How do employers view the odd day off sick?

chocaholic110

We have some strange system whereby the have a calculation for days off sick, but single days count more than lengthy stints.

Not sure how it works but it mutliplies the number of single days by a high number, the number of two days by a lower number etc to come up with a yearly score

I think it's something to do with identifying people who take a lot of single days - they think they might just be skiving, or something, rather than really ill. I know that I had two weeks (10 days) last year all in succession due to a miscarriage and my "yearly score" is lower than a colleague with 5 single days here and there.

Hay_2

P.S....PLEASE don't take this the wrong way...BUT if you are ok to sit and compose a perfectly coherant post on here...you are ok to go to work!!!:p

mh1923

At my company, we have a meeting with the immediate supervisor after EVERY absence due to illness. It's ridiculous. Then there is a special meeting if you have crossed one of the threshholds, such as 4 sicknesses in any rolling year. And all the trigger points go by 'occurences', so better to be out 6 weeks for a major operation than to miss 5 days over the course of the year.

If you call in sick and then don't get the promotion, will you be okay with that? Or will you always wonder if that made the difference?

LookingAhead

I think given the circumstances I would go in, in the morning but if I still felt rubbish after a few hours, then go to your boss and say you still feel rough, could you go home?

It shows willing and if they can really see you are feeling like poop, they can't argue.

And good luck for the new job as well.

TrikerAndBiker

If I were you I'd make the effort, it might just be worth it in the end!

Good luck with the promotion

GirlRacer_2

I agree with the majority here Go in, surely if your feeling really bad your employer will send you home. At least you've made the effort and gone in. In my empoyment, if you stay in work until 11 am and then go home ill you still get your mark.

crawley_girl

I think it depends on policy and managers. I used to be a bit of a tyrant about sickness and absence and following procedure until I was off for a lengthy period of time. I think I am more compassionate for it. Well, I couldn't really be any more harsh!!!

With regards to the possibility of an internal promotion, I would imagine that it won't look good, but if you are sick then you are sick and there isn't a lot that they can about it!!!

Where I work, the total days aren't taken into consideration cos a colleague was off for 4 months following a crash another was off for a while with depression, my boss was off for the whole of november with ear infections etc etc. I think it depends more on the reason why not always the total days off. Hope that makes sense

Headintheclouds_3

I think you should stay off if you really feel grotty - no-one will thank you for spreading your germs and you want to be well for any interview/chat you might have for this promotion.

My employer's policy is the same as many above - more than 5 'instances' of sickness (where an instance could be a day, 10 days, a week) during a year is cause for concern. It's usually just to identify patterns (e.g. taking multiple Mondays off) rather than a stick with which to beat you if you are genuinely unlucky with illness.

Best of luck with getting the job!

bandraoi

Alot of places use something called the Bradford Factor or Formula to guage where an employee is at.

http://www.teamseer.com/bradfordformula.php
for a quick guide

Work out what yours is and you'll see you're probably fine.

SkintMonkey

Thanks everyone. Well I did take today off sick, my boss was cool when I spoke to her and then I emailed her (we have remote access) in the afternoon to say that I feel much better and I'm here (albeit in a virtual sense) on the other end of email if I can help in any way. She said that with other sickness in the office, it was probably better that I kept it to myself at home and was really understanding.

I know you guys were concerned that I was going for an internal post/promotion next week (job being advertised next week, interviews wouldn't be for a while yet), but I think I made the right decision - if I had gone in (and at the moment it is a 45 minute drive to work until we move) I wouldve been useless and yes it shows willing, but what would be the point - she would have taken one look at me and sent me home.

Thanks for your replies.