AIBU to think too many people being off work is causing the country to fall apart?

[Tanyasfootspa]

Posting here out of sheer frustration really. Is it just me or does it feel like everything is grinding to a halt because half the workforce is off sick.

I’ve had three appointments cancelled this week alone — GP, dentist, and my son’s speech therapy. All due to staff absences. Tried to phone the council about a bins issue (don’t even get me started) and was on hold for 47 minutes before being cut off.

Meanwhile, I go to work, rain or shine. Loads of my colleagues are off with colds, stress, or just “taking a mental health day.” I’m not doubting genuine illness, but surely there’s a tipping point where too many people being off means things just don’t function?

Schools are short-staffed, NHS is beyond crisis, trains are delayed, post is late. It’s not just inconvenience — this feels like serious breakdown of basic services.

AIBU to think the UK is being held together by a rapidly shrinking group of people who are actually showing up?

Something’s clearly not working. It feels like there’s no backup anymore. No resilience. Just everything falling to pieces when someone sneezes or feels stressed.

Anyone else noticing this or am I being unfair?

It has to be lack of investment in public services and the NHS

Your argument is a bit simplistic.

In many sectors like the NHS or education people get sick because of perfectly genuine reasons that employers/government do not want to address:

• there is not enough staff to do the job so people end up burning out
• employers offering shit pay and work conditions
• bullying by managers and verbal or even physical abuse from the general public/parents/kids.

Then you need to add to that long Covid, long NHS waiting lists (so people get worse while they wait to be seen and treated), lack of funding for mental health services and social care and a cost of living crisis that is having a negative impact on people's mental health.

No wonder more people are unwell!

Blaming the individual is easy to do but you need to look at the wider context.

Schools are short-staffed, NHS is beyond crisis, trains are delayed, post is late. It’s not just inconvenience — this feels like serious breakdown of basic services.

Justvazreminder that Royal Mail agd Yrains are private companies. Issues with those is more likely linked to poor management (for profit) of those companies than to illness,

I completely agree with you about it not being their business.

And as usual governments don't think about incentives to decrease the inactivity, they just have a go at people. Hardly going to entice anyone!

Exactly, I’m late 50s and worn out, my dm could retire at 60. I wish I could

Well schools are short staffed because of redundancy too. Myself and 15 staff remembers are being made redundant. I am always in work and I am a hard worker…

The workers are there but many are unemployed at the moment including doctors and nurses.

Indeed, in addition to the many 'working' from home. It's a sorry state and I can't imagine it will improve.

This.

People keep voting for parties who promise to keep taxes low and then wonder why everything's so shit

Me too! I really envied my mum that, bless her.

Yes we’ve been sold down the river

It's true. I had a big operation ( radical hysterectomy and a load of lymph nodes removed) for cervical cancer. As soon as I was ok to drive I was working again. Not a desk job either.

What's the other option? Starve , sitting in the dark and cold because you have no money to top up gas / electric and court summons for not paying council tax.

YABU
The economy is in dire straits due to our leaders wilful sabotage and breathtaking incompetence.

The result is shrinking budgets which have led to cuts in staff, but no reduction in workload.

When you have 5 people expected to do work of 8 people you will see an increase in sickness, both physical and mental.

Absolutely this!

One month full pay for each year you have worked, up to a maximum of 6 months at full pay, six months half pay at your line managers discretion.

I agree with your post OP, I work for NHS and literally everyone is off sick at the moment....apart from the few hard-core staff that seem to do literally everything...hardly anyone works. The pay is unbelievably shocking and shit in NHS for the amount of stress and responsibility and people literally are burnt out.

This covers some of the problems we are seeing when interacting with the state.

A key quote:
Public sector productivity took a sharp hit from the pandemic and has since failed to recover.
“In addition to remaining short of 2019 levels, recent declines mean that public sector productivity is now even lower than it was in 1997, marking cause for concern,” the report said.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/may/19/uk-may-need-92000-extra-public-workers-if-fall-in-productivity-continues-to-2030

Also, when you are run ragged at work all day due to understaffing, do extra hours and have other responsibilities too, it’s harder to eat well, exercise, sleep well, keep up your hobbies. Life becomes harder and your health suffers.

Isnt there a rule on how far you have be willing to travel for work or you will be sanctioned.

20% is one in five. That's hardly trivial. It means the remaining four have to do a quarter extra work, on top of their own, to cover... then the extra work will eventually make them sick.

No, what has caused the country to fall apart - past tense - is the lack of any investment in that country following ideological hatred from the rich of having to spend money, following ideological beliefs in the right of the rich to own the whole land and charge the rest of us for standing on it. It’s called neoliberalism and it’s been going on long enough to have the same poor effects that it did the first time round. The people who do work are demotivated and the whole principle of working for a living has been made into a mug’s game when the state prefers pre-existing capital and protects that above all else.

In the case of the NHS too many people locally will not pay to work and cannot pay to work. Instead of upping wages or paying for training the state has chosen to bring in a few cheap foreigners to do more work instead. They can’t do the work that used to be done with more staff per capita, the whole system is degraded to save money, and there is not the cover when people are ill.

The NHS’s funding is being slashed again as we speak so no, the work will not get done - meaning ill people will be left ill and all will be left without support. This is the government we have in the culture that has evolved over the last 20 years. Shit isn’t it.

Also, has anyone else noticed this seems worse in the public sector than private? In my husband’s job (private company) there seems very little sickness and time off despite working very long hours and some nights. But in mine (public sector) hours are shorter but people are off all the time, many multiple times per month.

You are truly surprised that the staff working in places where sick people come and who are surrounded by germs daily, who have to handle the blood, urine and faeces of the sick, get ill more than the people in the private sector, perhaps playing on computers all day? Really? Bit of a false wide-eyed feel to your op too.

Working hours in the NHS are not short. 12 hour shifts with half hour break? We used to look aghast at Victorian conditions, now we view them as perfectly fine for plebs.

But that’s because we, the public don’t want to pay more tax

Well on here if somone mentions breaking a finger nail they are told go of sick for a week but no one thinks about what if everyone did this

even at the first sign of having a bad day 'go off sick'

Yes I agree but it's the pressure people are put on in modern society that means it just doesn't work for the health of many/most and is seriously harmful, resulting in time off.

For many there is little work life balance anymore, no wriggle room financially for any sort of treats. It leads to burn out and stress.