sick days

I don't *like* taking sick days but sometimes they're unavoidable.

The problem is a lot of people do abuse the system which leaves people who are genuinely ill feeling guilty as they don't want to be labled the same as those who abuse it.

There have been times where I've had what's best described as "manflu" and although I've felt pretty lousy I've come into work and it's dragged on for a week or so, there have been other times I've just thought "sod it, I'm not going into work" and after a day or two at home taking it easy I feel fine & dandy (relatively speaking :lol: )

Anyway, hope you're feeling better soon!
 
Yeah I get that, I feel guilty for coming home but I was feeling rotten, there's loads of people at work who just stay off work if they are hung over or can't be arsed and it really narks me as when people are genuinely sick the managers understandably find it difficult to believe people!
 
Years ago when I worked for others instead of myself I was told that if someone goes of/calls in sick and only take one day off they are prob scam artists as most sick people need 7/10 days to get well from an illness. So my reply was ah so loyalty in your staff means nothing to you then? They come back to work because they feel guilty and you tarnish them with the reputation as a scam artist? I walked out and have never worked for anyone but myself ever since.
 
Russ77 said:
I don't *like* taking sick days but sometimes they're unavoidable.
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Likewise. I refuse to come into work and feel rubbish just to show my face though, so if I don't feel well enough to work I simply don't go in. "Homes under the hammer" and its ilk are enough of a disincentive to be at home on a weekday daytime, it's clearly a plot by the BBC to make people not want to take days off sick... Why would anyone think putting estate agents on TV is a good thing?

I really don't like the "heroes" that come in when they have colds and infect everyone else. I refuse to be such a person, if I'm ill, I'm at home. I think I've taken one sick day this year, on that occasion I had a cold over the weekend, still felt bad on Monday although the symptoms were clearing so I stayed home. Back on Tuesday. That was probably a mistake, as I really struggled through the week and slept 12h Friday night (until past noon on Saturday) and then 11h Saturday night, so it had obviously taken a lot more out of me than I thought.
 
Been working over 33 years and I reckon my total sickness in all that time wouldn't even amount to 3 weeks. Cold's barely last more than 48hrs and I can keep to myself so little chance of infecting others. If I feel really bad then I book a days holiday. At work we have a system of no more than 4 self certifications in a rolling 12 months, more than that they don't get their sick pay and have to be interviewed to try to get their money. Those that exploit the system will keep a note of all their sickness and just take time off deliberately when they know they are into a new 12 month period.
 
I find this guilt about sick days infuriating myself. If you're sick, stay at home, goddamnit. When you go to work sick, you make other people sick; staying at home isn't just about recovering, it's about keeping your germs to yourself.

I've been at home, between jobs, for a few months now and have only been ill once during this time, yet when I'm working, I tend to get sick every few weeks, most commonly with colds. It sucks. And it's because people come to work with those bloody colds and then spray their germs all over the entire office.

I'll never forgive my one colleague at a previous company who gave me bronchitis just before a booked trip to Venice. It kicked in once I arrived and I spent half the holiday coughing up blood in my hotel room.
 
We now employ the Bradford Score system to help combat people taking short term sickness. Thing is though it also penalises others. Worked out at Days Off x Occurancies x Occurancies.

I fell foul of it last year when I was off with quite a bad chest infection. Was off 3 days and was made to feel guilty about being off and pressured into going back into work on day 4. Low and behold it flared up again and 2 days later ended up being off another week. If i'd just been left to be off the whole of that first week, my Bradford score would only have been 5 (5 x 1 x 1), but ended up being 32 (8 x 2 x 2) and got pulled into the office for it. I made it perfectly clear that next time i'm off ill, I will not be returning until I feel fully fit to do so.
 
onona said:
I find this guilt about sick days infuriating myself. If you're sick, stay at home, goddamnit. When you go to work sick, you make other people sick; staying at home isn't just about recovering, it's about keeping your germs to yourself.

I've been at home, between jobs, for a few months now and have only been ill once during this time, yet when I'm working, I tend to get sick every few weeks, most commonly with colds. It sucks. And it's because people come to work with those bloody colds and then spray their germs all over the entire office. I'll never forgive my one colleague at a previous company who gave me bronchitis just before a booked trip to Venice. It kicked in once I arrived and I spent half the holiday coughing up blood in my hotel room.
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Would your office be air conditioned by any chance? The germs get into the system and the system constantly recirculates it.
I don't work in an office and seldom get sick. Plus as I said before, I will avoid other people who do have germs. The longest spell of sickness I've ever had was 5 days of chronic migraines which was down to eating too many bananas.
 
Sick days are awesome...it means I can get control of the sofa + TV + Boxset of Band of Brothers and as much chicken soup as I demand.

Seriously though I hate sick days, but I would prefer to see some take them when they are clearly not fit to be in. Work in an office so when theres someone coughing up a lung, I know I have a booking with man-flu in a matter of days.
 
onona said:
I find this guilt about sick days infuriating myself. If you're sick, stay at home, goddamnit. When you go to work sick, you make other people sick; staying at home isn't just about recovering, it's about keeping your germs to yourself.
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/nods agreement
 
nilagin said:
Would your office be air conditioned by any chance? The germs get into the system and the system constantly recirculates it.
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Happens where I work as well and there are only six of us, and most definitely not air-conditioned.
 
nickjohnwatson said:
I work in a call centre so its all air conditioned. People are getting ill all the time!
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My company has a couple of large call centres and whilst this is the biggest area of sickness absence abuse, to counter it they implemented a policy whereby you aren't paid for the first 3 days or absence.

Which if fine for those playing the system. For those who genuinely ill and shouldn't be coming into work, if they can't afford not to come into work then they come in and spread their germs...... and the cycle continues.

A bug-bear of my company (and I'm sure it's not alone) is rather than clamp down on the individuals causing the problems, they lay down Draconian rules that effectively penalise everyone.

Luckily for me, being in a non-operations environment, the management are more pragmatic and will authorise pay for the first 3 days. That's not to say that it's not abused, it's quite clear that some people "pull a sickie" but it's nice to know if I am genuinely in need of some time off when I'm ill I'll still get paid.
 
Russ77 said:
My company has a couple of large call centres and whilst this is the biggest area of sickness absence abuse, to counter it they implemented a policy whereby you aren't paid for the first 3 days or absence.

Which if fine for those playing the system. For those who genuinely ill and shouldn't be coming into work, if they can't afford not to come into work then they come in and spread their germs...... and the cycle continues.

A bug-bear of my company (and I'm sure it's not alone) is rather than clamp down on the individuals causing the problems, they lay down Draconian rules that effectively penalise everyone.

Luckily for me, being in a non-operations environment, the management are more pragmatic and will authorise pay for the first 3 days. That's not to say that it's not abused, it's quite clear that some people "pull a sickie" but it's nice to know if I am genuinely in need of some time off when I'm ill I'll still get paid.
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my last company could not pay the first 3 days, but it was at the discretion of the manager, and we only every implemented it for those we strongly suspected were taking the mickey
 
Other than the max.number of self certs in a rolling 12 months, at work if sickness rises above a set percentage, sick pay drops to 80% of basic wage. Stays below that percentage and it stays at 100% basic pay. So the scammers go sick when they know it hits 100%. Plus to cap it all there is a small bonus (anything from £40-£100) at the start of every year depending on the average percentage the previous year. Idea being everyone gets the same bonus and it's hoped people won't go sick and cost everyone getting the maximum bonus.
 
Where i work time off sick just seems to be seen as additional holiday, and it's common knowledge people do use it as such, personally i hate that mentality!

As for all this 'if your sick stay home' what do we suggest for people like Dr's and Nurses that actually work with sick people?!? to stay home because of the risk they may catch something or pass it along?! Shall all health care facilities now segregate people and have no group waiting rooms in case of cross contamination, a bit of a silly concept when you think of it...

I spend a lot of time round sick people and in hospitals, 12-14 hours shifts sometimes 6-7 days in a row, being round sick people doesn't mean you'll get sick and hiding from them doesn't mean your safe from it either, if you keep catching things off your colleagues i suggest you take a look at your own immune system and personal space requirements lol ;)

More hand washing is needed, especially by men, i find it shocking the number of guys that don't after using the toilet... And less touching of the face, eyes, mouth, and try to resist picking the nose too kids ;)
 
PaulJC said:
Where i work time off sick just seems to be seen as additional holiday, and it's common knowledge people do use it as such, personally i hate that mentality!

As for all this 'if your sick stay home' what do we suggest for people like Dr's and Nurses that actually work with sick people?!? to stay home because of the risk they may catch something or pass it along?! Shall all health care facilities now segregate people and have no group waiting rooms in case of cross contamination, a bit of a silly concept when you think of it...

I spend a lot of time round sick people and in hospitals, 12-14 hours shifts sometimes 6-7 days in a row, being round sick people doesn't mean you'll get sick and hiding from them doesn't mean your safe from it either, if you keep catching things off your colleagues i suggest you take a look at your own immune system and personal space requirements lol ;)

More hand washing is needed, especially by men, i find it shocking the number of guys that don't after using the toilet... And less touching of the face, eyes, mouth, and try to resist picking the nose too kids ;)
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What's treating sick people got to do with not wanting people with colds/flu etc to come in to work and spread it around?
 
nilagin said:
Other than the max.number of self certs in a rolling 12 months, at work if sickness rises above a set percentage, sick pay drops to 80% of basic wage.
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I get six weeks at 100% then nowt (well, SSP I suppose). There aren't any rules about self-cert or otherwise, but in a company of six people the employer has a pretty good idea what's going on and no-one takes any liberties.

My parents who worked for a privately owned light engineering company with about 1,000 employees got something like six months at full pay after they'd been there a while.
 
nilagin said:
Would your office be air conditioned by any chance? The germs get into the system and the system constantly recirculates it.
I don't work in an office and seldom get sick. Plus as I said before, I will avoid other people who do have germs. The longest spell of sickness I've ever had was 5 days of chronic migraines which was down to eating too many bananas.
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Yup, everywhere I work is always air conditioned on account of the fact that the work I do is done on very powerful computers, and there is usually a lot of us in each room, generally with two computers each. Without air conditioning, the offices would be rather jungle-like.
 
PaulJC said:
I spend a lot of time round sick people and in hospitals, 12-14 hours shifts sometimes 6-7 days in a row, being round sick people doesn't mean you'll get sick and hiding from them doesn't mean your safe from it either, if you keep catching things off your colleagues i suggest you take a look at your own immune system and personal space requirements lol ;)

More hand washing is needed, especially by men, i find it shocking the number of guys that don't after using the toilet... And less touching of the face, eyes, mouth, and try to resist picking the nose too kids ;)
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Errr.... Sickness is spread easily around offices. It's got nothing to do with my immune system or personal space requirements - if one person gets sick in an office, lots of people end up getting sick too. That's a fact.
 
I would prefer to struggle in then get sent home, but just my mentality.
When I slipped 2 discs a few years back, I had to get up 30 mins earlier than usual, so I had a chance to get my back working. Took nearly one hour to walk 200m one morning, tried to get a cab to take me to bus stop to get bus, ended up calling in sick as physically couldnt take any more, felt guilty as hell for letting colleagues down.
Had an appointment booked with the health people the next friday, made it into work but spent 3 hours on sofa in tea room with hot water bottle on my back, crying eyes out as pain was that bad. My big boss ordered me home but said wasnt going till seen health people.
Annoys me that some play the system, but cant say anything as you are picking on them.
 
I spent most of my life in South Africa and there are a few public holidays that often fall on a Thursday or Tuesday. Some people took one or two day's leave to get an extra long weekend, but there were always a few - often the same ones - who would call in sick instead. The most annoying thing about it was management's tolerance, it was treated as a bit of a laugh, providing it was one of the usual suspects and grudging, suspicious, attitude towards anyone else who had the temerity to actually get sick.
 
onona said:
Errr.... Sickness is spread easily around offices. It's got nothing to do with my immune system or personal space requirements - if one person gets sick in an office, lots of people end up getting sick too. That's a fact.
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My wife and two sons can go down with bad colds and sickness bugs, I'd say 90% of the time I manage to avoid getting the germs. Your immune system still plays a big part in whether you are likely to catch something off your co-workers.
 
nilagin said:
My wife and two sons can go down with bad colds and sickness bugs, I'd say 90% of the time I manage to avoid getting the germs. Your immune system still plays a big part in whether you are likely to catch something off your co-workers.
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:thumbs:

as does hygeine - although some germs do propagate through coughs and sneezes an awful lot also propagate on the hands (as you rightly noted earlier) - hence the alcohol cleaning gel prevalent during the swine flu outbreak

Also in terms of this thread its not just about infectious disease - numerous sick days are down to various non infectious conditions. IMO if you are infectious you should stay at home, but if you aren't you should come in unless you are actually unable to work
 
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Re hygiene I'm always washing my hands working in IT. I'd like to think I'm considerate as I'm touching people's keyboards and mice etc ( that and some people's are minging). I've actually hosed a laptop in dettol it was that hanging.
 
Nice - you should probably have fried the MoBo with a soldering iron and declared it a write off
 
neil_g said:
What's treating sick people got to do with not wanting people with colds/flu etc to come in to work and spread it around?
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Erm, subjection to ill people, by your reasoning if you worked in health care of any kind you'd never go to work because you don't want ill people near you... How would you feel if health care professionals took that attitude towards yourself or a family member when they were ill...

onona said:
Errr.... Sickness is spread easily around offices. It's got nothing to do with my immune system or personal space requirements - if one person gets sick in an office, lots of people end up getting sick too. That's a fact.
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As has been said by somebody else since a large percentage of illness is contracted by contact, the amount of stuff randomly caught out of the air is not as great as people would think, we'd all be wearing masks otherwise surely?
 
PaulJC said:
Erm, subjection to ill people, by your reasoning if you worked in health care of any kind you'd never go to work because you don't want ill people near you... How would you feel if health care professionals took that attitude towards yourself or a family member when they were ill...

As has been said by somebody else since a large percentage of illness is contracted by contact, the amount of stuff randomly caught out of the air is not as great as people would think, we'd all be wearing masks otherwise surely?
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Health workers also get the flu jab etc
 
Anyone can get the flu jab btw - £10 in boots (which reminds me i must make time to get down there)

In my job the biggest route to infection is handling money, particularly coins - i always alcohol my hands after handling any serious amount of cash
 
where i used to work, involving lots of call centres, staffing levels would be planned on assumptions on average of 2 weeks sick per year....

Heard so many times "well I've got 7 (or other no) sick days to still use up"...

Ended up sacking 3 people for blatent p*ss taking.... got to the stage where I could predict who would be "sick" and when.... strange how many people got flu the morning after a xmas meal or leaving do!!! ;)

It did get really awkward when I refused to let one self certify and docs note for every absence. Whilst we did not use Bradford index there, her score was over 500,000.. and that is not a typo...

There is taking the p*ss and taking the p*ss.. She even phoned in sick to her interview with me, my boss, unin guy and HR. :cuckoo:
 
When I worked as a tomato picker in a greenhouse for the best part of 20 years (until the firm closed up last year and I was laid off), I probably was off sick for a total of three weeks. It's mostly where I have a head cold and perhaps the odd bout of tummy-related illness that prompts me to stop at home and use up some of my holiday rather than go sick so I don't feel quite so guilty.

Actually, towards the end, the job itself was actually making me ill in itself! It is a long story but changes in conditions and methods were making conditions that much more uncomfortable that it was having an effect on my health and well being (eg: not allowed to use chemicals to prevent mildew from setting in so I spent weeks breathing in spores in an humid and airless greenhouse, that kind of thing).
 
big soft moose said:
Anyone can get the flu jab btw - £10 in boots (which reminds me i must make time to get down there)

In my job the biggest route to infection is handling money, particularly coins - i always alcohol my hands after handling any serious amount of cash
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yes coins are the bane of my job too - customer comes up sneezes into hand then hands me their change as payment. Great. Of course if I'm in that situation it means I'm stuck on the till so those germs get passed to the next customer too...:bang:
 
I've never been one to take the pee with sick days but will definately stay at home if I need to. I don't see the point of "struggling in" when you are clearly not well enough - or are likely to infect everyone else with the lurgy too. I work hard for my company and up until recently have been blessed with good health. The odd tummy bug and bad cold have been the worst I've had to deal with... they know I am actually ill if I stay home.

But now I'm actually worried about how many people do come into my air conditioned office and sneeze everywhere as starting in december I will be having chemotherapy. I fully intend to work when I can - as normally as possible hopefully - but with a knackered immune system I will not risk it if people are not being sensible.
 
At my workplace, the number of people calling in sick has gone down dramatically. This is probably because a lot of people now have the option of working from home.
 
I hate sick days.

And so far this year I've been off 13 weeks.
8 weeks, after a hernia operation. And another 5 weeks when I fractured my leg playing paintball. Hate being off. Main reason is I only get ssp. What use is that to anyone?
 
The "sick day" is totally abused these days IMO ,I'm off the old school era, if I can get out of bed I can go to work, twas the way I was brought up. I work with people who think nothing of taking a day off with a headache WTF's that about!!!
 
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