Sick days

[Belladog1]

Just wondering how many days sick you generally have per year. I'm not talking serious ailments but coughs/colds/stomach issues etc ....

I am very lucky and I'm rarely ill. I can't remember the last time I got a cold and i don't think I've taken a sick day in years. I'd have to feel really rubbish before I'd consider not going to work.

But my colleagues are very different. One lady is off a lot, at least fortnightly with headaches or a cold. She apparently takes to her bed and gets looked after by her husband. I've noticed her son takes lots of time off too for ailments and she often gets calls from the school for him to be collected as he has tummy ache. I can't help but wonder if her sickness days and staying home look great to her son who gets a day home with one mention of a poorly stomach.?

My boss often phones me to say he's woken up feeling grotty and is taking a day to stay under the duvet.

I remember as a kid trying to convince my mum i was sick. She would sit on the bed, pull a silly face and if I giggled she'd say 'I think you're well enough to go to school', and off I'd go. But, even today, as a middle aged woman, I still feel guilty, almost like I'm lying, if I need a day off sick.

I think i had 2 days sick last year, one was to look after my daughter.

A lad who works for me had in 2022 10.5 days sick, 2023 16.5 days sick, 2024 13.5 days sick, 2025 23 days sick and so far this year 5 days....

When i was his age i wouldn't dare to do that....

I completely agree with you. I've worked in both public and private sector. Currently working private sector where there is only a SSP entitlement. There is rarely any "odd days" of sickness taken by staff. The company uses discretion for those on long-term sick. Working in the public sector, I think people took the piss.

I rarely have time off sick. I debate myself internally and convince myself that I'm fine only to realise, that when I feel better, I really wasn't and should probably have taken more rest. But I'm being paid for a service and if I don't provide that service I feel guilty for taking money.

How old is he? I do actually think that the younger generation really don't have the same fears about being off sick that I / we do.

I broke my leg / foot 7yrs ago. I worked for a company that was in a very old building with loads of steep staircases. It was a health and safety nightmare ..... and I had to go down the stairs on my bum, but I still went in every day. My company apparently 'risk assessed' it, and deemed it was OK for me to be at my desk every day. The only thing they insisted on was that I was never left on my own in the building.

Agreed, the younger generation have a totally different work ethic, the world owes them a living..... He is 22 and worked for me since he was 16....

I had 4 days last week. Had tried to struggle through the previous Thursday and Friday but was really suffering! Have also been working at 100% for too long with no let up which I think contributed. But other than the odd day for a migraine I think it's been about 3 years since I was off so long.

Only when I have a job interview

Generally none although annoyingly I had a couple of days off last week as I was floored with covid and was exhausted with lack of sleep. First time off in about 7 years though.

Last February a few weeks for surgery
March for two days for a neck issue
September for two days for d&v

ive got a mixture of colleagues who take one or two days every 6 weeks and some who are never off but like to come in and spread their germs

Usually zero sick days, but this year I had one day off sick with d&v.
I am lucky to have good health and rarely get colds etc, but also think a lot of people take sickies or take to their beds at the first cough.

4-5 days Pa

Last year was a bit out of the ordinary as I took three weeks off in Feb when my mum died and another two in July when I was admitted to hospital with a gallbladder infection. But generally I’d say no more than 2/3 in a year. I think working from home probably reduces sick leave. I don’t get sick often, but sickness that leaves me unable to commute to work might not be bad enough to prevent me doing my job from home.

Part time, public sector, 4 days a week and not taken a sick day in almost 5 years. Covid in 2021 was the last time we had to stay off with no choice to go in. No illness bad enough to stay off since then (colds which I could work with).

We don’t take for granted how lucky we are as a family generally with health. Kids rarely have more than a day or two off school a year. DH rarely ever has a day off too.

Do you want a medal?

I’ve had 6 days off in just over 11 years, but I work part time (4 days a week) so possibly it would be slightly higher if I was full time. I can also easily work from home on days when I’m a bit under the weather, which helps.

No, you are correct in your outlook because you are not a snowflake 😂

In 13 years I've had 2 weeks when I had my gall bladder out, 2 weeks when I had my appendix out, 3 days when I had a ductectomy, a week for covid (as per the then rules) and x2 lots of maternity, oh... 1 day when I dislocated my jaw then 1 day follow up at hospital. I've not had a sick day about 3 years, last one was my jaw.

The average person takes 7 sick days a year in the private sector. It’s double that in the public sector.

I have two jobs, one temporary contract and the other is casual work where we only get paid if we show up and work.

1 or 2 days a year, thankfully.

I have worked in places where they've had 'wellbeing days' which is a new thing - with one woman having to take a 'wellbeing day' every week because of her 'mental health' despite being in a hybrid job where she WFH 3 days a week. Effectively she was only in 1 day a week. This is all new to me as I'm 58 and used to working a 40hr week.

I’ve been in my job nearly 20 years and had 3-4 sick days in total . even those are when I have tried to work from a laptop in bed but couldn’t even manage that.
it’s just not me to take a day off sick unless I literally cannot work. My DH on the other hand will easily take days off at the drop of a hat if he’s feeling remotely unwell .

I very much approve of sick leave. I am a team manager and someone in my team is off sick, had two weeks and I encouraged them to speak to their GP and they have been signed off for a further two weeks.

we are Social Workers and you don’t want a stressed crying Social Worker making legally defensible arguments when they can hardly string a sentence together.

My husband works for a non public sector company, they get five days paid sick leave a year. It’s counterproductive because all you have is people working passing around their bugs, who should be at home getting better, not passing it on to half the workforce.

Seriously, no one gets any prizes for never taking a sick day!

I’m private sector, work from home 4 days a week. We have a generous sick leave policy and I work from home. I’ve had 3 days off sick in the past two years, I’m in a small team so it impacts others if I’m not at work and I work through coughs and colds. I might finish early or start late, but will generally do some work unless really unwell.

I’d take more time off if we were office based because a colleague is immunocompromised and would be very unwell if I passed on a cold or D&V. I’m of a generation where you just got on with things, so never had the mindset of taking time off for minor illness. It’s harder to push through in my 50s than it was in my 20s though.

I’d love to see the evidence for that. I also wonder if it’s due to the type of work the public sector covers - nursing, teaching, social work, policing, social care are all public facing, carry high levels of stress and run understaffed - that must have a bearing both on general health and the wisdom of turning up to work while unwell.

It's interesting. My mother encouraged us as kids to stay home from school if we didn't feel right, and I assumed it was OK to do this in the workplace. Then I had an absolutely dreadful virus and couldn't take sick leave because of work commitments and discovered that yes! I could actually work through it. This was a revelation to me. So I think it's a lot to do with how you were brought up.

Only been in my current job 7 months, I asked someone to swap an 8 hour Saturday shift with me a couple of weeks ago as I had flu-because someone swapped it wasn’t counted as me phoning in sick. Apart from that none yet. I went in when I had a pinched nerve in my back but explained to my boss I couldn’t lift anything for a few days so I stayed on tills,off my face on painkillers. Luckily I work in a shop so it’s not life changing if I’m not 100% with it!

I was off in October for a week with bed ridden flu could not lift my head off the pillow even when I went back I was still unwell. My manager is so lovely and knows we don’t go off unless we have too as we can WFH. I do get annoyed with people coming to office spreading stuff when they could WFH. I have a crappy immune system and the year before I was off 4 times with chest infections on antibiotics and steroids. Luckily my work file states I have asthma so because of that it made me really poorly I wasn’t penalised in anyway as it was linked. I hate being off sick, it’s the last resort for me but everyone’s health is different. I’ve been so lucky to have missed getting Covid from my daughter in August then she had 4 weeks of super flu in December. Touch wood lol! Don’t want to jinx myself here