Holiday photos on Facebook whilst off sick

[TeaAndBrie]

Really interested to hear opinions on this one.
Staff member off long term sick (fully paid as local gov) due to mental health issues, signed off by GP for 4 months so far.
staff member is friends with manager on Facebook.
staff member has been uploading photos of holiday abroad on Facebook.
i would not expect someone who is on LTS for mental health reasons to never leave the house etc
Holiday photos seem a bit much though - especially when manager and other colleagues who can see these pics are having to pick up all of the work whilst he is away.
YABU - let them have their holiday, it’s good for them!
YANBU - let them have the holiday but would be better to have have pics on SM

💐sorry for your loss.
I can understand your need for space and time.

Then they are shit people. If someone's FB is private then people who can access it have no right to blab what is on there to people who are not.

I don’t feel that your opinions are polite, I feel your posts are goady and oblivious. You just can’t make blanket statements like that!! I’m going to leave it there with you as I find your comments upsetting and it’s not worth it.

As I said, that’s good that you find it a breeze. If all you have to do is leave it all to the travel agent and shove clothes in a bag for a holiday abroad, then you’re lucky. You’ve missed out a large chunk of holiday admin which most of us have to contend with before you even reach the airport.

I think I’d raise an eyebrow if someone booked, and showed off, a 3 week trip to Disneyland etc, in other words a trip that’s longer than usually allowed etc.

Anything else I’d just think they were stupid to post about it. I think a little holiday when your MH is shit is probably a great idea

If it helps their mental health why not. If you're not their friend but just using social media to keep tabs on them, I think that's really poor form and you should probably unfollow.

If you are their friend you should be happy that they are taking steps to try to recover and be cheering their corner.

You said you believe that taking a holiday is a good thing, so don't go looking up company policies because you've been keeping tabs on their social media and seeing them on holiday has annoyed you. That's really awful.

Exactly! The planning, packing, prep, arranging docs, currency etc it is exhausting and that is before the hours of waiting at airports. I need to be 100% to cope with it all and I'm not by nature someone who struggles out of my normal routine.

Things are probably different now, but I used to be a porter for the NHS, and we always had a guy come in who was a 'floating' porter. He just covered people who were off sick or who were on leave. Sometimes, neither applied and he just sat around reading the paper.

I doubt such a person exists anymore. Everywhere runs on the bare minimum now.

You can see why people end up feeling so alone and stigmatised, I’m also counting everyone I work with as a blessing.

When I was off long term sick my doctor suggested we went on holiday

But isn’t that what most people who are on social media do? Share everything and anything with anybody and everybody. And tbh, if people on Facebook plaster stuff on there, I would imagine they don’t care whether it’s shared with others not on Facebook, or they’d do it privately with close friends and family. Most people have literally hundreds of people on their Facebook.

I don’t think photos on social media are needed under any circumstances but some people live their lives there and it’s second nature to them.

How many pics are we talking about and what kind? A story or a post of a beautiful sunset , the sea , a cute stray cat etc. might raise an eyebrow, but fair enough I’d say.

Tens/hundreds of pics, albums, daily updates etc. would be very poor form . She could have a private album, post less, wait to post, not post at all. Plenty of options. Choosing to do it is quite wanky tbh.

It’s not how I do holidays. But it is a way to do holidays. If I needed one for my MH, it’s the way I would choose. If I found the process as stressful as whatever had caused my MH I wouldn’t go at all. I think we can assume the person the thread is about hasn’t found it massively detrimental to their MH

There are lots of SM posts where people should think twice about but that is not the world that many people live in.

I feel really sorry for you. Travelling is a real pleasure for many, and you seem unable to enjoy it. Just remember not everyone is the same - hence some people get a MH condition from issues that don’t affect others. Maybe you should avoid holidays to preserve your MH.

We are all different

I've never found travelling stressful. I can be packed in 15 mins and I just take my kindle to read at the airport

You don't really need currency more surely? I just take a card

Apart from passports all the tickets are on the phone

It's fine that you find it stressful but that doesn't mean everyone does.

I happily travel all over as a disabled single parent with two children with health issues and I don't find it all stressful

Probably takes me less than an hour to find and book a holiday (separate travel and accommodation) and sort travel insurance (if I don't have annual insurance). Less than an hour to pack for all three of us.

DH admittedly makes much more of a song and dance about everything if he is coming and starts packing and stressing a week in advance.

But when just the three of us go I can never figure out what there is to get stressed about

While everyone might be different, I was off for 3 months with mental health last year, ND as well. Had 2 deaths same year and a break down in my relationship plus getting used to a newish diagnosis...

I couldn't leave my bedroom for weeks. I certainly would not be putting pictures up on social media, let alone going on holiday.

Agency staff exist.

As you say, everyone is different.
Different MH conditions exist too.

Yep, and they cost a lot more... and in a lot of cases are useless.

There’s no suggestion the person concerned does this (except having her manager on there I guess, but I expect she thought they were friends as well as colleagues). If I post on Facebook it’s just to friends and family. That’s all I have on there.

I think it's crass, being off work for any reason (legitimate or otherwise) and then letting everyone know what you're doing. I wouldn't do it. But that doesn't make it wrong.

Were it me, I'd be exercising some self-awareness and considering how it all looked to some outsiders (particularly colleagues), because I could do without all the back-lash and grief. But again, that doesn't make it wrong.

The fact that "other colleagues who can see these pics are having to pick up all of the work" is just bad luck - if the person who is off is not doing anything wrong, then it's up to the colleagues to be upset with the system, not the member of staff.

I posted loads on SM when I was so unwell I was sectioned. When I was allowed leave, I posted photos. Even went to the pub with friends.
I expect some people thought I was taking the piss or something.