Do you think its unfair for employers looking at just the past 12 months of sickness?

kj*daisy

coinxoperated wrote: »

I've noticed a massive difference in the tolerance of sickness between public and private sectors.

I've always worked in the private sector where sickness seems to be very much poo poo'd and you feel you HAVE to go to work otherwise you'll your job. There smaller with more people trying to gain more power and stomping there feet about.

My ex worked for a public college, which stated in his contract that he was entitled!!! to '11 instances of sickness before an investigation or improvement plan would take place'. Instances, not days. A lady who worked in his office had 11 separate weeks off with flu. I was gob smacked. All self certified because of being just 4 or 5 days at a time.

My ex became quite used to having all this extra time off and it was never caused him any issues! He called in with a 'sore throat and flu like symptoms' once and told them he would need a week to recover. he didn't have to call in each morning and was told not to worry and to come in the following Monday. No mention of it other than a brief note he had to fill out to confirm he felt ok to work.

Ironically his lack of ambition and focus on anything for the future is why he is my ex...

It's really not like that now!

fionajbanana

Tenyearstogo wrote: »

It's not like that in the NHS. 3 instances in any 12 month rolling period is a verbal warning, 4 instances is a written warning. We do have to call in everyday.

the sickness culture is certainly not encouraged. I'm always amazed when I hear or read about this. I've worked in both the public and private sector, there was no difference in attitude.

I had to call in everyday when I was sick and it was an almighty struggle to just leave a message on the answerphone that was used for colleagues phoning in sick or if they are going to be late due to traffic etc, when I had laryngitis!

I had to quote my full name, DOB, employee number, what hours I was supposed to be doing, contact number and why you are off sick! My parents said they would phone for me, but I will get disciplinary action if it was not me that phoned the sickline.

Hopefully if any colleague become unconscious and therefore unable to ring in sick, they should not get disciplinary action for this. If they do, that's pathetic!

Sheel

Tenyearstogo wrote: »

It's not like that in the NHS. 3 instances in any 12 month rolling period is a verbal warning, 4 instances is a written warning. We do have to call in everyday.

That's incorrect. My husband works for the NHS (for nearly 40 years) and he says it's different for different trusts.

Where he works you don't have to call in every day. He wants to know if you had to be off sick for 6 months would you have to call in every day? :eek:

If someone has been off for say 2 weeks in a six month period or goes over a certain percentage of sick days in a certain period then he has to have a talk with them and see if there's a work related reason , if there's a pattern to why they're off sick and if they can be helped in any way. He can set targets for them and if those are not met then there will be another meeting , but he says it's not set in stone.

Takeaway_Addict

Sheel wrote: »

That's incorrect. My husband works for the NHS (for nearly 40 years) and he says it's different for different trusts.

Where he works you don't have to call in every day. He wants to know if you had to be off sick for 6 months would you have to call in every day? :eek:

If someone has been off for say 2 weeks in a six month period or goes over a certain percentage of sick days in a certain period then he has to have a talk with them and see if there's a work related reason , if there's a pattern to why they're off sick and if they can be helped in any way. He can set targets for them and if those are not met then there will be another meeting , but he says it's not set in stone.

I believe she meant in the self certification period about calling in every day but I could be wrong. Once u get dr's notes then its highly unlikely you would be required to call in.

Jules2012

There is difference between self cert, where most places require you to call in each day. And then being written off work by a Doctor, in this case day to day contact is not required.

SLITHER99

Of the various companies I've worked for, I often find that the amount of annual leave employers write in is proportional to the amount of sickness people take.

My current employer (blue chip firm, professional job) allows 20 days annual leave - minus three for Xmas - despite it being a very high pressure environment. It does rise to 22 after 5 years service, but even then I think that's pretty mean.

I think it's no wonder that employees tend to subsidise with sick leave. Alternatively, my previous company was 25 straight off the bat including Xmas. Consequently, even though it was similarly high pressured, hardly anyone pulled a sickie.

IMO, employers shoot themselves in the foot for trying to bleed as much out of their employees as possible for as little in return as possible. They know full well what the job market is like too, which is why they do it!

Mrs_Ryan

With the NHS it depends. I had to call in sick after an operation when I was still under the effects of the anaesthetic. I think I sounded drunk I'm at the minute absolutely full of cold but I've had to drag myself into work because I've had so much time off sick I've been told any more and I'm on discplinary. However I do have a disability and my manager is most annoyed she cant put me on disciplinary for it... (see separate thread when I mentioned she was going to try doing it)

Tenyearstogo

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

I believe she meant in the self certification period about calling in every day but I could be wrong. Once u get dr's notes then its highly unlikely you would be required to call in.

Yes, that's what I meant. Once you have a doctors note, you inform them of that.

Thanks for the clarification.

Sheel

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

I believe she meant in the self certification period about calling in every day but I could be wrong. Once u get dr's notes then its highly unlikely you would be required to call in.

Yes of course. I think my husband may well have been joking.

He says he justs asks staff to keep him informed with developments. He's in payroll so they probably aren't as strict as they don't have to get cover in if someone's off sick as they would have to on a ward , they just just cover the persons work between themselves.