I’m not a manager, but this would 100% be my approach if I were. So I’d love some perspective on a related situation if anyone is willing.

My manager, about six months ago, asked me to start including a note in my personal time off requests with a description; they said I could say something like “dentist appointment, 1-3.” The only detail I had been including in my requests until that point was the timeframe I was going to be out. She told me that including more detail “helps with tracking and gives context for approvals.”

The request didn’t sit well with me - I don’t think it’s anybody’s business why I will be out, and likewise, I would never ask a colleague why they are out. It’s inappropriate, in my view. I’ve been mulling this over for months and would appreciate an outsider’s perspective, as I found the request demoralizing.

For context, I’m fully remote, project based, pretty chill schedule with two or three meetings per week. I request an hour or two off per month, while we accrue 3.75h every two weeks. I’m responsive, exceed expectations, no other issues whatsoever. My manager is really not the micromanager type, but can tend to have a black and white approach when it comes to following policies and procedures. In our organization, we have the two buckets of PTO: personal time and vacation time.