AIBU to be fed up with colleagues repeatedly off sick?

[IngridsLittleToe]

I'm going to get my arse handed to me and I don't care. Sick staff....I'm so over feeling sympathetic. I'm not talking really sick staff...I'm talking repeated back ache/gynae problems/migraine/back ache/sore throat/cold/depression/back ache/sinusitis/cold/sore big toe....

They have been on repeated sickness absence management and pull it back from the brink each time. Only to start all over again. Years and years of this. The rest of the team have to pick up the pieces, cancel their jobs to cover someone else's and the sickie doesn't have any loyalty at all.

The whole time they are sick they manage to socialise and do a voluntary role. Any attempt to manage the sickness is met with claims of bullying and then they go sick with anxiety.

All on full pay.

AIBU to think they are shamelessly playing the system and should be sacked

Our sick person would also time it to be sick every summer holidays! Again, the impact on the rest of the team was huge. She had huge deficits in knowledge of the job BUT an encyclopaedic knowledge of anything to do with time off, sick leave, annual leave etc

Lazy . However it will come back to bite when State pension credits are calculated. There is more to the system than just a week's wages to consider. Maybe point this out . I hope this is not in the healthcare section as it would horrible to think someone faking illness. I wonder does their GP just continue to write sick notes without investigating.

It's obvious from the responses many of you totally recognise the pattern of behaviour

That’s a leap I think we could all list a few piss takers at work and HR have no backbone to call it out

Yes absolutely.

I have had many lovely colleagues (including myself!) be off sick at one time or another with either physical or mental ill health, and had no problem with it at all as it's quite clear they were genuine and I've been glad I work somewhere so supportive.

However I think after a while you can just tell when someone is taking the piss.

In my experience as a public sector manager it's always the same people. They conflate sickness with a grievance procedure (generally because someone has had the temerity to actually ask them to do something) and round and round we go. Time after time. Year after year. It's no wonder public sector gets some bad press when we are constantly understaffed. We've all got our heads up our backsides managing this stuff. Meanwhile others go through an absolutely terrible time. I want to commit my
time and energy in their direction.

This is precisely the issue. You have zero qualification to determine whether they’re capable or not. I don’t think management is for you and thank god there are measures in place to prevent you from flexing your muscles that you so desperately wish too.

The public sector has massive issues with sick leave that I don’t deny however it’s also the most underfunded and heavily overworked sector too.

Nope not a leap at all. Middle management is desperate to suck up to SMTs. If you’ve got someone off sick it impacts your statistics and potential promotions. That’s why bullying is so rife, managers like OP expect people to work at the expense of their health and well being so they can attend their next meeting with perfect little stats.

🤣🤣🤣

Why would anyone want us to have less rights at work? 🤦‍♀️

It’s true. My friend was being bullied by a manager whilst high risk pregnant and being off sick. Said manger threatened informal warning etc etc and said she would need to run it by HR. After speaking to HR and her tune had massively changed …

Of COURSE it's public sector. It always is.

In the private sector I had a colleague come back from sick leave, "work" a couple of months (during which her timekeeping was execrable, impacting the rest of us). She did this three times, but as she told me, work policy meant she still accumulated annual leave while off sick. The third time, she used her holiday to go to a trip to Disneyworld. And then, exactly as I anticipated, she took the month off sick on her first day back at work.

If this is the NHS YABU
If it's not, it sounds frustrating, but there's nothing you can do. Control what you can, let go of what you can't

So you're in management. You're party to medical notes. You think you can make judgements about other people's sickness, for which they presumably have fit notes.

YANBU there are a couple of people in the team I work for that are known for playing the sickness system.

Exactly as you say - push it to the brink on full pay then pull back. Seem to have the know how to play it all…

Why YABU if NHS?

Spot the serial sick leave taker. Absolutely no evidence to suggest management isn’t for the OP. They have mentioned a genuine issue in the public sector that is super annoying for the rest of us that work hard. Piss takers do exist sadly.

This! Our Sickie would come back on restricted tasks… then get their full last years leave booked in, then not be able to pick up complex tasks because of all the leave… then once all the leave was used up, started the sick again!

@Nofeckingway can you give more info about the impact of continual sick leave on pensions?

Hoping that asking this question does not make me sound like someone who takes the piss, I promise I'm not!!! But this is the first I've heard that this could be an issue. And I'm wondering if it could be used as a management tool to encourage less absenteeism.

I work with someone like that.

takes time off on full pay, then as soon as wages drop to half pay they come back to work. Then months later they are off again, same process.

its bizarre because as soon as they are on a “stage” for being off more than 3 times in one year they are able to stay at work for the full 6 month- 13 month depending on the stipulations they have been given at their time off meeting.

then as soon as that time has passed, boom they are off again.

its infuriating !

Same issue in the private sector too. Highly predictable and the worst part of management, by far. The frequent flyers off 'ill' never have any consideration for their team, who have to pick up the slack in their absence(s). Ultimately it punishes people who really are battling major health problems and who genuinely need the time off.

When I have a migraine, I vomit. How do you propose I do my job (teaching)?

These people are frustrating, but I have to admit I rather admire the chutzpah.

Imagine being so fearless that you'll happily break the social contract for your own advantage, and not give a shit what people think?

I often ask myself, when in a rut, "what would you do if you weren't afraid?" I wouldn't do this, but what a wheeze for those with the balls to pull it off.

I once worked in an office where the office administrator decided one day that she was going to start working 7am-3pm, even though core hours were 9-5. It was completely brazen, she had no school aged children or anything at home to justify it, she just did it because she wanted to. The two main parts of her job were answering the phone and doing the post. Obviously no-one called at 7am, so she spent two leisurely hours reading the papers before anyone else got in, then delegated doing the post to the receptionist, because it was done at 4pm and she'd buggered off home by then. No-one in management had the nerve to pull her up on it. I could only admire it, even though I ended up answering phones in the afternoon after she'd gone.