Leave

Probably because the job of a probation officer was always felt to be stressful, leave entitlement has always been pretty generous, even for the public sector generally. So for this and other historical reasons my annual entitlement eventually rose to 40 days. However, in a somewhat remarkable move, my union negotiated a significant reduction some years ago in order to allow harmonisation with other grades across the Service. I have to say it's always been a bit academic though because I can count on the fingers of one hand the years in which I actually used my full entitlement. Pretty much they were the years I was in the Court Team. In my experience it is virtually impossible to take two weeks leave in a Field Team without generating such extra stress as to make the whole exercise counter-productive. Interestingly, no manager has ever queried my inability to take all the leave to which I was entitled.   

Unlike most people in employment who are able to eagerly look forward to a period of leave, it often fills me with dread. Unfortunately I know only too well that preparing for two weeks absence from the office has to be planned like a military operation and takes at least a month of additional stress to try and put in place all the elements necessary. With typically three week lead times for PSR's, they have to be batted away quite early on in order to ensure none fall due while you are away. But then there are Parole Reports that suddenly become urgent so prison visits have to be fitted in. The computer keeps telling you OASys supervision plan reviews are due and clients begin having crises. Inevitably a hostel wants to turf out one of your high risk cases and usually the day before you finish another client screws up and needs urgent recall.

All this and more has to be handled on top of arranging extra visits from as many clients as possible in order to tide them over the time you're away. This is not just so as to avoid inconveniencing your colleagues, it also avoids all the moans from disgruntled clients when you return and they say things like 'who was that I saw last week?' He/she wouldn't give me my bus fare; gave me grief for being late; lectured me about this that and the other etc etc. For those that have to be seen while I'm away, recognising that we are all individuals with differing styles and strengths, I try and tailor each client to certain colleagues. But the most serious worry for me is being found out. Inevitably some case will go haywire and the manager gets involved only to find OASys isn't up to date, the supervision plan isn't quite complete, they missed their last appointment and no reminder letter was sent etc etc. To be honest it's difficult to convey the sheer feeling of dread when you cross the office threshold again and gingerly peer into your pigeonhole or turn the damn computer on. 

The really strange thing is that almost invariably it's ok. Your professional world didn't fall in, there is no urgent invitation to meet the Chief at Head Office or start preparing for a Serious Incident Case Review, but no matter how many times I remind myself of this, it never seems to make any difference. As it happens Jim Brown is off on a sojourn next week, so there may well be a break in transmission.