In terms of administration of leave, the implication is that the member of staff is not required to attend to duties while on approved leave. It must however be highlighted that the employer may recall an employee to the office, effectively “suspending” the said leave on the understanding that the employee will recover the benefit of the accrued leave days.

 In some companies, when an employee proceeds on leave, most enablers of execution of duties such as email access, access to the office and so on, are suspended for the period of leave. I am of the view that some of the considerations for such interventions are to assist the employee to rest from work in fact, and the presumption that there is sufficient capacity within the organization to continue without the member of staff who has proceeded on leave. It also gives an opportunity to other members of staff to experience learning and growth in their respective careers as a result of acting in positions during the period of absence of a substantive holder.

 Of interest, especially for those in positions of strategic leadership in an organization is whether their functions of providing team guidance, coaching and mentoring also suspend while they are on leave. Further, does the concept “the buck ends with me” suspend? What happens in a situation where, upon your return, you are held responsible and accountable for actions done on behalf of your unit as its head?

 An area of thought is that this is a matter of individual style of leadership and service. Being mindful that you are not officially recalled to duties, one may consider having a working relationship with team players where they can seek counsel “off the grid” for experiential views on matters where they so require, respecting the boundaries regarding the fact that the decision making will be for the officer that is presently officially discharging the duties. In such instances caution must be exercised against being the one calling the shots or undermining the authority of the person mandated to discharge the function. It is submitted that depending on the peculiar circumstances of the organization and the individual leader, it becomes a matter of practical choice, how one fills the gap within the allowable parameters.

 Another point to note is that in a situation such as the one described in the immediate paragraphs above, one would not be expecting compensation from the company for availing themselves to their team in that manner.

 The above discourse demonstrates that there are practical issues surrounding this matter, especially in organizations that are relatively young and cannot afford to fully resource their functions with the necessary skill, whereby the full resource resides in essentially one person. This is why leadership is sometimes referred to as “selfless, serving, inspirational” and so on.

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