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?

Today I went in, despite having a spasming shoulder (my normal disability playing up), a migraine left over from the day before, 3 hours sleep and having a nosebleed on the way to work that actually covered my clothing so much, I had to get changed, tie up my hair and take off my engagement ring (all were covered). Still went in and stayed 30mins longer than I needed to to help get stuff sorted. I have one of the higher rates of sick days - most school staff I know are like me.

I Am already resilient just by living, by working, by having a semblance of a life. Sick days don’t cancel that out.

I‘m a teacher and have been off sick today and will continue to be tomorrow. Why? I have a laryngitis, if I were in another profession would I still be in work? Probably, but how can I possibly teach 32 kids with no voice whilst not feeling great. I was actually sent home yesterday for attempting it!

classrooms are breeding grounds for germs tiny room with 32+ different people and different households worth of germs, it doesn’t surprise me teachers get sick more frequently

Having worked in schools and seen how much the support staff, who don't get paid for the first 3 days they're off, struggle in when they're unwell cos they can't afford to be off... YABVVVVU.

I remember seeing a TA sprint past my office 3 times, when I went to find her she was being sick/diarohea. But wouldn't go home.

@MillicentTrilbyHiggins that's fantastic. Best of luck finding a role that works for you.

Haven’t read the whole thread yet but has someone said ‘back in my day’ or talked about workhouses yet?

OP, I hope that if you’re ever diagnosed with a chronic but invisible to busybodies illness, you’ll remember how scathing you are about the resilience of others and just get the fuck on with things rather that expecting empathy or getting angry that most workplaces are set up as factories to squeeze every last drop out of people whatever the cost, rather than supportive work place practices where people aren’t forced to take sick days to cope with stress, MH, heavy periods, fatigue, migraines, personal issues or any one of a number of things that can happen to anyone.

I imagine the ‘kind of people’ you are talking about have a healthier attitude to work and life priorities than you and good for them.
No one is going to give you a medal for working yourself into the ground.

How nice must it be to not have chronic, incurable conditions and be able to judge everyone else for taking time off 😌 if it's always the same people - chances are it's usually for the same thing.

Are you also the sort of person who criticises people who say they can't work due to XYZ condition and tells them that they could find a job that accommodates them? (Very few jobs are actually accommodating in my experience they just say to take some sick leave).

Yes there are some chancers who will work the system for sure. But there are also people who are just more vulnerable, whether they have an underlying condition or not. I used to work in a GP surgery and was off to the point where it was triggering our policy. Now in a different job, have had 2 days in the last 18 months.

It's public sector mainly. Ulimited full pay sick leave must be great. I have 6 (six) full pay sick leave days per year allowed at work - private sector obviously.

People can and do take the piss.
If they weren't being paid, I bet more than half wouldn't be off.
The NHS is rife for sickness, people know just how to play the system and it's always the same people.

Um. Did you mean to reply to me? Because your response doesn't seem to have much to do with mine. I think we're in agreement that voluntarily resigning due to illness is not a great move.

AIBU to think it displays a lack of resilience?

YANBU. Everyone knows health is a moral matter. When you are ill, that is nature's way of telling you what a weak and useless person you are. Only the healthy have moral superiority.

It's a wonder they don't use sick records in court, to determine how likely you are to be guilty if a crime.

Completely agree. Problem now is they’ve gone from basically zero monitoring to overkill, and it’s catching the genuine people who need time off. She quit just before they started disciplinary action.

This is a mixed bag- there are people who take the piss and people who genuinely don't have great health - I do think it's way more common in the public sector though

There are some that take advantage and you find them in the public sector more than where employers don't have great sick schemes. "New figures released by the CIPD have revealed that workers in the public sector take more sick leave than private sector workers. There is a difference in the number of average sick days taken per year – 7.9 days in the public sector compared to 5.5 days in the private sector." That study would back up your findings.

However, some people are unlucky and have real long term sick or recurrent illness.

Gosh, I'm being short-changed. I am in the public sector and I don't get unlimited sick pay, never mind unlimited full sick pay. What I get is disciplinary action if I have too much time off, and ultimately sacked.

Signed... a public sector worker with a chronic condition that amounts to a disability (but yeah why not everyone carry on "public sector employee bashing" because it's so much fun).

The OP knew exactly the way this thread would go when they started it. But really glad to know that someone working in a school has the time to post to the internet, deliberately starting a bun fight, at 12:54 on a school day. Most people who work in schools are, like, working at that time on a school day!

I see both sides. I’m currently signed off with a flare up of an autoimmune disease. I get two weeks pay and then SSP. I also get chronic migraines so have had 3 single days off so far. Until I qualified for sick pay I had to struggle in as much as possible as I couldn’t afford not to be paid.

SIL openly says she sees that it’s her
right to use her paid sick leave even if she isn’t sick . She gets 6 months full pay.

Well, either these people have genuine physical or mental health problems, or they have a poor work ethic and are taking the piss. I'm obviously not qualified to say which! But in either case, YABU to talk in this way of 'resilience'. Resilience is not a moral virtue, and they may be lacking in resilience because they are in poor health, in which case it is cruel to sneer at them for it. On the other hand, if they're skivers or looking for any excuse to get out of work, then it's infuriating, but the whole concept of resilience is irrelevant: the concepts of honesty and commitment, yes!

@Quveas I'm really sorry that you get lumped in with the ones that just take advantage. Sadly though it is true that 'on average' public sector employees take more sick leave. Some undoubtedly take advantage which means other genuine people get lumped in the same bracket.

"New figures released by the CIPD have revealed that workers in the public sector take more sick leave than private sector workers. There is a difference in the number of average sick days taken per year – 7.9 days in the public sector compared to 5.5 days in the private sector."

It seems that public sector seems to swing the lead more than private sector, probably due to the fact that they have so much paid sick leave and it's very difficult to get rid of anyone. I've also noticed that the younger generations appear to be off sick more, particularly with odd day off rather than a more serious illness.

The public sector do not get unlimited full sick pay @Ninjasan. Better sick pay, maternity pay and pension is also a pay off for usually being paid less for our skill set than in the private sector and this has been massively eroded over time. However, it is a race to the bottom in the UK with successive governments continually playing the public sector off against the private sector (and many public sector workers are actually very low paid and these roles tend to be predominantly staffed by women).

Anyway, I took 6 months off when very suddenly widowed with young DC as sick leave so I guess I am guilty and should have just been more resilient and rocked up on the Monday morning. To be honest, the amount of unpaid overtime I have put in over the nearly 20 years working in frontline child protection and the austerity measures which has seen my pay remain virtually static for 10+ years hopefully should go some way to paying back .....

I'd be interested to know what jobs, in the private or public sector, routinely allow 'unlimited full pay sick leave'.

I had a lot of time off in the last year before I had baby no.5. I had covid and norovirus within weeks of each other. Then a family bereavement where I was on special leave for a few days. Then I fell pregnant- needed a few days off after a bleed as was advised to rest. Then had issues with my heart and liver which ultimately resulted in me taking annual leave prior to maternity leave.

Sometimes people just have a shit run of poor healrh/circumstances.

They look for patterns of sickness in the school i work in

Idk I think there is a balance here.

People calling the OP ableist and smug are being a bit unfair imo. She is not talking about people who are diagnosed with cancer or break their ankle and therefore of course need time off.

She is talking about people who every few weeks seem to take a day or two off. Often preceded by telling everyone the day before that they have a sore throat or that they feel like they are coming down with something.

Yes a lack of resilience. People who have several bouts of ‘flu’ a year when it’s probably just a heavy cold (if that).

When I worked in team environments I much preferred picking up slack for people being off to having to sit next to people with a heavy cold coughing, spluttering and spreading germs but still there because of presenteeism culture / shit management 🤷🏻‍♀️