spoke with my boss about this she stated that we are not to communicate that this meeting is mandatory, so we are expecting employee attendance to be low.
And I do not disagree with anything you wrote as I have stated that the 'potential resentment' is the exact reason I am trying to decide if I must attend despite everything I would have to forgo.
Side note: I was just forwarded a communication from a leader who is holding a Team meeting early next month that I am just finding out a smaller group of our employees have just been invited to attend in person as well. Interestingly enough the communication that went out announcing the meeting invite coming went something along the lines of:
"Great news everyone; I am reaching out to inform you that I have confirmed with Leadership that each of you have been officially approved to travel in to X city on X dates for a XXX/YYY/ZZZ/etc. Team meeting (barring any personal commitments)! Please see below details and proceed with booking your travel as soon as possible for those who plan to attend; thanks so much in advance.
I wonder if our communication will take the same approach.
This is a complete failure on the part of the senior leadership and/or organizers.
If the meeting is mandatory, then everyone whom the senior management wants to be there needs to know it is mandatory. If it is not, then that needs to be communicated clearly as well, as apparently there are plenty of people wondering.
By "not letting people know it is mandatory" feels like a trap. It almost seems like the organizers know who are not likely to be there, and might use that against them in the future.
The logistics of it are stupid too. As everyone else has, organizing hundreds of people on short notice near the holidays for a "mandatory meeting" offsite like this is ludicrous.
This is a complete failure on the part of the senior leadership and/or organizers.
If the meeting is mandatory, then everyone whom the senior management wants to be there needs to know it is mandatory. If it is not, then that needs to be communicated clearly as well, as apparently there are plenty of people wondering.
By "not letting people know it is mandatory" feels like a trap. It almost seems like the organizers know who are not likely to be there, and might use that against them in the future.
The logistics of it are stupid too. As everyone else has, organizing hundreds of people on short notice near the holidays for a "mandatory meeting" offsite like this is ludicrous.
To reiterate, my boss stated the meeting is not mandatory.
Hence the reason she stated they we will not communicate that it is mandatory.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
