How many sick days do you take in the average year?

ellies_angel

I was off at the end of the year after I tore ligaments in my back, a total of 4 weeks. The first time I had been off work in over 5 years. I was gutted

Googlewhacker

Blobby8 wrote: »

I worked for a company who interviewed and issued a written warning to me for a two week certified sickness.Apparently I had broken through the 4%/pa rule, when I pointed out that I had been absent for three days in total during the previous twenty years, they said that didnt matter, they were only concerned with controlling sickness now. I really regret that I didnt take 3.5% sick in the few years I stayed with them.

The problem is blobby they have to be seen to be fair to all employees and it means they can get rid of the ones that abuse the sick pay but it does mean that like yourself you will get the odd disciplinary. If they decided to turn a blind eye to you and then tried to dismiss someone else it would look bad that they were showing favourtism.

Employers realise that good employees like you will never really get past stage one of the disciplinary stages.

custardy

Googlewhacker wrote: »

The problem is blobby they have to be seen to be fair to all employees and it means they can get rid of the ones that abuse the sick pay but it does mean that like yourself you will get the odd disciplinary. If they decided to turn a blind eye to you and then tried to dismiss someone else it would look bad that they were showing favourtism.

Employers realise that good employees like you will never really get past stage one of the disciplinary stages.

well it depends
under RMs attendance procedure
once you trigger stage one
a stage 2 could be triggered by 2 1 day absences
a stage 3 the same
its easy to fall under the wheels after an illness/injury that gets you onto the stages

Googlewhacker

custardy wrote: »

well it depends
under RMs attendance procedure
once you trigger stage one
a stage 2 could be triggered by 2 1 day absences
a stage 3 the same
its easy to fall under the wheels after an illness/injury that gets you onto the stages

Maybe but bear in mind that the 1 good employee that may fall foul to this system will be outweighed by the several employees that take the mick and from the employers side of view this would be acceptable

Uncertain

Googlewhacker wrote: »

I would hardly call them the best if people blatently take the mick!

It depends what you call "taking the mick".

Obviously there are people who will take long weekends and odd days off by calling in sick. Equally there are people who will go into a supermarket and shoplift. Both, in my view are theft.

However, if somebody is off sick for more than a week then they need a doctor's certificate. A GP will have sent eight or nine years training and is far better qualified to decide if somebody is ill than some jumped up clerk in HR.

If they are genuinely ill then sick pay, in my view, should be looked at far more insurance. It should be absolutely clear to what extent (if at all) you are covered. Providing you comply with the conditions it should be paid. More and more we see examples of employers offering sick pay as an employment benefit then trying to avoid paying a valid claim.

slugger09

Uncertain wrote: »

It depends what you call "taking the mick".

Obviously there are people who will take long weekends and odd days off by calling in sick. Equally there are people who will go into a supermarket and shoplift. Both, in my view are theft.

However, if somebody is off sick for more than a week then they need a doctor's certificate. A GP will have sent eight or nine years training and is far better qualified to decide if somebody is ill than some jumped up clerk in HR.

If they are genuinely ill then sick pay, in my view, should be looked at far more insurance. It should be absolutely clear to what extent (if at all) you are covered. Providing you comply with the conditions it should be paid. More and more we see examples of employers offering sick pay as an employment benefit then trying to avoid paying a valid claim.

I may be in the minority but as I said in an earlier post sick pay has never been an option in any job i've had, If you don't work you don't get paid, why should an employer pay you if your not there?

Googlewhacker

Uncertain wrote: »

It depends what you call "taking the mick".

Obviously there are people who will take long weekends and odd days off by calling in sick. Equally there are people who will go into a supermarket and shoplift. Both, in my view are theft.

However, if somebody is off sick for more than a week then they need a doctor's certificate. A GP will have sent eight or nine years training and is far better qualified to decide if somebody is ill than some jumped up clerk in HR.

If they are genuinely ill then sick pay, in my view, should be looked at far more insurance. It should be absolutely clear to what extent (if at all) you are covered. Providing you comply with the conditions it should be paid. More and more we see examples of employers offering sick pay as an employment benefit then trying to avoid paying a valid claim.

You know I don't disagree with you on this but the 7 days self certification is where people take the mick with constant short periods off.

Googlewhacker

slugger09 wrote: »

I may be in the minority but as I said in an earlier post sick pay has never been an option in any job i've had, If you don't work you don't get paid, why should an employer pay you if your not there?

Because you have a better chance of getting better employees and also paid sick pay *could* and I am dubious on this point that it could prevent sickness within the work place because if there isn't sick pay then people with all types of colds etc will come in and spread it around.

slugger09

Googlewhacker wrote: »

Because you have a better chance of getting better employees and also paid sick pay *could* and I am dubious on this point that it could prevent sickness within the work place because if there isn't sick pay then people with all types of colds etc will come in and spread it around.

In my 15 years working I have never saw this happen, sure we all get an odd cold but nothing you can't work through, I think because the option is there to take of and get paid people are to quick to stay in bed

Googlewhacker

slugger09 wrote: »

In my 15 years working I have never saw this happen, sure we all get an odd cold but nothing you can't work through, I think because the option is there to take of and get paid people are to quick to stay in bed

Maybe, as I said I am skeptical on this view but where I work we offer sick pay for 3 months from the day you start which increases upto 6 months after 5 years employment and it must have some benefits as the staff turnover is incredibly low and in the three years I have worked there we have only had 2 people use their full quote of sick pay in a year (1 no longer works for the company) out of over 150 and generally the staff sick days are minimal.