To turn down a job based on...

I’ve never paid much attention to policies and I wish I had …

I had surgery in February and after 6m on SSP I am in a mess financially. You may be absolutely fine health wise now, but trust me you never know what may happen.

The stress & worry has significantly impacted my ability to recover. I am
now looking for another job where I feel more valued.

If you already have a job that pays you what you need and doesn’t make you miserable, I think it’s entirely sensible to turn a new one down if there’s anything in the ts and cs that makes you pause. Recruiters are very good at making you feel that if you aren’t prepared to take a risk, you’re lacking in ambition, but that’s because their main concern is their commission, not your happiness.

In what way is the package really competitive?

I work in private sector heathcare, on a much much better hourly rate than I'd earn in the nhs. I have no intention of having more babies, so the smp isn't an issue.

You can get round the poor ssp with a private income protection policy. As long as the better wages cover the monthly cost of the policy (usually by miles). You then get a policy that tops up the ssp to your usual monthly income.

It obviously doesn't cover an odd day or 2 for a sickness bug, just have to take that on the chin but if I broke my leg or something worse and needed longer off we're safe

Recently turned down an offer that was almost 50% pay increase over this.

Got approached more recently for a really interesting job but it had no maternity until 2 years service.

Ended up getting a counter offer from my current which wasn't 50% increase closer to 40%.

Reason for me was I want kids soon in the next year

That would be a dealbreaker for me.

Also, I never took a days sick until I got pregnant. 24 weeks and still throwing up every day :( Given you’re interested in the maternity pay I assume you must be thinking of kids at some point so something to think about is if you’re ill in pregnancy.

It would be an issue for me. I had the same problem when I was offered a new job last year but they only offered SSP. I explained to them I currently had a much better package and wouldn't be able to take the job. Thankfully my new employer agreed to match and we had a deal! Definitely mention it to them and see if there is any negotiation.

It isn’t that unusual to use sick for child sickness, my DH gets paid sick leave and his work told him to take it as sick leave if he needs to care for unwell DC. It means he still gets it as paid and they said he didn’t need to use annual leave for it.

I need to use annual leave, take it unpaid or work back the time.

I’ve seen various from friends. Including some teachers that still get paid if they need to take care of DC, I assume that’s taking it as sick leave too, with their workplace aware of why they’re off.

This happens with growing companies - they're so focused on growing that they forget to enhance their employment packages and just chuck salary at it.

One of my friends works for a lovely but successful and growing small business and they still only have the absolute minimum amount of annual leave and instead have "pub lunches" as a perk every month. He's happy with it, I wouldn't be.

This. To me it would speak volumes about the employer so it wouldn't be somewhere I'd want to work.

I'd also expect that this kind of policy results in everyone dragging themselves in to infect everyone else which I'm not up for either.

YABU if you are expecting to use sick pay to care for sick DC in any job.

For your own long term illness it's advisable to have income protection or critical illness cover anyway. If you were to work in a job offering good sickness benefits for 5 years then try and take out a personal policy when you are 5 years older it will be much more expensive.

It is common to only get statutory sick pay, and unless you are planning more kids maternity is irrelevant. You don't get paid if you are off when your children are sick anyway, sick leave is for you being sick, family leave or annual leave is for child sickness

You wouldn’t be able to take sick leave if
your child was unwell - it would likely be unpaid leave

lots of companies have statutory as a minimum

I depends how attractive the rest of the job is. However, I’m a bit wary about employers that offer the bare minimum (statutory), sometimes hints at bad company culture - i.e. they don’t look after their people.

I moved to another company because they had a great sickness policy, like you I am rarely sick but after my friend had cancer I felt I couldn't risk it - and I have since had complications from a surgery (not cosmetic) which included 2 hospital stays and needed 7 weeks off - and i was so glad I did not have to worry about pay on top of that- and I have not been off sick since then.

Not sure why you would take a sick day if your child is ill. They're not for that.

That said, I wouldn't blame you for not taking the job, obviously the company doesn't care that much about their employees' health and wellbeing.

If I liked the job I would ask/negotiate for enhanced sickness and maternity. I have done this successfully twice.

If they wouldn't budge I would decline decline. Whatever about mat leave the sickness is a clear signal on how they view employees

I've never worked anywhere that only gave SSP, and I wouldn't be happy either. I've been sick twice in a 40yr career, once for an emergency op and I was off 6 weeks, and once with breast cancer when I only took 8 days. And worked from home for three of those.

Yanbu. I go above and beyond and I expect my employer to support me. Give & take.

Personally I think they should pay proper sick pay. But for your other comment, I haven’t heard of a place allowing someone to take sick pay for a sick child? Usually they will make you take that as emergency annual leave?

Oh and you can't go sick if your kid is sick.

I'm too old for kids now but no way would I accept if they would have been on the cards at the time.

Is there any other package - life / health etc?

You can’t use sick leave to take a day off if your kid is sick. I assume you are planning more kids, if SMP policy is important? Sick leave is a risk but as others said, you can get insurance. I’d speak to the employer, I’m sure they’d want to know why, if you turn the job down.

But if you had to take a day off because your child was ill you wouldn't be able to have that as six pay anyway. You would have to have it as unpaid leave.

A company I used to work for had that in their contract but they actually did pay sick leave at the managers discretion.

I would check with them before you turn it down.

I wouldn't turn down a job because of SMP but possibility if they only paid SSP. My job only didn't tell me they only paid SSP until after I stated which I'm a bit annoyed about.