Council staff two weeks on sick

MrsE_2

warmhands.coldheart wrote: »

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7818663.stm

Well done to council staff in ripping of the rate payer.

Quote from Brian Campfield of the public service union Nipsa..

"You have to remember that many council employees work outdoors in all weathers, and they are subject to quite a bit of pressure from the public from different sectors of society,"

Boo !!!!!!! Hoo.. Like that is some justificatin for pulling a sicky... What about all the Farmers, Construction Workers, Road Workers. NIE linesmen, Fishermen etc.. etc.. who work outside in crap weather... they can't go pulling sickies "cause it's cold & wet!!" Part of the job...

Dry your eyes you big jessy!!.. About time these people wake up and get into the real world...

No private sector business would still be trading if staff pulled sickies at this rate. they couldn't survive. Why should we as taxpayers have to tolerate this??

I work for the council in 2008 I had 0 sick days

purt

I work in central government and am a civil service manager. In the past I've been self employed and have also worked in the private sector. Allow me to share my thoughts on this issue.

baldeagle09 wrote: »

Incidentally it is extremely shoddy journalism by the BBC to indicate that council staff take two weeks sick leave per annum.

Nowhere in the report does it say that employees take 2 weeks sick leave despite the BBC unequivocally saying so!

Johnnypanic wrote: »

If there's an issue with abuse of sick leave, then it should be the management team who look at the individual instances and take whatever action is necessary. This appears to be as much as problem with insufficent management as it does with staff abusing the system.

I'm not prepared to criticise council workers, just because the media has decided it wants to jump on a report to sensationalise it.

The BBC loves this kind of story and throws it out periodically. However, it too is a public organisation. When did it last publish its own sick absence statistics? How much of our licence fee is 'wasted' paying for its staff 'sickies'? I'll not go so far as to call it shoddy journalism but the phrase 'people in glasshouses...' does spring to mind.

It's worth bearing in mind that these figures include staff who would have been off with a genuine illness. Sadly council workers and civil servants are human like everyone else. We catch the flu, colds, bugs, break legs and suffer bereavements just like everyone else.

tomstickland wrote: »

Some people regard sick days as extra holiday.

Whilst I've no suspicions that anyone I work with has this attitude, I suspect it still prevails in other areas of the civil service. As regards the comments made about poor management; there are a few things to bear in mind. As managers we have to take staff at their word if they say they are ill. There are strict policies in place regarding attendance and, whilst we might suspect a member of staff is abusing the system and pulling a sickie for a day, we can't accuse them of doing so. That would be to imply they were lying and, if in fact they were actually telling the truth about their absence, this could have repercussions for the manager.

A couple of things regarding civil service attendance policies. Medical evidence must be presented for a period of illness lasting seven days or more (not dissimilar to the policies in my previous private sector employment). Similarly, sick absence has a bearing on an employee's eligibility for promotion which should in itself act as a deterrent for abusing the system.

MORPH3US wrote: »

Err you might want to think before you post.... its a bit of a (stupid) generalisation to say that "the private sector" !!!! it up...... how many private companies are there in the UK and because a few ask for a handout, they are all bad

Oh and I have worked in public and private sector by the way. Organisations in the public sector aren't in the real world. The people working in public sector tend to stay in the public sector because they can get overpaid for doing buggar all with their cushy holidays and pensions....

I only wish, in my situation, that was true. I'm often to be found working in the evenings because I don't have enough time to do stuff in work, during the day. A rather sweeping generalisation you make too.

Finally, the public do have a negative perception of civil servants and, whilst some of it is justified, I don't feel all of it can be. There are some of us who work hard at what we do to serve people like yourselves and to make life in Northern Ireland better for you. However, we do come up against colleagues who are there to milk the system and we are powerless to do anything about it.

The good news, however, is that the NI Civil Service is undergoing a huge period of reform and these people are finding the reform agenda a bitter pill to swallow. Like everything though, change takes time to implement.

thriftyminx13

MORPH3US wrote: »

Judging by that well thought out, reasoned, articulate and accurate response.... you must work in the public sector. :rolleyes:

Yes!!:p i still think you're spouting rubbish.

MORPH3US

culchied wrote: »

A rather sweeping generalisation you make too.

Just for the record, I realise that I did make a very big generalisation in my post and apologise - i didn't meant to imply it was everyone. I should have put "some" in there rather than what i did put.

I realise in all organisations (public and private) there are people who take the p!ss with things like this.

Jonnypanic summed it up nicely for me, its a management issue if people are taking the p!ss. But I do think that some public sector management are less able / inclined to deal with it because its not their money that is being wasted.

I am (mostly) a "Maslow's Theory X" type of manager myself but I think strong management can overcome this.

purt

At a guess I'd say that the vast majority of people pulling the sickies are those in the poorly paid, junior grades. The people managing them are those in the middle ranks such as myself. We're bound by the policies laid down by the Senior Management in the Department of Finance and Personnel. Can't speak for how the district Councils are run.

However, I'll reiterate what I said earlier. As managers we have to take staff at their word when it comes to absences. Similarly, the whole system could be tightened up I'm sure. For example, if someone is off longer than, say, three days, they could be required to produce a sick note from the doctor. In reality however, I don't think this would be practical and would put an extra burden on the NHS.

I'm not entirely sure what you're getting at when you write about Maslow's theory and how management can overcome this. Maslow devised a hierarchy of needs and how to motivate staff. In the Civil Service I think most people's needs are met, if not exceeded. I think the issue here is about staff who simply expect more and more than what they're already generously given.

motorguy

I have it on good authority that 40% of those sick days were either a friday or a monday.

foxxymynx

zenmaster wrote: »

But they weren't sick, were they?
.
Basically, they were having a bad day or were tired.

Never suffered from depression have you? :rolleyes:

Witless

pgilc1 wrote: »

I have it on good authority that 40% of those sick days were either a friday or a monday.

Could we have a source for that please?

(assuming of course you mean the casual one day sick absences)