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Short leave, as the name suggests, is the amount of time taken off by the worker or an employee for a brief period of time, often assumed to be less than half a day. It simply corresponds to that which is available to be granted to the worker or staff member in case of responsibility or extreme necessity. Generally, it involves circumstances during which the employee has to leave urgently to go somewhere or extreme necessity.
Short leave is generally paid but also goes unpaid sometimes. It can be used for pre-planned or decided arrangements such as medical appointments or shifting houses. It can only be used for an emergent situation at home or is relative in times of emergencies such as floods or storms. A Short Leave on an urgent basis can either mean coming a few hours late to the office, taking in between a gap of a few hours, or leaving a few hours early.
This leave can be reckoned in days with a maximum of two days every day. These days do not have to be taken as Short Leave on two consecutive days.
The labor laws do not consist of any provision that concerns or defines Short Leave. The occurrence of these Leaves completely depends upon the company policy or the decision of the management. Short Leave application forms are required for all such leaves prior to the leave except for unplanned leave.
There are a variety of reasons for which you can ask for a short leave from your reporting manager. Aside from health emergencies there may be personal work, commitments or emergencies that you have to necessarily attend.
Some of the reasons to request a short leave are:
Personal circumstances for requesting a short leave can include being ill, personal injury or having a child who is injured or sick which might hamper your productivity at work. There is also a risk of contagious disease which might affect others also. So it’s necessary to take proper treatment at a time so that risk can be avoided.
In India many companies allow employees to take a break to attend their religious festivals or events. India is a land of diverse festivals and in an organization employees of vivid religion and culture work. So they can take a short leave to prepare for it at the temple, gurudwara or mosque. You can discuss all this with your reporting manager and make sure to complete all tasks before leaving.
An employee may have a medical appointment for which he takes a short leave. Most employers allow employees a short leave for medical appointments. If an employee has a medical problem which requires frequent doctor visits they can discuss it with the employer in advance. They may be able to rearrange your schedule to allow for a medical checkup.
Many emergencies may occur with an employee for which he has to take a short leave. The emergencies can vary from employee to employee.
For example- Some employees may commute long distances and an unusual rain may result in their inability to go to the office while some employees stay near the company and may easily commute. In these kinds of situations organizations allow employees to work from home that particular day or grant a short leave to get the situation under control.
Unexpected incidents include renovation work of railways, metros or events that could make it difficult for you to attend the office on time. In this situation you can mail or call your reporting manager to explain the situation and request a short leave.
An employee may request this leave to attend some personal events, functions or a child’s school visit. Many employers approve these kinds of requests as long as they are not so frequent. Employees must ensure that leaving the office early will not affect their work responsibilities.
The job of an employee may require them to attend some events, conferences, trade shows or fairs. If an employee needs to attend these events they may ask for a short leave to the employer so that they can attend the events timely. This also benefits the organization as it improves employee’s work productivity which ultimately increases the organization’s productivity.
To request a short leave you should communicate the same with your employer professionally.
Here are a few tips for requesting a short leave professionally.
An employee should communicate with their manager in advance about their short leave. In some organizations an informal talk is sufficient to request a short leave while in some companies employees have to mail the employer in advance about their leave. Employers may ask the employees to complete their work before leaving or allow them to complete the remaining work from home.
Employees need to be professional, polite and courteous while requesting a short leave. Always be truthful and have points to support your reason for easy approval of your short leave request.
Employees don’t need to provide private details to the employer, but they must ensure that they must provide a genuine reason for a short leave request so that their request can be approved easily.
Employees must ensure that they complete all the pending tasks before leaving the organization. They may ask the employer to complete the remaining work from home or ask their colleagues to complete it on their behalf.
Some companies have a policy to submit a formal email to request a short leave. It helps the HR of the organizations to keep a record of every employee. It also serves as a responsibility towards organizations to respect their work culture or ethics.
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