To ask if anyone deliberately plans/uses their sick leave as part of their entitlement?

No i’m off when i’m sick. It could be 3/4 times one year or once every three years. I work in the NHS so do come across lots of illness. Unfortunately contrary to what people believe the trusts i have worked in do monitor it and have attendance management. Of course some people take the piss.

We get decent holidays though

I’ve never heard of a sick leave entitlement.

I recall years ago a teaching colleague was off for months with a 'bad back' and there was a supply teacher employed to cover his classes. Eventually he was returning to work and I said to my Year 11 form group that Mr E would be back teaching them again and I overheard a comment from a boy who lived along his road 'He must have finished building his garage then'!

God no, I'd rather use my sick days for when I'm actually too ill to physically come to work.

Years ago I used to work with a girl who openly would talk about how many sick days she he left that quarter to book off, because 'i definitely need to start using up my entitlement '😐

I use my annual leave to cover when I'm ill. Such is my works completely draconian sick leave policy, and not being able to WFH if feeling a little under the weather.

My manager encourages us to use our sick time especially for mental health care. That might just be a social worker thing though

We used to be on the dreaded Bradford score which worked for me as I’m only off sick for surgery so always got paid
but now we get 10 days paid and I need major surgery with 12 weeks recuperation and I’m waiting to see if theyll pay me

I'm not sure I understand. I've never worked anywhere where you get a set amount of sick days

I can only imagine how much this has contributed to motivate your team/ company colleagues. I just can't understand why people like that can stay in their jobs let alone get promoted

Those saying what happens when you are seriously sick. We only have 10 days no manager option to pay more it’s straight onto ssp and if you are already off sick already already in January it doesn’t restart so I don’t entirely blame them for using it up while they can

No. I take sick leave when I'm too sick to go to work. Thankfully not often. Sick leave does get abused in this way though. I know of a union rep who advised a staff member coming up to retirement to take the last six months as sick leave. They weren't unwell. It's just what the "smart" folk do apparently. I have another word for it personally.

A colleague did this. She was even heard to tell someone who worked for her that they should be sure to use their allowance! We get a very generous sick pay scheme and she maxed it out again and again (leaving the rest of us to pick up the slack, which went down like a cup of cold sick). She seems to have stopped it now, which makes me suspect she was put on a warning or something.

I am also NHS, with an 'entitlement' of 6 months full pay and I have had one day off sick in last 7 years(maybe longer but that is how long I have worked for this trust)
I manage staff sickness now and I absolutely know which staff take the mick and who would be have to be properly poorly to be absent.
I have noticed that younger staff are far more likely to phone in sick and have also noticed they expect a paid day off when they have been out late/ hung over, or flown back from USA night before and feeling jetlagged( go figure) I find it very frustrating.

I hope those days are gone.

I haven’t been off sick since 2016 and that was the first time in 8 years. I manage a large team and I honestly can’t think of the last time one of them was off sick. It must be over a year ago.

We have an agile working policy and it’s so flexible now that unless someone’s really ill, there’s not often a need to be off sick.

As an organisation, our rate of sickness absence has gone down massively since we introduced working from home and agile working.

I had no idea sick leave was limited, I probably take more than average nowadays (and vice versa before) but I didn't even know someone was keeping track least of all that I could somehow use it up.
What happens to people who have chronic conditions/flare ups? Do they have to lie across 2 office chairs while popping pain killers once they used it up? Or do they have to negotiate a bigger allowance?

I have a colleague who is always sick during school holidays. Very frustrating for the rest of the team and does change how I view them.

It will vary though. Mine is assessed on a rolling 5 month period (I have no idea why!!)

Had a colleague do this too. Pop in evey six months for a few days then off sick again.

She also kept getting promoted, because she would of filed a discrimination case if she didn't get it. Discrimination for not being in.

This is public sector. Disgusting of her, especially seeing colleagues come in after having chemo etc.

Not read the full thread but I suspect some employees don't realise that sick allowance on a "rolling year" not Jan to Dec...

Spot on.

I've been in a similar situation, I wasn't unwell but needed some time off for my DH's major op. My manager knew I didn't take the piss and had an excellent attendance record - yes I'd had genuine sick days but she could see they were completely genuine - she gave me discretionary full pay for 2 weeks to deal with what was going on at home.

@SomeKindOfPermanentlyExhaustedPigeon I worked very hard and very generously with my time whenever overtime was needed and I was working.

The staff were always different and moved around a lot. They didn't struggle to recruit for that area

I was good at my job and kept patients happy and safe. Plus, it has benefited me too so no I can't regret it for those reasons. I wasn't leaving a poor work mate to cover me whilst she was short staffed enough to do the work of 4 people.

What did you pretend was wrong with you?

UK resident here - majority of workers here don't abuse sick leave and only use if needed. I know a few individuals that did abuse the paid sick leave system in my previous employment and employer stopped offering sick pay to the new employees.

Well, like a previous poster said, karma.

I've never misused sick pay ... so when I was seriously ill (in hospital, colleagues visited so absolutely beyond doubt), I was paid in full for nearly 4 months.

When I thanked him, my manager said it had been at his "discretion" and he exercised it that way because I'd never taken sick leave when I ought not to have.

Just something to think about.

And what do you/they do if they're then actually sick but used their 'entitlement' already?