To think that, as a manager, the occasional “sick day” when someone needs a break is fine?

[ByFluentPombear]

I manage a team and I accept that sometimes people just need a day off, even if they’re not physically unwell. As long as it’s not frequent or disruptive, I don’t really mind if someone calls in sick when they just need a mental health day or a breather.

Some managers would see this as dishonest or an issue - AIBU to take a more relaxed view?

Where I work, you can only have 3 episodes of ‘sickness’ in a rolling 12 month period, regardless of whether it is 1 day or 2 weeks off. If you have a 4th episode, it triggers a disciplinary. So people have to be very careful and thoughtful about when they need to use their sick pay. I can see both sides - I think my company is sometimes quite harsh but at the same time, I think your idea is open to abuse. I would be quite annoyed if my colleagues took duvet days leaving me to pick up the slack….

If a member of my team went off sick and told me on their RTW interview it was because they were ‘overwhelmed or burnt out’, I’d be taking it very seriously as no-one should be feeling like that. I would, at the very least, to be referring them to the employee support service.

But I’d imagine most people that fancy a day off, invent a fake illness.

I feel lucky that I work in an organisation that’s really supportive of agile working and I don’t think anyone feels overwhelmed. I manage a team of 12 and none of them has been sick in at least 4 years. I think it’s because we foster the importance of work/life balance and of course, home-working. As an organisation, sickness absences have diminished by a huge percentage since people started working predominantly from home.

I’d love this!

Not a good idea. I'd consider it for high performers but of course I can't apply different rules for different people. I've been a LM long enough that I know some will take the piss.

Haven’t read the rest of responses, but you would likely be the type of manager I’d trust and respect. IMO sick days include mental health days - sickness isn’t limited to just being around physical issues!

If only on occasion I think that’s fine. Fosters a healthier relationship between workplace/manager & worker imo

I'd be sceptical there are many environments where this works well.
The last team I was managing (20 people), they would have had a wild variety in interpretation and sense of entitlement. It would not have been fair at all on the people who are the steadfast reliable ones.
In my own current job, it would cause mayhem to call in sick last minute. It's very very unusual. More likely that people would work from home even when they are physically ill, or find some other way to make it work.

So in my admittedly limited experience of two, it would have been either unfair or unworkable.

I have nothing against companies allowing ‘personal days’, but ‘feeling overwhelmed’ or ‘not 100% emotionally’ should not be rebranded as sickness. It pathologises normal feelings and makes people think that if they feel a bit sub-par they need a day off, whereas actually when you push through you often feel ok in the end. It doesn’t create a culture of striving if you are encouraging people to pretend to be sick, or to consider themselves sick when they’re not.

Having said that, if your workplace is intense and fast-paced and you are all working massively over your hours (corporate law; medicine), or you are doing heavy physical work, perhaps this is a pragmatic way to manage it. If not, there is no excuse for anyone to be burnt out!

And not all jobs are of such a nature that others would have to pick up slack if someone is off. Many are, but not all.

What you will get is employees counting up who had more, or more frequently and unfairness/discrimination/bullying complaint.

You are right on the road to an HR issue.

The stoic, never needs a break person will complain. Days off also equals money. So, person might say, I don’t want the day - I want the money.

Agree. Some jobs it would just delay things being done.

Some people might interpret this as your "minions" bullying someone out of their job.

It's not fair unless everyone gets the same allowance - say, three "duvet days" a year, to be taken when needed. Otherwise, you'll get some people calling in sick twice a month, and others never - and those latter people will be the ones endlessly picking up the slack.

I agree with you if we’re talking one day per year and they’re otherwise a good colleague. I really couldn’t care about semantics if someone’s doing a good job. But if it’s more frequent and becoming a habit then it’s a slippery slope for all concerned.

If they feel burnt out they should take a sick day, not doing so potentially masks an issue. In my place of work if you woke up one morning and didn't feel like working you'd simply ask for leave at short notice

Needing time off owing to ill mental health literally is a sick day surely.

I am not a manager but my view is the same as yours. Such a day off taken on time can prevent the person sinking lower, getting physically ill or burn down.

ByFluentPombear

As long as you are doing the work of the person that you are allowing to have the day off then its all good.

If you are passing that work on to another employee then its poor management

If you are leaving the work for the person that took the day off, then what was the point in the first place?

if it’s not sick leave don’t record it as that. Record as authorised paid absence
It unwise to record a sickness absence when it’s fatigue,work pressure etc

I think it is hard to be consistent with this type of thing. All managers know who are the grafters in their team and who are the piss takers. It's much easier to feel relaxed about this if it is the grafters taking the odd day because they've been burning the midnight oil. It is much less palatable when some lazy fucker does it.

I also have 3 sick days allowed in a year, unquestioned, the only rule is you inform your manager an hour before you are due to start. You are allowed to take two in a row. Not in the UK.

I took an afternoon off for this. I was doing two jobs (acting HOD with no uplift in salary) whilst redundancies were happening in most other departments. Also a data breach and external relations issue related to my department. I had small children sick and up all night. I was stressed, ineffective, irritable and unable to focus. I recognised early signs of burn out. I went home, slept, practiced some self care, and I was back in the next morning. I'd do it again.

However, I once managed someone who was ALWAYS sick with something. It was only because she was on a fixed term contract that we didn't refer to OH.

So I really think it depends on the employee and the circumstances.

I’m a manager and wouldn’t condone this, primarily because it would leave everyone else having to pick up extra work to cover which is fine if someone is genuinely sick but not for duvet days. It would also lead to more people feeling burned out.
We also have to kick start our attendance management plan if someone has 3 sick periods per year and it gets monitored by HR.
I am flexible though and support people where I can so if a staff member was struggling, I’d like to think they could approach me and we could work out what we could do ease their burden.

Those idiots don't have to work with her clearly. Good on the minions!

Does one generally say why they are taking a sick day in the UK? Where I am its generally considered a private matter and you dont tell your employer what you are sick with. But you have an equivalent of a sick note from your doctor.