Work now tells everyone why you’re off? AIBU to think it’s a bit naff?

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At work we’ve recently appointed a new senior manager. They’ve brought with them a new sickness policy…

First; no more emailing in; you have to call his mobile directly and explain why you are going to be off.

Second; and this is the bit I think is a bit crap… and email comes out everyday with a list of who is not in the building and why, it doesn’t go into masses of detail but does say if someone is “WFH” “Meeting” or “Sick” for example.

This is supposedly so we can “support” in places where they might have a lot of people off, but AIBU to think this is a little crap; and is actually meant to encourage presenteeism… which is a bit irresponsible considering the pandemic isn’t over yet!

I think the phone call thing is quite standard.

Most places I've worked have had that policy, and I know a few of my friends work places do too.

It's to discourage people from calling in sick when they don't really need to be off.

As for the email, I can see why some people would feel put out but most people will probably take no notice of it.

The only time I can see it being an issue is if you're off sick a lot and worried about people noticing?

My workplace had a phone system with various symbols which showed whether people were in a meeting, on holiday, away sick etc., so all the staff could see everyone's status. It never bothered anyone that I'm aware of. Why should I care if the rest of the staff know that I am sick

I think because it specifies covid/medical/sick it's breaking GDPR rules, as this is personal information that the people they're circulating it to have no right to know.

@Aprilx I don’t see how I’ve changed my story!

Don't know how this fits in with the current rules on data protection but depending on where you work it could be useful. We had a policy that people weren't to be contacted while off sick and if they called in we didn't discuss work.
Isolating as opposed to wfh then perhaps you know not to make any plans re meetings etc. Are people isolating still expected to wfh if poss?

I gave a tentative yabu

calling in sick in person is the policy in many companies.
we have to call our line manager and follow up with an email.
wrt informing the team, absences are classified as 'sick' 'annual leave' 'special leave'. no further differentiation is needed, that's too much and possibly against gdpr.

If you can send a text you can.use the phone to ring in surely. Every job I've had I ve had to ring up.

I think it’s quite sensible, to be honest…! (As long as there are no personal details other than “sick”, of course.) If I think “I could really do with speaking to Andrew” and Andrew isn’t there, it saves a lot of disturbing others (“Where’s Andrew? Is he in today? What time?”/“Have you seen Andrew today, Susan?”). I can easily look at the list and think “WFH, so fine to call him” or “not well/on holiday, so don’t call and ask someone else on his team”. Seems sensible to me.

Phoning in is normal, I glossed over it because it's so utterly reasonable - and normal!

The telling the entire company why someone is off sick is unacceptable. If they are off long term, that is for their manager to deal with not the cleaner, their colleague in another or the CEO.

This will flag people with disabilities, people who undergoing sensitivite medical appointments such as IVF, surgery preparation, you name it and is a huge breach of trust IMO. Even the Covid diagnosis is personal medical information and its not OK to share it like this.

Thats not too bad as it doesn't give details of why you are sick. I cried on my return to work when I found out my manager had informed the team I'd had a miscarriage. He didn't ask if he could but had thought it'd be easier if they knew.
So details shouldn't be shared but if it just says sick I think that's okay.

@SnarkyBag

Expecting a phone call rather than email is reasonable. Emailing a list of a senses is not

Why is a phone call required?

Surely there’s a big difference between someone off sick and someone working from home. I wouldn’t be having zoom meetings with someone off sick but would with someone who is still working just somewhere else.
Seems more likely that it’s just the overall tone that’s grating you rather than this actual issue. We know when everyone is off sick but it’s a kind supportive culture.

I think this is fine actually and possibly a great idea, people always know why someone is off, oh where is x today oh they are off sick, or oh they are at a meeting or oh they are off for their medical, seldom is someone’s reason for being out a secret. And it helps people know who to contact and who to not

I don’t get your issue. And the phone call is standard.

Ours just informs our team we are away today otherwise its breaking confidentiality surely?
Calling in is fine if a manager answers the phone. Last time I was off sick I had to spend 20 minutes trying to get hold of someone which isn't great when you've been up all night vomiting

@PinkFootstool

Phoning in is normal, I glossed over it because it's so utterly reasonable - and normal!

The telling the entire company why someone is off sick is unacceptable. If they are off long term, that is for their manager to deal with not the cleaner, their colleague in another or the CEO.

This will flag people with disabilities, people who undergoing sensitivite medical appointments such as IVF, surgery preparation, you name it and is a huge breach of trust IMO. Even the Covid diagnosis is personal medical information and its not OK to share it like this.

The OP said the list doesn’t say why/how - just that they are off sick. I agree with your comment but don’t think it applies to this situation.

We have this at work. It is only seen by our team though. We are a very busy team, essential workers. I have to know instantly who is available and where they are as this determines who has access to what.
We also know who is off due to covid as they still work albeit from home.
In every job I've ever had, I've had to ring in when sick and do this every day of the illness.

I thought a phone call was standard. An email okay and a text rude.

I understand why they have the explanation of absence system. It gives an indication of availability to everyone and could save time being wasted.

we have to call in and i also believe we need to call in every day, while off sick, unless we know in advance

As PP said ringing in or getting a family member to ring in is normal if most of you are based in the same country and have a number to ring.

Sending an email saying exactly while people are off is odd.

We do have meetings where we say X is off today because of a medical emergency, household emergency, etc. However their actual reason for being off isn't repeated in emails sent to the team or company wide.

@SnarkyBag

Expecting a phone call rather than email is reasonable. Emailing a list of a senses is not

Phone call is totally reasonable

The rest is not.

Sorry @SnarkyBag didnt mean to quote you

People are required to call rather than text or email because it's harder to lie when talking to someone so people tend to take fewer sick days.

I think it's fine.
Phone call is normal. In fact one large place I worked, us managers were called in and reminded that a phone call on first day of absence must happen. Didn't matter if we trusted staff, everyone was to be treated the same. It was a good point.
I also have no issue with a description of sick to the wider business.

I really don't see the problem as long as they aren't going into detail about why you're sick. Your team need to know if you're WFH or won't be available at all.

I think it's all fine, except specifically saying that people have covid, and that the absence email goes to the whole company.

In my past work we sent around a daily email saying who was sick, annual leave, wfh, off-site meetings. It just saved time staring around you wondering whether they would be in, or were contactable, or having to look at 15 diaries, most of which were littered with 'private appointments'.