How do you 'call in sick'?

[ItsBloodyFreezingg]

I'm bored and ill in bed.

I've often wondered what people actually say when they call in sick to work or what an employer expects.

Whenever I have in the past, I've felt like I need to awkwardly explain how ill I am and apologise profusely but really, am I expected to tell my employer what is wrong?

If I have the shits, for example, would you tell them that or is it acceptable to just say 'im sorry, I'm unwell today and won't be in work but will keep you updated'? Does my employer really want to know that I've been up vomiting in the night etc..?

I had a bad experience once in my first job years ago where I had been very unwell and had let them know. Their response was to tell me to get a shower, get some pro plus and they would see me at 9. It's made me very nervous ever since!

What do you say / what would be acceptable to you as an employer?

For sick and diarrhoea I need to tell her the time I last vomited or the other as I work in preschool, need at least 48 hours clear and might have passed it on.I've never been off ill with anything else but would probably just give a brief outline.

If I'm genuinely ill I don't feel guilty and hence don't overegg it. Some of my friends are so 'doth protest too much' that it becomes suspicious.

In my workplace we have to tell our manager what’s wrong, I think mainly because certain things need occupational health involvement to be fast tracked (work related stress, back pain etc) and to estimate expected return. We’re expected to call in every day we’re off unless we‘re signed off by a doctor, then we’d just update them when it was due to expire or was extended

I have a woman who I manage and I hate when she rings in sick. She’s lovely, but she goes in to far too much detail. English isn’t her first language so I think it’s just a nuance of language so instead of saying she has a stomach bug, she’ll say “I have diarrhea. There is still some coming out so I won’t be in”.

I just don’t need to hear that at 7.45am as I’m queueing for my chocolate croissant.

I don't say what's wrong as I'm a private person and I don't think it's any of their business. I will just say that I am sorry, I am ill and I won't be in today, and when I expect to be back (if known).

I have known managers in the past to discuss or mention what is wrong with other people who are off, vaguely embarrassing things. I wouldn't trust that it would be kept confidential, so I just have a blanket policy of not specifying what is wrong. If you get a sick note it just says "incapacitated by a medical condition" anyway. It's never been a problem for me at any job.

I work in a school and if someone is sick they have to phone the head teacher, texts or emails are not accepted.

Doesn't bother me since I never go off sick but I know it annoys others, probably because they can't pull a sickie so easily.

At a previous school I know of a colleauge who lied about a sprained ankle and said she couldn't get to work because she couldn't drive. the head told her to get ready and that he'd be at her house for 8 and he'd drive her to work. LOL it was rather funny thinking about it. I think she had plans to go out that day. Oh well, serves her right.

We have an automated sickness line for officially reporting sick which is great, no awkward phone conversations.

I will then let my team know by texting one or two of them in the morning. I'm the manager and my line manager does not work on site so I'll likely email him later on.

As a manager I am also quite happy with a quick text from my team to let me know in the morning. I don't need to hear anyone's 'sick voice' (which we all do and I have no idea why!!).

I usually text, as per instructions from my manager, as I start at 8 before him and must leave the house by 8 and he said he doesn’t want us calling so early in the morning and t3xt will do fine as he can’t do anything till he goes to work anyway.

That is in the 4 times in 10 years I’ve called in sick.

I admit to tell my employers if I have diarrhoea (admittedly I'll say "D&V" but they obviously know what I'm referring to). I'm a nurse and they absolutely need to know if staff have diarrhoea in case there are a number of cases grouped so we can declare an outbreak and stop patient movement on or off the ward.

I don't think it's that cringy really. It's something everyone gets sometimes.

I’ve worked a few places with different policies.
The worst was a school where you had to call in between 7-7.30am every single day you were off.
I was actually on contract so didn’t really need to be ringing them, my agency told them I wouldn’t be in. I stopped because having to get up every morning wasn’t helping my recovery (chest infection). They werent happy. I used to feel sorry for staff who had been up all night ill and then needed to hang on for this ridiculous time limit.
Also numerous staff started before 7am, but the head didn’t want calling before then and it caused loads of issues getting them covered.
This policy made no difference to the number of absences anyway.

We have to phone ourselves before 09:30, no text or email. I would email if I lost my voice (which was close to happening a couple of years ago, which my colleagues had thought hilarious, the day before in the office.)

I usually phone just after 7ish and then go back to bed. Most times, this has the added advantage of not having to actually speak to my manager, but leave a voicemail.

I think the last time I rang in sick it was nearer 10am, but it was the first time I'd felt safe to leave the bathroom for long enough to make a call. I was not going to phone from the bathroom while there was a risk of added sound effects!

I do remember being pissed off with my manager once - when I was back in the office, my manager asked if I was sure I was up to it, I hadn't sounded at all well on the phone the day before. I may have sounded tired, tense, certainly not full of beans, but it was menstrual (though I think I'd said stomach upset) - there was nothing wrong with my voice, I didn't have a cold or something which would affect my voice, and I don't go in for putting on a special poorly voice.

I used to fret over this.

Now I write (email, obviously, never phone calls)

'Hi,

I am sick and will not be in the office today.

If there is anything urgent call my cell : 123 456 78910.

Regards,

Half Wit Picker'

Subject line of email is : Halfwit not in the office today

I line manage a couple of people who don't comply with the phoning in sick policy. I don't work on the same building so the first I know is when someone emails me at lunchtime saying X hasn't come in. Really annoying. We have to record a reason for illness but if it was something very personal I would just say tell HR if you do not want to tell me.

As I work in a school you just have to be honest with what you got.

I had to phone the office manager before the start of work time to tell them I'd be too ill to come in because that was their policy. I'd say "I'm very sorry but I'm not very well, I won't make it to work today, I've got flu/stomach bug/other general description" and tell them if I thought it was likely I'd be off for more than one day and whether I was waiting to see a doctor to get medication before I'd start to get better. I really hate the types that boast about never calling in sick or tell people to pull themselves together. If they've never had to call in sick, then they can't have ever been that ill because no one would make it to work if they physically can't move/can't see straight/are projectile vomiting every few minutes

I line manage a couple of people who don't comply with the phoning in sick policy. I don't work on the same building so the first I know is when someone emails me at lunchtime saying X hasn't come in.
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I once worked with someone that often did that, until they stopped her pay one time. She complied after that!

In my NHS organisation the policy is strict. We have to call in, not text or email, the call has to be by your normal start time, and we have to do it ourselves. We are expected to say what is wrong and how long we will be off. If unsure, we are expected to call in regularly with updates. On returning, we have a return to work interview on the first day back and the exact details of what was wrong will be recorded on ESR.

WindsfromtheNE Same, but we have to phone every day during the first self certified 7 days.

A few weeks ago I heard a guy in Popmaster on radio 2, he said he was off work sick with a bad cough, I didn’t hear him cough or sniff once!

I have to know in advance that I'm going to wake up ill, wake up two hours earlier and repeatedly phone in until it is picked up, rather than let it go to VM, text or email and explain exactly what is wrong prior to 7am, then call repeatedly again by 3pm --and keep calling because the person who has the sickness reporting phone is doing the school run and switches it off for 'family time' all evening, forgetting to switch it back on sometimes. And tell at least two other senior members of staff. And repeat the following morning/afternoon. And repeat until you know in advance that you will be better in 16 hours' time, tell them that you will be better, then get into work and complete a sickness report form for all absences, give it to your manager, explain in full details exactly what was wrong with you, they then complete a form that asks them to decide if you're well enough to return to work and then it is passed to the relevant person.

It's not worth the effort to do it unless you're genuinely ill, so I suppose it works as a deterrent.

Ages ago I had a manager who didn't believe I should be off when I had painful periods.I had to get a taxi in and have to relate that she still didn't believe until I threw up,on her feet and then fainted.
I heard from collegues that she was bollocked by a Consultant who had seen it which may account for my being got a taxi home and reimbursement for the one in.He was a nice Consultant who said his wife recommended gin!

I managed a team who handled absence calls for the entire site (~1200 employees.)

We had a "flowchart" to follow, roughly like this:
What's your name, what dept are you in, who is your line manager (basically double checking info on system and triggering email to the line manager in question)
If a new absence: What is the illness (if they haven't said at the start of the call)
If a continuation, check it's the same illness
If they've been off more than 3 days, ask if they have contacted the GP or sought any medical advice
Book them a return to work interview with their line manager - in the case of a longer illness we'd just keep moving the RTW day by day
Remind them that unless covered by a sick note (as it was back then) they will need to keep calling in day by day
Check if it's okay for their manager to call them

Employee must call in themselves unless incapacitated (e.g. in hospital)
The reason for the above is it's much easier to ask someone else to lie for you than to do it yourself
It's also easier to lie to a voicemail or on text

We heard some right crackers in our time. Made me very cynical about people calling in sick, which in turn made me feel horrible because at least 50% of people were genuinely unwell.

I just send an email to anyone I have a meeting with that needs to be rescheduled. I have a unique job though. When I had a more traditional arrangement, I would just leave a message for the department assistant that I was out for the day.

I was due to work a night shift when 10 weeks pregnant with DC3. Woke from a nap an hour before my shift, went to the toilet and I was bleeding. After my initial panic about what to do I realised I needed to call work to let them know I wouldn’t be there.

I’m an NHS nurse so had to speak to the nurse in charge of the staffing boards. I was audibly upset and just said that I was so sorry for the late notice but that I couldn’t come in for my shift. He demanded to know why so I told him I was bleeding and was waiting on a doctors call. He said I needed to give more notice than I had. I hadn’t told work I was pregnant so reluctantly explained that I was pregnant and bleeding and waiting for a doctor’s call. He answered that it was very convenient! I was angry and upset at this point and told him that for me it wasn’t convinient at all. I think I hung up!

It was quite distressing to have to divulge personal information and I felt guilty enough at leaving my team short but I couldn’t have risked it. I understand that it must be really annoying to get staff phoning in sick especially with little notice but I think managers need to at least cover their annoyance and pretend to be sympathetic.

I text/email.

I don’t apologise and I don’t feel guilty!