To be shocked at how much time off sick some people have?

[Enfys1982]

I work in a school and since I started in the sector it’s been a bit of eye opener to me how much sick time some people seem to take, and it always seems to be the same people. Days here and there, sometimes weeks on end then they come back for a bit go off again. As I said always the same people.

The last time I was off was last year when I had Covid, and I was only off because then you still legally had to isolate if positive. I actually felt well enough to go in. Before that I genuinely can’t remember when I was off sick. If I feel bad I just dose myself up and get on with it.

AIBU to think it displays a lack of resilience?

Days here and there, sometimes weeks on end then they come back for a bit go off again.

This is an exact description of my friends sickness pattern - endometriosis. Trying to avoid a hysterectomy at 36.

Still chin up and be a bit more resilient why don't you! Power through it and get a grip. Yes there are people who take the piss but you're not the one to judge.

The death and a knee replacement should not have anyone on a performance management plan! They are both serious situations whereby time off is both necessary and warranted and what sick pay is for. The more serious issue is people taking constant occasional days. This is an issue because if they are genuinely
unwell, they do not recover properly by only taking a day, spread their germs around or make themselves susceptible to being rundown and ill again when they return too early. All of which is continually disruptive. The other side is those who take occassisonal days to facilitate their social life. If they don't want to work the hours they are contracted, they need to find a more appropriate job and stop sticking two fingers up to their colleagues!

My employer is great but it’s the GP who has signed me off.

The bottom line is that, has I not been able to drop and run 250 miles instantly, my parent would have died of either bacterial pneumonia or sepsis. They have also had covid twice within 5 weeks and all of this before starting chemo. I am the only other person in the family so they care has to fall to me.

I'd be fucking livid if any of my team came into work unwell, spreading their germs around, because they've got a martyr complex.

If you're too unwell to work, take the time off, rest and recover. It really isn't a bad thing.

Plenty of people in my former workplace (Royal Mail) would take advantage of the company's overly generous sick policy to basically have an extra 2 weeks fully paid annual leave each year, even keeping a note of when their last 'sick' absence was and taking another one as soon as they were in the clear for it not triggering a stage warning.

I'm very sorry for your losses and this is a perfect example of how people are different and we can't always know what is going on in people's lives.

I too have lost a parent and a sibling during my working life although thankfully not so close together. I only took a few days for each. Does that make me more resilient? Or just heartless? Neither. For me, being at work was what I needed. For you, not being at work was what you needed. And both are fine and nobody else's business.

It's not fair on the other people who have to pick up the slack. Or in the public sector, on the private sector workers who have to foot the bill.

For genuine slackers, I agree on the first part but it’s ridiculous to say it’s private sector works who pay for public sector worker sick leave. We all pay for it - all taxpayers.

Maybe she could define the 'threshold' for those of us less enlightened?

Tattygrl

The people in question went on holiday while they were on the sick . Another used to claim ftc . They were well In with hr she they took it as unpaid leave so they didn't trigger . If you had 3 absences in a year you got a written warning plus no pay rise. They used to game the system . They bragged about it after they left the company.

You're fully aware of the reasons for all of these absences, you do realise the effect that stress has is literally to erode stamina and mental resilience. I guess your work is for you a breeze so obviously everyone is just faking their illness, presumablyyou get that idea as you only take time off for a skive.
Or
Maybe stress develops over time
Or
They just take their work seriously and don't have time to blag about those sorts of people on the Internet.

Yanbu. I have a colleague like this. She only works part time yet is always off sick with something or another. It has a knock on effect with my role as there are things only she can action.

Totally agree. A tiny minority of working-age adults have serious health conditions and need to take a lot of time off work sick.

The majority can go to work every day if appropriately medicated and assuming that the job doesn't require very high levels of physical performance. (Eg a swimming instructor in the pool all day or someone in construction might struggle more than I in my desk job would with a heavy cold.) Unless someone has a clearly defined medical condition, which might obviously include mental health conditions, I would find it odd if they were taking full weeks off work.

How many public sector workers pay more in tax - to the state, than they receive in wages - from the state?

I wonder how many people would really feel comfortable for others to know the full ins and outs of what is going on in their lives for it all to be judged and heavily scrutinised by everyone else in the office. A person you think is off with a cold could have something more serious going on that they don't want you to know about. I sometimes wish there was more understanding and compassion from people. Just because you think something is the case with someone doesn't always make it so. Anyway, I'm sure someone else will have a story where they, of course, know exactly what is wrong with someone and they are a paragon of virtue so I will leave it there

I hope that you make a good recovery x

Yep, this!

When I worked, anyone off for mental health reasons was chalked up to "stress". I was in a Band 1 NHS role, and my colleagues would berate anyone off with "stress" as the job was low skill and pay. A good friend and work mate was off with a bipolar manic episode. He was not safe to work, but was often seen out in town in pubs etc. Christ, the gossip machine was on overtime in work.... they all thought it was just stress.
I was off myself for a long time for MH... and I only my manager knew the reason why... yet everyone and their dog knew why when I returned.

Oooo let's hear it for the heroe brigade never a day off sick in 20yr. No just come in and spread your disease around the work place then proceed to do very little. I've a theory these types come in like this incase they miss something.

I think in public sector the sick pay is so generous that people use it where they’d otherwise not if it was just statutory sick pay. I used to work for the NHS - one woman had worked there for 10 years and spent 4 of those years off sick! It took ages to get ride if her because it’s a highly unionised sector. She was furious about it but I thought “you’ve only been in on average 3 days a week during your whole employment what did you expect”

If someone is absent from work with a genuine illness, then I don't care, everyone gets ill sometimes.
The ones who annoy me are the ones who, when dicked to work weekends, bank holidays, late shift on Saturdays and early shift on Sundays, are guaranteed to phone in sick.
They're normally under thirty.
They're the same ones who book a couple of weeks annual leave, then phone in sick a couple of days before their leave is due to start.
They get the annual leave given back, so suddenly five weeks annual leave per year turns into ten weeks instead.
You could set your clock by them.

Oh I know what you mean. There are people at my work who take the piss. Months off at the same time every year. If you're apparently that unwell maybe don't work..
then others who 'pull a sickie' - so unprofessional and frustrating. Maybe it's lack of a backbone and work ethic for some. Of course these people exist and of course there are some genuine cases. Usually you can tell as the non- genuine ones are lazy when they are at work.

I’d say it’s better to take a day off if you have a bad cold, so you can recover. Otherwise I’ve found all I do is get worse while working.

I once had a manager constantly off because she put her 6 month old in full nursery and he was constantly catching everything, so some of it might be childcare?

Anyway, I don’t care about taking time off sick now. At my previous company, nobody gave me a medal for going 6 years without a sick day, and they made me redundant anyway. Take your sick days people!

I have migraines so have probably had more ‘sick’ incidences than I should have had. Not triggered any threshholds yet, although it has happened in previous workplaces. I ended up dragging myself into work and vomiting and my boss got a bit more sympathetic after that!

dds teacher has had a terrible year though, she’s been out sick quite a lot and hasn’t been in since half term - I know parents are complaining because the class is on it’s 4th (or maybe 5th?) substitute teacher and it sounds like bedlam. Not sure what she’s supposed to do, though, I mean if she’s too ill to work 🤷‍♀️

This.

In my old job people probably thought I was “one of those” who was often going off sick. The only person who knew why was my manager. I went through 4 miscarriages, with two of them being at 12/13 weeks, in the space of a year - surgery, tests, appointments, investigations, heartbreak, counselling, trauma. Not exactly something I want to broadcast round the office, and no one’s business to judge how often I was off.

Now I have two nursery age kids. Sometimes they bring bugs home with them and I have to look after them or get it myself. this often works out at “one or two days here and there” - it’s more minor and annoying but still warrants time off as much as my previous more serious issues.

of course there is the odd person that tries to manipulate using sick leave but you don’t know everything about the people you work with and you have no right to judge them