To think your work should leave you alone when you're ill?

You need to check your absence policy. I mean it does seem like overkill, but have you actually checked your absence policy thoroughly and followed it to the letter? The fact that you think it's 'rare for me to be off' when you have been off a lot more than me (last time I had sick days was 3 years ago) makes me wonder if you've presumed you've not been off much and so failed to bother with your absence policy, when actually been off quite a bit and triggered something.

Being ill 3 times in a year may not be that rare. Being ill enough to miss work 3 times in a year is rare.

It’s really not. I’m doing end of year reviews with my team. 2 have never had a sick day since starting 2 or 3 years ago. One has had a few episodes. I’ve been off sick 4 episodes in 10 years and 2 of those were pregnancy related.

If you didn’t speak to your manager it’s in my work policy to ring you. I wouldn’t with any of my team because they are infrequently sick. 3 times in 10 months and you hadn’t spoken to a manager in my workplace you would absolutely get a phone call.

Yes, but they're expected to go to work if they're not bedridden and few illnesses require that.

It's just the way it is. You've had a lot of time off sick.

Most places I've worked has been 3 periods in a rolling 12 month period. The average (across hundreds of people) was something like 1.7 absences a year - though they could be multiple days.

Most places I've worked have also heavily suggested management wellbeing check-ins whilst the colleague is off. Not necessarily from day 1 but I don't think that's a major overreaction.

Definitely not rare.

I've had 1 day off sick in 10 years

As others have said it's probably that you didn't follow procedure of speaking to a manager before a certain time each day or you've triggered some sort of point of too much sickness over a certain timescale.

It is rare. Most people are off sick much less frequently than that.

@Thatsnotmynameee

"I would think being ill 3 times in a year was rare".

wtf??

@Thatsnotmynameee rare for the wrong reason. How long were you off each time?

Lol...if you think this then I'd hate to know the sickness rate of your colleagues

Rare for me to be off, last time before last week it was 4 months ago and then 6 months before that one.

Sorry but that is not rare, and am not surprised your employer is checking in with you.

However ridiculous, if that's what is in your handbook that's what they need to do. All you need to do is explain and you're simply cooperating.

Same in my old workplace. Infact 2 periods of absence triggered an absence review and a written warning. Twice were actually for deaths of family members so not even an illness. We were expected to go in even if we were ill 🤦‍♀️

OP has said they 'rang work' but that doesn't mean they let the manager know directly. As a manager if a message hadn't been passed on and someone hadn't turned up for work I'd certainly be calling to find out if all is ok.

It is most definitely not 'rare' for you to be off sick if the last time was only 4 months ago. Rare is once every few years.

It would absolutely trigger a sickness review in my workplace.

Its quite unusual for healthy adults to be poorly enough to need to be off work for 3 days, and ill enough to miss work 3 times in a year? I have only had one day off sick in around 3 years & i have young kids.

I think people are arguing a bit of a moot point really. Regardless of triggering absence thresholds, the manager shouldn't have been ringing her to discuss it the first day she was off sick.

Supportive contact I believe it's called. Check your own workplace policies, but yes it could well be that your manager was obliged to contact you. Particularly important if sickness looks to be becoming an issue. Presumably you'll be expecting to be paid as normal, it's not much to expect, a few minutes of your time on the phone.

I'm not sure your definition of rare matches everyone else's? I think they are right to just check in with you. In fact if it is just "standard" illness I'd have pulled myself together enough for 10 minutes at some point for a quick handover email.

I’m amazed that you are surprised at that. Some places I’ve worked that would an automatic warning with a further warning for anymore sickness in 6 months and dismissal if there’s another following that one within a set time period.

OP you said it's 'rare' for you to be ill yet you have been off 3 x in 12 months. Yes it would trigger an absence review in most companies.

Funny enough it's there to make sure there's nothing underlying which could mean you need additional help & support that you haven't already flagged. It's not a witch hunt.

I wouldn’t say your sickness record is rare- I get sick 2-3 times a year and I defo have the most sickness out of my colleagues

You being absent isn't rare if you've had three in the last 10 months. Rare would see a frequency far lower than that.