Putting in a Request for a Day Off Work

Using Influence

Request

I will be requesting a day off during my organization’s seasonal fund drive, which occurs every quarter and is mandatory for employees to work. I would like one day off during the fund drive week so that I can spend time with visiting family. This request requires influence because our managers normally do not permit anyone to take a day off during our all-important fund drives. Others have asked if they could miss a day during the fund drive and have been rebuffed. Management is always hammering on the importance of being committed to the fund drives, so it is definitely something that is going to require some influence on my part. The request is not totally unrealistic, however, because our managers are fair overall and they like to promote family values. I think that if I use influence appropriately, I may have my request granted.

Audience Analysis

My audience is going to be my manager Ken. Ken is my immediate superior, and he reports to our CEO Mike. The two are friends are share a long history together, so it is not as though if Ken says no I can go to Mike, and I cannot go straight to Mike because he will insist I ask Ken. Ken is highly involved in our department, and is a very by-the-books type of manager. He treats everyone fairly but also emphasizes that everyone do his duty in the department. At the same time, Ken is a very pro-family leader and frequently takes time off himself to do things with his family. I believe that if I tailor my message in a way that I emphasize the important family-aspect of my request, he may be more sympathetic. After all, he sees being there for family as also part of one’s duty, so I should be able to appeal to his pro-family identity during my request. Still, the fund drive is an important week for the organization and he is going to be reluctant to meet my request—so I am going to have to tailor my message in an additional way by assuring him that I am not going to be neglecting my duty to the organization.

The Message

“Ken? How are you? Good. Ken, I have family visiting the week of the fund drive and I wanted to request a day off to spend time with them. I know the importance of the fund drive and that we all need to be here. I’ve already talked to Sal and he said he would be willing to cover one shift for me if you would give approval. I would also be willing to pick up a shift this weekend to help cover there. I know we’ve been having trouble getting weekend volunteers so I just wanted to put that out there.”

“We don’t normally allow days off during the fund drive, you know. That’s a very important time for us. If I start making allowances with one person then everybody is going to starting looking for one, and then, well, it becomes something that no one takes as seriously as they should.”

“I understand that. Normally I would not ask because I know how important it is. I’ve never asked in the past for that reason. I actually hate to ask now because I don’t want it to seem like I’m not committed to the organization—but the fact is I’m just really torn here; you know how important family is and it’s just one of those things.”

“So who’s visiting?”

“These are my cousins who I grew up with and my aunt and uncle. It’s been three years since we’ve seen each other and they are only here for two days. It would be the 27th as that’s the day our family has set aside—the other day will be spent taking care of family business that they have to do. I know in the big scheme of things it’s not really a big deal, so if you want to say no, I understand.”

“Well, no, family is important and I stand by that. But this fund drive is also important….”

“Absolutely. I know that. I’ve done double time for it in the past—remember when Larry became ill? I worked three double-shifts in a row to make sure we had the phones covered.”

“I tell you what. It’s not just this weekend that we’re needing volunteers but actually for the rest of the weekends this month. Mike has been pressing me to find someone who will step up and take them all on. If I grant your request and allow Sal to cover one shift for you during the fund drive, will you agree to fill in those volunteer slots the rest of this month?”

“Of course I would. I’d love to do that.”

“All right. And let’s just keep this between us. I don’t want word getting around that I’m allowing days off during the fund drive. If that gets out, I might have to change my mind.”

“I appreciate that, Ken. And thanks a lot.”

Influence Tactics

The influence tactics I would rely upon in this script are reciprocity and commitment/consistency. I also appealed to the tactic of liking, as Ken is a man who likes to say yes to family-oriented ideas. Thus, the first thing I did was to directly state the nature of the request and the good reason I was making it. I wanted to clearly state the reason so that I could appeal to the liking tactic. If it were anything else, it would be easier for him to say no, but because it is a family-related request I know that he will stop to at least consider it. However, he is also a company man and is not likely to be swayed simply by a family-oriented request. That is why I knew I would also have to use the tactics of reciprocity and commitment/consistency to show that I, like him, am also a company man.

I appealed to the reciprocity tactic by stating that I would be willing to cover a volunteer shift on the weekend. I know that this is a shift that the organization has trouble covering, so I thought that would help to influence his decision: if he gives me a day off during the fund drive, I will help the company out during the weekend when it is in need of a volunteer.

Finally, I wanted to show my commitment and consistency over the years with the company. I mentioned that I have never made a request like this during fund drives in the past and I showed my commitment to the company by being willing to take on all the available weekend volunteer shifts for the rest of the month. This commitment overlapped with reciprocity, too, because Ken admitted that Mike was putting pressure on him to get some people to step up and volunteer their time. By agreeing to cover the rest of the volunteer shifts for the month, I was helping Ken out and showing how committed I was to the organization. I also emphasized my commitment by pointing out that in the past I had covered for a sick colleague not for just one day but for three consecutive days. I mention this in the script only to reinforce the idea that I always put the company’s interests ahead of my own.

By using reciprocity, I made my request seem more like a fair deal than an indulgence. Ken would be going against the norm in granting my request, but he would also be making the CEO happy by having the rest of the weekend volunteer shifts covered for the month. That would be something he would not have to worry about any longer. Plus, he would feel good knowing that he was also helping an employee to spend valuable time with family. Being a pro-family man, he could feel positive about that. He would also see that he was not cutting slack for someone who had not already proved himself.