How do you call in sick?

[Ihatework2]

Nc for this. Just want to find out what happens to other people as in my workplace (school teacher) we literally have to phone the headteacher on his mobile and speak about our illness in depth and he then tells us to email cover in. Are other workplaces like this too? Would you classify this as an intimidating tactic? Other places I’ve worked in don’t require you to do this. If you’re naturally anxious it will stop you calling in sick.

I have to call and speak to the person in charge of the shift. We have to give at least a vague idea of the reason so it can be put on the computer system (we can’t put sickness on the system without putting in a reason), but people probably lie at that stage and then tell our manager the truth later. My manager actually encouraged me to do that while trying to persuade me it’s ok to take time off for mental health.

I love that people are so shocked that teachers still have to set cover work whilst unwell. Why do you think people are leaving the profession and there is a shortage of teachers - it is the ridiculous shit like this that we have to deal with 🤷‍♀️. It's often easier to drag yourself out of bed, take what ever drugs you can to make it mildly better and go into work than it is to sit down and plan lessons that a non specialist teacher can teach. Then you go in and everyone in your department gets ill from you and has to do the same thing. Or if you do stay off like the OP says they don't bother teaching the stuff you've set anyway, then your class is behind on lessons and you again have a shit load more work to do. Often it's easier to just not be off and the school would certainly prefer that so they don't have supply teacher costs.

Also OP the head ending the call with 'we will see you tomorrow' is passive aggressive bullying bullshit. What a twat.

Also a school.

We call the school and inform them of sickness absence. We have to say if us, kids etc and has to be by 8am.

We do a return to work form for even 1 day and asked for a reason for we don't have to go into detail. Eg - cold and headache and painkillers not making you well enough to work. Or sickness big so illness + 48hrs.

But this is helpful because when I was off with gynae issues I was able to say I have long term health issue, that particular day the pain was too much to stand, inform them I'm waiting for consultant apt and will likely need surgical intervention. So since then if I've had a day I'm unable to attend it's already logged.

Also a primary school teacher.

We have to call HT on their mobile at 7am.

On the incredibly rare times I've been off I've sent an email outlining the planning for the day (one form entry).

It's more effort to be off than come in TBH.

I keep meaning to prepare a couple of days stand alone lessons, should I be off sick again.

[quote Ihatework2]@Barbie222 what I specifically have a problem with is the fact the work I HAVE arranged whilst extremely ill was not even taught to the kids. Speaking to others this is common.[/quote]
That's not the point you made in your OP and is a separate issue. There could be all sorts of reasons why what you'd set wasn't taught which have nothing to do with your illness. Personally unless I knew I was going to be off a lot I'd prefer to set something that wasn't crucial to further teaching if I was off the odd time, so it wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't covered quite to my specifications, or indeed at all.

We phone a specific line into HR. Generally they ask what the illness is, is this the first day off, are we going to see the dr and who manages us / who needs to know we won't be in.
Depending on which dept you're in, you may get a call back from your manager later in the day, just to let you know they've received the message and to either say you need to call in again tomorrow if you won't be in or agree when they next expect to hear from you.

I was off for a week with flu at the start of the year. I think I sounded so rough my manager called me, listened to 1 sentence and told me to text if I needed anything or if I wasn't going to be in the following week and that was it.

If you manage cover in a high school that starts at 8.20 am, you start work at 6.30 am assigning your 2 or 3 cover supervisors to lessons (all the subjects in a large high school which could be anything from MFL to Food Tech to Maths.) If you can't cover everything, you have to contact a supply agency, hope they can get someone in before school starts, and make up a pack so the supply know where to go what they are teaching etc. If a teacher has supplied electronic lesson plans or handouts, all of that must be printed out. New external supply must be dbs'd and given a 'mini induction' - toilets, school plan, fire alarm, school day etc. The cover schedule then has to be circulated to all pastoral staff and teachers. If someone rings in late, you often have to rearrange the cover rota. If cover work is sent late or the dept. head hasn't sent work, the cover supervisor or supply have to improvise. I think many people would be surprised at how badly paid school support staff are. We have had up to 18 teachers to cover in two hours. It is a safeguarding issue to leave 30 teenagers in a classroom without a supervising adult.

I’ve worked in civil service, private sector, charity and as a teacher. Only teaching expects an ill person to resource the covering of their job. It acts as a deterrent to taking time off. Occasionally this might be a good thing insofar as it discourages sickies when you’re not actually ill. More often, it means you’re in (and possibly spreading germs) when you shouldn’t be.

And it’s why teachers are almost invariably ill at the start of every holiday.

SLT here. I call the head before 7am then the head of Science, and then start setting cover, which is usually done by 8.30. I'll be honest though, it is easier to just drag yourself in than have to field emails all day whilst half dying.

It's been the same in all the schools I've worked in. Thankfully the head and I get on very well, but I still dislike phoning in sick, so if I'm off it is either because I can't physically get up or I'm sat in A&E. I've set plenty of cover from A&E....

I would log on and check my diary then call my manager and let her know of any meetings she will have to cover - if she was unavailable. I would call my team and see who could do the meetings on my behalf. We would never cancel a meeting - just get someone else to do it.

All my other work could wait and I don't need cover for it.

My staff are expected to telephone me to report sickness. If they can't get through to me, notify someone else.

It's too easy to pull a sickie if an email or text message is sent.

Sadly the policy is to make it more difficult for the outlier to pull a sickie. Most of my staff would drop me a text/email tbh and for most of my staff that's absolutely fine but the policy is there for the one or two who pee on the parade and take liberties.

In my view, HR director, if a person is too ill to attend work, they are too ill to provide cover work. However Covid has muddied this a bit as we now have more flexible remote working arrangements and don't want people coming in with coughs, colds and/or other transmissible bugs and the new way of working supported a member of staff to wfh with a broken ankle when otherwise they would have been off for 6 weeks.

Phoning in was norm in my workplaces.

Don’t understand why it’s intimidating?

Primary teacher. We have to phone the head's landline before they set off. In reality, this means you often have to speak to his wife who is trying to get 3 children ready for school whilst he's in the shower. It all seems very odd to me! Luckily I don't think setting cover is the norm in primaries, although I do know people who have gone off for operations and worked very long hours in advance to do planning for their classes (which I would say is generally a bigger job than in secondaries from threads I read here, as no shared schemes of work and no one to share planning with plus possibly having to plan for 2 or even 3 year groups in one class).

I work in a school. We used to text the business manager then follow it up with a phone call. We now contact the head. Same format. They don't mind if it takes you a few more hours to call if poorly.

The hardest call I made was when my dad died last year. But my manager was fab. Explained the procedure and was really supportive if I needed longer.

[quote Ihatework2]@PrivateHall please send me link if you can find it

I’m annoyed that my cover work which I set didn’t even get taught to kids! When I went in the kids had done something entirely different. So that was waste of my bloody time n energy[/quote]
Is your planning not already on the shared drive/school server? I would have thought that you'd have your weekly planning done by Sunday at the latest, ready for the following week and uploaded on the drive. Mine is on by Friday, and I've printed off any sheets needed for Monday and Tuesday before I leave (I like to be organised for the first couple of days 🤣)

We have our timetables on our wall by our desk, and also on our classroom doors, so it's really easy for anyone to just take over if they need to. My books for the following day are always put out in my table tidies (maths/English stay there anyway as we do that every day 🤷‍♀️). It's just a case of being super organised...always have in the back of your mind, 'if ever I'm not here, how easy would it be for someone to just step into my shoes?'

Luckily I've not had any time off yet this term...but I've always worked like this, as I know it's a real pain in the arse when you are off. and you need to organise your class remotely!

Feel better soon 💐

@Plotato

Primary teacher. We have to phone the head's landline before they set off. In reality, this means you often have to speak to his wife who is trying to get 3 children ready for school whilst he's in the shower. It all seems very odd to me! Luckily I don't think setting cover is the norm in primaries, although I do know people who have gone off for operations and worked very long hours in advance to do planning for their classes (which I would say is generally a bigger job than in secondaries from threads I read here, as no shared schemes of work and no one to share planning with plus possibly having to plan for 2 or even 3 year groups in one class).

Primary here. I am expected to send cover to my partner teacher who will then pass it to whoever is covering me.

As a 2-form entry, we share planning. I do Maths, other teacher does English. I do Science, other teacher does History/Geography…

@Tee20x

I'm also interested in the setting of cover work. Surely if you're too ill to work you wouldn't be able to set cover work.

I would ring/email manager in the morning but my department is very much sort yourself out so any clients who would need to be seen that day would be seen by a member of staff who was on duty - their job for the day is literally seeing people who rock up on the doorstep or the people who are meant to see those off sick.

When I used to work in retail I would have to phone in before my shift (bare in mind shift would start 6am) and leave a message on the absence line.

It is annoying having to phone in though, especially when you know you won't be in from the night before. As when you're unwell and sometimes unable to sleep having to wake up specifically to phone in and chat to someone about your illness is the last thing you want to do.

But if you're a teacher who hasn't prepared the day's work already, then it would look like you'd planned the day off. So there's no trouble really. On the odd time I've been off I just say "whoever covers class X, they would be doing Y today" and WA the plan/materials, but it would definitely be better if it was already there. I like the idea from pp of having the work uploaded already so there'd be no need to think about it if you're ill.

Surely if you're well enough to set cover work, arrange cover, have a long conversation about your illness etc. Then you can be in work? How ridiculous.

Phoning in is the norm in schools - and pretty early, as the school needs time to arrange alternative cover for all classes with absent teachers. In primary schools it is totally normal to ring the Headteacher and they then try to find emergency supply cover. I doubt the Headteacher finds it particularly fun being called early in the morning, either. I would complain about the cover work, though - if given, the cover supervisor should at least try to get the kids to do it. That said, cover supervisors in secondary schools are not supply teachers, they are low-paid babysitters who are not supposed to be teaching, just supervising work set, and who generally get no respect from the kids, so even if trying to get the kids to go through the cover work, the teacher will probably need to go over it again.

@martingrowler

Surely if you're well enough to set cover work, arrange cover, have a long conversation about your illness etc. Then you can be in work? How ridiculous.

Surely if a teacher is planning lessons in the car on their way in, they're in the wrong job.

Self employed now, but in former job.
You had to phone and speak to manager before start time. For shift workers it was 2 hours before shift.
Manager would ask what was wrong etc. and for an estimate of when you would return.
On return to work you would have a back to work interview. Manager had a form with set questions to ask you , one I remember was ' what can we do to stop you being off sick again erm...I don't know replace me with a robot ?
Frequency of absences was monitored. 3 absences in 6 month period, or over a certain number of days would mean you had to attend another meeting, lots of absences would be going down disciplinary route.
It was just ridiculous I get migraines and could have a few short absences and be on a verbal warning, where as piss taker that was working the system and just taking staying under threshold and be getting away with it.

I now work in a very small business and it’s just a message on the work WhatsApp group. No opportunities for our work to be covered, it just doesn’t get done, so very informal.
Everywhere else I’ve worked though it’s been a phone call to management, someone else calling into email/text not allowed.

NHS, we have to call the booking office at 8am to cancel our clinics for the day - is why I almost never call in sick) then call our team leader and let them know briefly what is wrong with us.
We have to ring in by lunchtime the day before we are coming back so they have time to book a clinic for us.

@rookiemere that is the expectation. Partly because physically teaching a class in person is far harder than sending some planning via email. Also because the person covering the class will need work for the pupils.

Should I complain to head that my cover work wasn’t done? I spoke to cover manager when I went in on Friday and she bit my head off a d said “I GAVE IT TO THE SUPPLY”.

No don't complain OP. The idea of sending cover work is that it's there if needed. If it's not taught, so be it.
I hope you feel better soon.