To ask if anyone deliberately plans/uses their sick leave as part of their entitlement?

[OneOpenRedShaker]

I know some people who treat sick leave as an entitlement and plan/schedule when to use it, even when they’re not seriously ill. I’m curious to know if anyone else does this, or if most people reserve it for when they’re genuinely sick. Do you view sick leave as a right to use as needed, or is it something that should be used sparingly?

No, I am only off sick if I am genuinely too ill to be there.

If I am off, I have to set cover for all of my classes, someone has to cover for me, I then have to pick it all up when I get back.

I would only do the above if I absolutely was too sick.
I have had 1 day off in the last 3 years - due to a long term spinal issue.

The school I work in is part of a small trust and sickness is monitored extremely closely. People would not be able to take sick leave whenever they felt like it as the policy is too stringent.

It does mean lots of us go in full of colds etc. But they are rife in schools and we don't have much choice.

In the past I only used it for when I was too sick to get out of bed but in hindsight I should have taken more time off as there have been times when I was too ill to really do my job and probably infected others.

Now I also tend to include days when my toddler is off nursery sick and I’m sick too but not stuck in bed. Not great I know but even a normal cold is a lot worse when you were up every hour of the night with a sick child.

Of course I don't use sick leave unless I'm genuinely ill. However, my definition of 'too ill to go to work' has changed somewhat. I used to drag myself in unless I was practically unable to get out of bed. Now I give myself a tiny bit more leeway. If I feel able to work productively from home, I do that. If not, I call in sick. Maybe twice a year.

Taking six months repeatedly off sick is rife in the NHS, there's a culprit in every department. Management do bugger all and pander to these people.

My work sickness policy is 3 bouts in 12 months and you have an attendance review / disciplinary and then you aren’t allowed to be off sick for another 12 months. So I categorically reserve it for when I’m genuinely very ill, I often drag myself in when I’d probably be better off in bed because of this ruling otherwise I’d probably exceed this as my immune system is crap.

Im surprised one or two days per month didn’t get flagged thats loads!

I feel like this sounds like a much fairer system than what we have currently.

Trust me management can't do anything as HR won't back us. I could say a lot but I don't want to risk identifying anyone. Let's just say I have one on my team and am not even able to manage her sickness

Many years ago I worked for an organisation where you were allowed ten days uncertified sick leave a year - after that you needed a doctors’ note. They were known colloquially as the ‘flying ten’. Nowadays I suppose they would be ‘duvet days’.

No never! I hate calling in sick and only do it if I'm really incapable of sitting by a computer. Even then since WFH I have muddled through before when ill

When I'm sick I just wfh now. Unless I was in hospital I wouldn't take it.

It’s just the ‘I don’t even take time off when I’m ill!’ replies that just quickly mention at the end it’s a WFH job they can do in their PJs and take naps in the working day 😆 I just don’t find it very relevant.

Ah ok.
I have a chronic illness and the only reason I can work is because I can work from home and start late /take breaks as needed. But I have to still log my hours /meet my targets.

Because it happened so often (different women) and I'd never heard of anyone just emailing out to all and sundry that was the reason for their sick day!

I'm not saying it's bad - these days I have a couple of days a week when I have to move carefully so I don't flood everywhere, and I'm definitely on a low threshold for annoyances - not generally anything more than extreme discomfort and the occasional stabbing pain while I pass a clot - but I just wouldn't ever think of telling my boss that's why I'm having a day off!

Surprised at how open they are about it, not surprised that some women have terrible periods.

Ah ok , understood.

I have several staff who do it- drives me mad and pisses off their colleagues. They don't care but equally will never be promoted.

We have 26 weeks of paid sick leave per year, however the first 5 days of an absence are unpaid and after that you need a medical certificate. We always have the option of taking unpaid leave anyway, so anyone wanting to extend their holiday days would just take that option rather than using sick leave and potentially getting into trouble.

We have 4 instances and/ or 10 days in a rolling 12 month period. It then goes to disciplinary.
I often think 'what the hell take some', then..so what if I do get ill afterwards, I would be utterly screwed.

I usually take 1 or 2 days a year for things like headcolds/flu/stomach bugs etc.

A friend of mine struggles with endometriosis and has awful pain around her periods so she takes those days as sick leave and can plan in advance. I think it’s totally acceptable for anyone with a chronic condition to plan their sick leave, but for anyone well they’re just tempting fate!

I wouldn’t feel comfortable lying - surely it’s gross misconduct if you were caught out?

Do you work for the civil service by any chance? I'm only enquiring as someone who attends my voluntary gardening group admits to volunteering ( 2 hours) to get a day off work and they work for the cs.!
Wow

Totally this. Oh the joys of working (shirking)from home😆

But if you are sick, surely you aren't fit enough to work?
Not good advocacy for those 'WFH'

You get three volunteering days a year in CS, I'm not sure why you think people shouldn't use them. Admittedly, they should be doing more than two hours but it's possible they break it up. I'm a charity trustee and I use mine in odd hours for meetings, I don't take the rest of that day off. But if I needed or wanted to volunteer for a whole day, that would be fine too.

You can be well enough to work from home but not well enough to deal with going to a workplace. I had a serious injury a couple of years ago - if I had to go to a workplace I would have to have been signed off. As it was I wfh so could easily carry on working uninterrupted. A win both for me and my employer.

I'm not quite sure why you would think this is "Not good advocacy for those 'WFH'"

Illness isn't a binary.

You can be feeling grotty but your brain is working perfectly fine.

I once had a knee operation. Back in the day it meant I couldn't work because I couldn't get to work or move around the office. Now I would not have needed to miss much work at all