Time of on the sick

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Terri
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Where i work we are a small team and out of 16 of us the last 2 weeks we have 6 off sick... now you may think it is a bug of some sort but nope.
one off with a bad back...unable to move seen out on the pop
one off with a bad back still working a second job while of sick as a hairdresser. been off 5 weeks
one been off 3 months with stress because of her kids ok that one is sort of ok but she works 10-2 kids at school none of which are in trouble she is just tired she says.
another bad back.. again out on the pop.
one had sickness bug but now is a bad side.
and the best one she has a cold sore.

now.. because of this and the way our job is all the hours they are not working have to be picked up by the people left some can't/won't do extra so other have to do so. (we don't and we may loose the hours and that means jobs) so my 16 hour contracted hours have now been on 40+ for i do not know how long ( i know not allot to some but to me and my poor little legs it is hell)

The we find out the the first on the list above has started work else where and is still off on the sick.!!!!

who else thinks this type of thing is wrong??? i couldn't phone in like this lot do... one has at least one day off a week sick

making me very very cross
 
Happens everywhere, but seems endemic at your place of work, you have my sympathy
 
I work in a small bodyshop. Just me, the owner and his brother work there and it has to take a lot for one of use to be off sick. If one of us are off sick then we will wish we never were because the torment at work the day after is twice as bad lol.
 
honest to goodness.. one the cold sore one last week phoned in with flu was great the day after.. can't sack them right off but was looking as if one was going that way but stopped and if i went sick it wouldn't help the others that do work hard as they would have to pick up my hours. tomorrow is a 10 hour shift and it is going to a hell of a one 3 of to do 6 peoples jobs we will do it but i'' be slaeep by 6pm tomorrow night.
 
We get a yearly bonus if we can keep sickness below a percentage of the workforce over the previous year. I just had 9 days off with sciatica, but I booked it as holiday that I can't carry over into next year.
In our place we are only allowed to be self certified 3 or 4 times a year (not sure which as I don't go sick :) ) but some people keep a diary of when they can go sick again and do so deliberately. Came back to bite them on the backside though when they closed our plant last year but promised jobs for anyone who didn't want to take redundancy or early retirement, there was over 100 more than they bargained on wanting to stay, so anyone with a sickness record got jobs on the production line, while the rest of us got good jobs in a place I like to call "The retirement home".
 
I remember at one place I worked the staff would include sick leave as part of annual leave. "i've taken my annual leave but I'm gonna take my two weeks' sick leave next month" etc. boiled my pee.
 
I remember at one place I worked the staff would include sick leave as part of annual leave. "i've taken my annual leave but I'm gonna take my two weeks' sick leave next month" etc. boiled my pee.

The look when they come in and think i am going to say "you all better" what i say is "enjoy your day off" getting stupid now.. just 20 mins ago found out one had to go home early due to period pains.... do not get me wrong but pay day and we were expecting her to phone in sick any way so a few hours work is better than nothing.. oh wait..
 
It's what makes Britain great!

I'm self employed and can't take time off, or I don't get paid. It's been several years since I've had a day off with flu.
It's been several weeks since I've had a day off- a Sunday :) Ah well, I'm off this Sunday and then it's back to the grindstone for the next three weeks...
 
It's what makes Britain great!

I'm self employed and can't take time off, or I don't get paid. It's been several years since I've had a day off with flu.
It's been several weeks since I've had a day off- a Sunday :) Ah well, I'm off this Sunday and then it's back to the grindstone for the next three weeks...
You need to give yourself a pay rise or negotiate better working conditions.;)

As others have said some see it as part of their holiday to take time off sick. I seldom take time off sick, I doubt I've even had a month off sick in total in the 35yrs since I left school. I even find it hard to take my holidays. Mind you weekends are optional, I've not worked a weekend in 2 years, but I might do soon, maybe.
 
It's what makes Britain great!

I'm self employed and can't take time off, or I don't get paid. It's been several years since I've had a day off with flu.
It's been several weeks since I've had a day off- a Sunday :) Ah well, I'm off this Sunday and then it's back to the grindstone for the next three weeks...
Hope you enjoy your retirement if you get one, i dont mean to be flippant but all the good guys like you Ken keel over before they get to retirement age or die of boredom a few month after.
 
You need to give yourself a pay rise or negotiate better working conditions.;)

As others have said some see it as part of their holiday to take time off sick. I seldom take time off sick, I doubt I've even had a month off sick in total in the 35yrs since I left school. I even find it hard to take my holidays. Mind you weekends are optional, I've not worked a weekend in 2 years, but I might do soon, maybe.

I had a weeks holiday last year :) Not had one this year, well, I had a weekend in July.

I hope to do some photography sometime soon!
 
Hope you enjoy your retirement if you get one, i dont mean to be flippant but all the good guys like you Ken keel over before they get to retirement age or die of boredom a few month after.
I hope not! That would ruin my sex life :)
 
Our firm only pays SSP which tends to discourage casual sick days. Sick pay has been paid but it totally discretionary and not an entitlement in the ts&cs.
 
its up to your boss ,if it was me i would ask them to pop in for a chat,or if not pay a home visit and state they had been seen out and about .followed by a warning letter . some years back when faced with unruly staff who usually decided that the day after a night out was sick leave i found the best cure was when they came in to tell them to take the rest of the week off (unpaid ) to get better .
times and working conditions have changed since then but i paid very well and expected a level of loyalty due to that .and believe me it worked .
 
So what are your employers doing about it?

[PLEASE DON'T TRY TO BYPASS THE SWEAR FILTER] all the one with the cold sore just swans in and gets away with it.. she was taken to hospital with blue lights and everything on a payday it was so obvious that she was faking and less than 2 hours later she was in town shopping.


Hey don't you dis the hard working Brits!
 
Frankly if the management have reports of there activities while on the sick they should be called in to explain and then disciplined if that means sacked so be it, I'm sure there are others that would love to fill their positions once vacated
 
I took a pretty hard line with someone who was taking the pee regarding sickness, and there was a notable pattern. Kind of caused a bit of a reaction across the service centre, but felt needed to be dealt with.
 
Wicked. I get cold sores sometimes, never even considered taking a day off for it, but now I know it's acceptable, im gonna be licking every mug and cup I can find.

*joke*

I had 6 months off work in one go after my spinal surgery in 2012, and I think I've only had one day off sick since then as I feel guilty taking it off.
 
Wicked. I get cold sores sometimes, never even considered taking a day off for it, but now I know it's acceptable, im gonna be licking every mug and cup I can find.

*joke*

I had 6 months off work in one go after my spinal surgery in 2012, and I think I've only had one day off sick since then as I feel guilty taking it off.

In all likelyhood patience is your friend.
If you've suffered from cold sores then you carry the Herpes Simplex virus. Most of the time it's dormant, but it's there.
It's only infectious during a breakout. :-)
 
2 have been called in one is coming back to work after posting a photo on Facebook of him in the hairdressers showing off his work.. thing is he was showing a cut he had just done but hand't looked close enough to show that he was in the photo.
cold sore person tried to pull one today..Her leg was Hurting she wasn't sure she could manage a whole shift. i asked her what was wrong growing pains she said.. (for those that know me know about my legs) words to her were man up and get on with it i just did 11 hours on my feet your doing 5.

As for the boss doing anything about any of them he is so worried they will walk out and believe it or not we had a issue recruiting loadsmof people wanted to work but couldn't/wouldn't do 6am starts or a 10pm finish and weekends.
 
I'm self employed, I don't understand the concept of "on the sick", sack them.

I'm employed and I can't remember the last day I had off ill. It certainly wasn't in the last ten years. I have been employed by the same company for twenty six years now and I doubt that my total time off ill would add up to much more than a week.

As for the boss doing anything about any of them he is so worried they will walk out

Sounds like he wouldn't be losing out on much if they did.


Steve.
 
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Some people will always take the pee, but I for one am glad that we live in a country with relatively good workers rights.
 
Stress is a difficult one for employers if is certified by doctor. They can't do much for fear of harressment allegations.
 
Any other underlying issues at work? Some of those could be stress related. With such a high proportion of sickness it's a good indication that there could be problems, or staff silently rebelling against Management.
 
Any other underlying issues at work? Some of those could be stress related. With such a high proportion of sickness it's a good indication that there could be problems, or staff silently rebelling against Management.

I would say that it could be stress at work but for all those who have been picking up all the hours they are missing. to be honest i one is genuine but been off now since August not due back before christmas. The other lot it is just lazyness.
 
Where my wife works there are only 6 of them and one went sick for 3 months, so the bosses cut everyone's sick pay to only 4 weeks, the one who went sick was in his 70's so they couldn't claim for any of the sick pay they paid him, unlike they can for those of working age.

Such are the joys of working for a registered charity
 
The HR team at my work has now had 7 people off for stress in the last 6 years - all for a min of 3 months each.. There are only 9 employees in this team...!
 
i know the reason for the lady off sick with stress but rather not say but to be honest i think she would be better keeping busy
 
i know the reason for the lady off sick with stress but rather not say but to be honest i think she would be better keeping busy

If she's been off that long it's probably on the advice of a medical professional.
 
Yeah i am sure it is. as i say i know the reason but i am not her doctor. but having been where she is i know what i would rather be doing.. she is they only one out of the lot that has a reason to be off
 
its hard to sack people nowadays:(

worst i had who coudnt come in because the dog was pregnant:oops: :$, same girl had 3 dead grandads to my knowledge:mad:, some people do take the p***
 
Sorry if it's been mentioned and I've missed it but what job type is this ( obviously no need to name the company) just wonder if it has a bearing on the sickness issues.
 
its hard to sack people nowadays:(

worst i had who coudnt come in because the dog was pregnant:oops: :$, same girl had 3 dead grandads to my knowledge:mad:, some people do take the p***

I had 3 grandfathers - never met the 2 "real" ones since they both died in WW II but did know Mum's mother's second husband who was always known as Grandpa (to us kids and Daddy by Mum). Never used any of their deaths as an excuse to be off work though!
 
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