To find this level of selfishness at work over Christmas really upsetting?

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I work in a care home, so, obviously we provide care every day of the year.

Some members of staff make it their quest to have Christmas off every single year

One nurse goes on the sick mid November until beginning of January - every bloody year

Another one uses the fact that she has grandchildren to get out of doing extra shifts to help out.

Several care assistants throw a wobbly about having to work Christmas and nag and argue all over the entire holiday.

One of them on days refuses to come in at all (because she has a large, extended family).

One of the nightshift carers also refuses to come in.

Another of them is the manager's favourite and never works Christmas either.

I'm the only one of the nursing/care staff that has children. The others are either older and have grandchildren or don't have children at all. I don't want extra time off or favours because I have children, but I do feel really angry about it because I do loads to help out and my kids are only young for a short time

I'm having to work Boxing Day as an extra this year because Little Miss Cow Skiver is on the sick again and only some of us will cover extra shifts because we are decent people..............the rest are just selfish hags and I hope they all choke on their turkey

Fakebook has a point though .. dont be mad at other staff. there are no repercussions for their actions and they still get their wages AND bonuses. I would be majorly pissed off at management for allowing this! staff are doing what they are let away with doing and are relying on you.

I think you should make a New Year's resolution to look for a new job. Bad management can make an OK job truely hideous. It'll be the same next year, so give yourself a year to get out of it.

You are not being unreasonable at all.
When i was a supervisor, the ones with kids got priority, next grand kids then everyone else would work around that with time off.
Never a problem everyone understood... and so should your work.

It's the residents I feel sorry for. The Care home is their home and the carers should be almost like their family. The fact that your colleagues won't work on Christmas Day sends the message to me that they don't care what sort of a day the residents have. Its obviously 'just a job' to them. I hoep my parents never end up in a care home!
Well done to you OP for being conscientious about your work. I'm sorry that you work with a bunch of selfish t*s. I hope you enjoy the little time you get to spend with your children over Christmas.

I would bring it up at staff meetings or speak to the manager.
Say that you think there should be a Christmas rota so that everyone takes there turn to work over Christmas.
The worker who is off sick is tricky.
Could you drop it into conversation with the manager about how she hasn't worked her share for the past 2 years, in a kind of casual "oh I've just realised x has been ill for the past 2 christmas's, therefore it will be their turn to work next Christmas" casual sort of way.

And this is what happens when working in a care home is so undervalued and underpaid.

It makes me

I don't see why people with young kids should get priority. EVERYONE should get a FAIR share of time off over Xmas. Which is clearly not the case where the OP works.

I take it the manager is not the owner? Is there an HR system in place. People refusing to cover shifts and being ill with such a predictable pattern would be disciplinary in a normal workplace.

Thanks TSC, it'll be a weird Christmas this year.

This thread has reminded me to buy a big box of chocolates for my MIL's nursing home staff. I totally forget.

I am sorry you have to put up with such workmates, and hope you get a winters walk on another day off.

Agree with other posters that this is all down to weak managers and you're not the first person working in a care setting I have heard this from.

OP you need a propper rota and Xmas needs to be rotated between everyone who works there.

As for Miss take Novemberr - January, well why don't you take 6-8 weeks of around your dcs summer holiday.

What is she phoning in sick with, do you know? Don't you need to be signed off by a doctor to take that much time off at once?

Hidden would it not be possible to move from a care home to a day centre? My mum did this and she is much happier and less stressed. In my mum's old place of work they were constantly under staffed and everyone could feel the tension.

YANBU

Management need to sort this out. Where I work (nhs hospital) everyone has to do work at least one bank holiday. We are all allowed to request when our days off are but with no guarantees you'll get them. They look at what you worked the previous year. To me this is fairer than prioritizing people with kids. Plenty of people with kids volunteer to work, shifts are 7-3, 1-9.30 and 8.45-7.30. So its crap but you don't lose an entire day.

I don't think It's fair to say Christmas is only for people with kids.

More to the point, what about people who are stuck in hospital. Patients and their relatives don't get to have these arguments. I work on ICU so its quite bleak, always tragic stuff happening. It really makes you appreciate the people you love, especially at this time of year. Having to work doesn't seem so bad compared to what some people are going through. At least we can help.

A good team makes for a good atmosphere at work. We bring loads of food and staff are in good moods.

Year before last I worked nights all Xmas and it was crap. I remember crying on Christmas day cos I was tired . Last Year I got Christmas off and worked new year. This year I'm on Mat leave, Hurrah!

This is what happens with my ex every year. Last year was mean to be 'his' Christmas with the DC's, because the head chef refuses to work Christmas (from 20th Dec to 7th Jan, DESPITE the fact that they aren't allowed to book leave at all for December...), and he is the only other qualified chef (though they have only now, after 6 months of Union wrangling, agreed to pay him a whole 22p an hour more than the kitchen porter job he was hired to do for the use of his chef skills...) for the whole hospital (They have had the second chef and sous chef leave this year and still haven't replaced them 8 months later), he had to work Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, NYE AND NY Day!

This year, again, he has not had a day off since the 20th, and his next day off will be 5th Jan, so he is meant to work 7am-5pm, solidly for 15 days. He normally finishes at 3pm when he starts at 7.

He has already told his bosses that he is NOT working Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day next year.

He doesn't care about NYE/NYD, but he is blowed if he is missing a THIRD Christmas in a row with his DC's!

You can bet that they will tell him it's OK until the start of December next year, then they will tell him that he can't have the time off as the Head chef is off. They are so desperate not to lose the head chef too that they give her whatever she asks for.

Problem is, he isn't budging - and he and I both know that they are just as desperate to keep him! He's already told his bosses that if they roster him to work any of those three days next year, they'd better have an agency chef on standby, because he won't be coming in - he'll call in sick.

He would rather lose his job than work next Christmas - but they won't sack him, they can't find any other qualified chefs prepared to work for less than £8 an hour like they're paying him.

He's staying in the job because the hours are convenient for him to be more involved with the DC's, if he wants more money, he can get a better paid job straight away - but the hours are worse.

So if it came to it and they did sack him, he'd be able to walk into a better paid job there and then, so his bosses actually need him more than he needs this job.

YANBU

We're are having the exact same problem at the moment. Loads of staff have been ringing in sick in the last few days. You can self certify for 7 days so no need for a medical certificate from your GP. It happens every year.

One girl who has been there for 3 years has never worked Xmas because she has gone sick. There's another who just point blank refuses to come in. Neither have children. I know my manager has taken advice from the senior nurse about this, they are looking into disciplinary procedures now.

But one thing that has pissed many of us off this year is that we have 3 new members of staff, they have all got Xmas and boxing day off this year. Staff that have worked Xmas for the last couple of years are having to work it. That's not right!

As someone makes rotas in a 24/7 clinical role. Good management should be getting all staff together early in November presenting rota explaining how it works and why it is fair. We get no enhanced pay as we are all salaried and this part of our package, but everyone is happy as they all have at least two consecutive days off somewhere in the rota.

YANBU but I wouldn't have agreed to do extra if I wanted that day off.
Yes shit for manager who'd have to work it but you can be sure shed have sorted next year out properly!
Nothing like having to work it all yourself as an incentive to sort the slackers out!

I'm NHS and would expect to work boxing day if I had Christmas day off anyway.