sickness

Uncertain

Emmzi wrote: »

still waiting for an answer to the question "what have you done to try and make good the work."

The OP should not have to "make good the work" when they have been off sick!

A properly run company should have plans in place to cope with staff (and equipment come to that) breaking down from time to time. It happens, it is a fact of life.

Obviously if a member of staff is sick long term it can eventually reach a point where they can no longer be employed. It is also reasonable to seek proof that they are in fact sick and not "pulling a fast one". if there is good reason for doubt. However, beyond this, putting excessive pressure on somebody who is unwell can lead to a claim for personal injury - and rightly so.

Emmzi

uncertain, normally I agree. however OP came in straight away with "what are my rights."

I see employer/employee as a 2 way street. Strictly letter of the law? No. But a drop of honey goes further than a pint of vinegar. For all I know OP is the sole person doing vital period end accounts and the company gets a £5k fine every time she is off and they are late...

I expect my team to act as responsible adults (and they do)

And in return I don't get arsey f they neeed a few hours for the doctors, or kids first school nativity, or whatever.

I think the company has more rights to do things OP won't like, than OP has to complain about it.

So I'd be damn sure, in OPs position, that I was being flexible.

ceridwen

Uncertain wrote: »

The OP should not have to "make good the work" when they have been off sick!

A properly run company should have plans in place to cope with staff (and equipment come to that) breaking down from time to time. It happens, it is a fact of life.

Obviously if a member of staff is sick long term it can eventually reach a point where they can no longer be employed. It is also reasonable to seek proof that they are in fact sick and not "pulling a fast one". if there is good reason for doubt. However, beyond this, putting excessive pressure on somebody who is unwell can lead to a claim for personal injury - and rightly so.

Well - its my understanding that a company decides how many employees it needs "in a perfect world" where no-one ever got sick or took holidays and then mentally "allows for the fact" that each employee will have 4-6 weeks holiday per year and bank holiday time and an average 8 days sick leave per year and multiplies that amount of time by the number of employees they would have in that "perfect world" and sees how many extra "days worth" of work they need doing and employ sufficient extra people to cover that time - eg if one has 10 employees and each of them has a holiday entitlement of 5 weeks per year - then that means:

10 employees x 25 days p.a. = 250 days work to be covered
10 employees x 8 days average sick leave p.a. = 80 days work to be covered

TOTAL = 330 days "cover" needed p.a.. Conclusion = better employ 1 extra person and make it 11 employees then.

Thats putting it simplistically - but you get the drift.

SandC

Average 8 days sick in a year - is that serious? We have a few people, very few here whose health is not great and have more than that but generally our place people have 1 or 2 days per year on average. And there are quite a few like myself who average 0 - I haven't had a day off sick in over 6 years.

wontfallforit

SandC wrote: »

Average 8 days sick in a year - is that serious? We have a few people, very few here whose health is not great and have more than that but generally our place people have 1 or 2 days per year on average. And there are quite a few like myself who average 0 - I haven't had a day off sick in over 6 years.

I've personally taken around one week's worth of sickness, in 9 years of working. I don't think 8 days per year is excessive when it comes to genuine blocks of illness - such as a very bad bout of 'flu, but if an ordinarily healthy person were to take 8 days per year in blocks of 1 or 2 scattered days, I'd be very suspcious.

I have, however, seen people get away with much, much higher levels of repeated one and two day bouts of sickness (generally on Monday mornings), and I never fail to be shocked. I don't exactly love working, but my policy is if I can get out of bed, I can go to work. Some people treat their employment as a right, rather than a privilege

Uncertain

SandC wrote: »

Average 8 days sick in a year - is that serious? We have a few people, very few here whose health is not great and have more than that but generally our place people have 1 or 2 days per year on average. And there are quite a few like myself who average 0 - I haven't had a day off sick in over 6 years.

Yes, the figure is distorted by the fact that a small number of people can be off for very long periods of time (months, years even). Many large and public sector organisations will pay long serving staff for 6 months full pay and six months half sick pay - some even longer. Overall this averages out at 8 days per employee.

Rebekah24

I also have ongoing trouble with migraines/my eyes

best thing to do is
1. join the union
2. Know the sickness policy inside out
3. Provide your employer with documentation if possible- if this is a letter from your GP then so be it.

Are you currently subject to sickness management?

Really all you can do is show that you are taking steps to resolve the issue.

Chart your food/any stress/hormonal factors to see if you can find any patterns. Sure you have already done this.

Otherwise I just get myself into work, as long as I have no loss of speech or severe photosensitivity.

Hope that is some help

SandC

This is true, a period of sickness of a week or two is fine - just not every year! Also, I believe the public sector average is even higher than that.

I am aware, though, that figures will be skewed because of long term sickness.

My firm also pays full pay for 6 months after you've completed 3 years service. My last firm, although a similar sized company but more profitable, only paid 5 days per year.

I too have seen people taking the pee but once measures are put in place so that people know they are being monitored it does help reduce it.

I've always said though - one person's 'too ill to work' is someone else's 'feel a bit off colour but not bad enough to stay at home'

My opinion is if you are well enough to do anything bar sit or lie down all day feeling dog rough then you are well enough to work. If you are well enough to ferry the kids around to school, cook the dinner etc. then you are well enough to work.

I am aware though that I've been lucky not to have been ill in this time. I have had a few colds but these seem to have been not so severe and when they were, fell over Xmas or weekends so the worst is over with when I wouldn't have been in work anyway.

We've got year to date staff sick at 2.8% compared to last year's 1.8%. Very good I think.

Saving_spree

The migraine thing can get really bad.
I have this friend who suffers at least twice a week due to this. She does not seem to find out what triggers it.

onlyforboards_2

Emmzi wrote: »

For all I know OP is the sole person doing vital period end accounts and the company gets a £5k fine every time she is off and they are late...

I expect my team to act as responsible adults (and they do)

If your company gets itself in a position where one employee's last minute sickness means you can not return your accounts that fine is yours for the taking! Pressuring sick members of staff to make up hours is not exactly the best crisis management, or best staff management either!