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?

I had no idea sick leave was limited, I probably take more than average nowadays (and vice versa before) but I didn't even know someone was keeping track least of all that I could somehow use it up.
What happens to people who have chronic conditions/flare ups? Do they have to lie across 2 office chairs while popping pain killers once they used it up? Or do they have to negotiate a bigger allowance?

I hope those days are gone.

I haven’t been off sick since 2016 and that was the first time in 8 years. I manage a large team and I honestly can’t think of the last time one of them was off sick. It must be over a year ago.

We have an agile working policy and it’s so flexible now that unless someone’s really ill, there’s not often a need to be off sick.

As an organisation, our rate of sickness absence has gone down massively since we introduced working from home and agile working.

I am also NHS, with an 'entitlement' of 6 months full pay and I have had one day off sick in last 7 years(maybe longer but that is how long I have worked for this trust)
I manage staff sickness now and I absolutely know which staff take the mick and who would be have to be properly poorly to be absent.
I have noticed that younger staff are far more likely to phone in sick and have also noticed they expect a paid day off when they have been out late/ hung over, or flown back from USA night before and feeling jetlagged( go figure) I find it very frustrating.

A colleague did this. She was even heard to tell someone who worked for her that they should be sure to use their allowance! We get a very generous sick pay scheme and she maxed it out again and again (leaving the rest of us to pick up the slack, which went down like a cup of cold sick). She seems to have stopped it now, which makes me suspect she was put on a warning or something.

No. I take sick leave when I'm too sick to go to work. Thankfully not often. Sick leave does get abused in this way though. I know of a union rep who advised a staff member coming up to retirement to take the last six months as sick leave. They weren't unwell. It's just what the "smart" folk do apparently. I have another word for it personally.

Those saying what happens when you are seriously sick. We only have 10 days no manager option to pay more it’s straight onto ssp and if you are already off sick already already in January it doesn’t restart so I don’t entirely blame them for using it up while they can

I can only imagine how much this has contributed to motivate your team/ company colleagues. I just can't understand why people like that can stay in their jobs let alone get promoted

I'm not sure I understand. I've never worked anywhere where you get a set amount of sick days

We used to be on the dreaded Bradford score which worked for me as I’m only off sick for surgery so always got paid
but now we get 10 days paid and I need major surgery with 12 weeks recuperation and I’m waiting to see if theyll pay me

My manager encourages us to use our sick time especially for mental health care. That might just be a social worker thing though

I use my annual leave to cover when I'm ill. Such is my works completely draconian sick leave policy, and not being able to WFH if feeling a little under the weather.

God no, I'd rather use my sick days for when I'm actually too ill to physically come to work.

Years ago I used to work with a girl who openly would talk about how many sick days she he left that quarter to book off, because 'i definitely need to start using up my entitlement '😐

I recall years ago a teaching colleague was off for months with a 'bad back' and there was a supply teacher employed to cover his classes. Eventually he was returning to work and I said to my Year 11 form group that Mr E would be back teaching them again and I overheard a comment from a boy who lived along his road 'He must have finished building his garage then'!

I’ve never heard of a sick leave entitlement.

No i’m off when i’m sick. It could be 3/4 times one year or once every three years. I work in the NHS so do come across lots of illness. Unfortunately contrary to what people believe the trusts i have worked in do monitor it and have attendance management. Of course some people take the piss.

We get decent holidays though

No I would never do that. . I work in teaching, we have very generous paid leave but would be leaving our classes and colleagues completely in the shit if we did that. The only time I've been signed off was for a non weight bearing fracture and I felt like a total fraud despite not being able to even carry a cup of tea across the room. I astonished people do this.

I haven't ever done this as you say, but I was desperately miserable and stressed/depressed in a job once, it was due to the job and things like being completely excluded from a project I should have played a central part in, the job being very different to the job description/how it was portrayed at interview etc and I'd also had some bad personal news so I went off with stress and didn't come back until I'd exhausted all my sick leave which was four weeks. It was part warranted and partly a bit of a 'fuck you' to my boss. If my boss hadn't been such a monumental dick I'd have come back after 1 or 2 weeks. I then tried desperately to get another job and left 3 months later, as i knew I wouldn't be staying there long term I wasn't too worried about exhausting that year's sick leave.

Not really.. but.. sometimes if it's been a long month, and I'm just at the end of my tether, I'll mark myself as sick for an easy day. If there was an emergency I'd pitch in, and I'll likely do some work in the quiet since I'll mark myself away on Slack.

I'm senior, so I work extra hours as required anyway (even on call when actually on holiday) - and my team are from a country were people seem to call in sick quite often (I was surprised the first time I saw dysmenorrhea as a reason to be off one day), so I don't feel bad or that I'm diddling the company out of anything.

I only take sick days if I’m sick.

Find it hard to imagine anybody actually doing this.

I would be far too anxious that I'd use it and then really get sick. That and it's completely dishonest and just not something I would do.

I have had one day off in the past ten years for norovirus I think
I had two weeks off the year before for an op
so absolutely not - but I know a lot of people do

My goodness, maybe Rachel Reeves should investigate the misuse of sick days within the civil service instead of cruelly ripping some kids out of their schools due to the hastily applied VAT charge!!

This thread has been eye opening to say the least. I think I've taken less than 10 days off ill in my whole working life (I'm in my late 50s)!!

Is this a poll for the Daily Mail about how the underlings as misusing sick leave?

No has never crossed my mind that anyone would do this. I'm shocked reading this thread.

I’ve just been bullied out of a job I loved. I have filed a constructive unfair dismissal case against them. It’s actually made me physically ill recently, but has made my mental health plummet for years.
I never took any sick leave. I should have done. I wish I’d maxed it out and done as little as possible for them.
People should prioritise themselves, above any employer or ‘ethics’ or advice from strangers.
When it comes to it, they’ll watch you burn and look the other way.