Holidays/festivals whilst on the sick

[Twinklingterapin]

A few colleagues of mine (I work in a school) have been long term sick with mental health, however they have regularly been posting their lives on social media. Ranging from mental health walks, allotment days, coffee dates with friends and even holidays abroad, all whilst off sick. Dont get me wrong i wouldnt expect people to stay inside all day or become a recluse, however I do think there should be a line. The latest has really boiled my blood, seeing posts of a colleague at Download, posing with his friends, and saying how good it is for his mental health.

Surely I cant be the only one to think this is too far? You shouldn't be able to be off on the sick from work but still go festival.

Is that a serious question?

So its ok not to go to work if its stressful?

FFS.

ETA you seem to have very limited understanding of workplace stress, which might involve bullying and might be profoundly traumatic.

They are signed off from work, not life.

A festival and a school are totally different environments with different demands etc.

What a load of tosh.
I was off for a month with a leg injury. I had to exercise it to get better!

It's a tricky one isn't it?
I feel a bit sorry for the teacher who threw a sickie to go on a stag do. He was hung out to dry in the papers and yet here someone is going to a festival when they are in sick leave - I struggle to see the difference to be honest.

Agreed no one would think you should be expected to stay in all day but is a festival pushing it a bit? Maybe so....like I say it's a tricky one.

I work in luxembourg. The first week off sick you are not allowed out of the house just for medical appointments. Difficult when you live alone. After that it is 10-12 and 14-18 allowed out. If you are off longer than 6 weeks you can ask for an extension. If you want do go somewhere else you have to ask. It doesn’t help mental health at all with these rules.
I would have loved to be able to go to a concert when I was off sick because it would have helped my mental health.
I would have loved to gave taken a holiday for the same reasons.
i was not taking this piss. I was in a hole but they said I had to return to work anyway.
Don’t slam anyone that tries to do normal things when off with mental health issues.
With the rules here I was off with burnout for 4 months and stayed at home the whole time and it made me worse.

I think the difference here is he lied about being sick to go on a stag do, whereas the people in the OP were already off sick anyway.

I broke my hip and I did try to go back to work earlier than recommended (office job) as I was quite nifty on my crutches but it was a mistake tbh. Sitting down on an office chair for 8 hours a day completely aggravated my hip and left me in agony after a few days. I then had to go in for further surgery and had more time off. I wouldn’t judge anyone for taking their full time off for recovery for a bad break and yes, you are meant to move around in order to build strength.

Yes he was being paid his salary whilst away having a good time - exactly the same as the person at the festival.
Lots of different ways of looking at it.

X

No, you're not being unreasonable at all. All those saying it's none of your business...of course it is if you're having to pick up the slack! And if they're posting about it on social media then it does make it other peoples' business!

I just hope you are not a manager

I guess if someone's work place is causing their mental health problems then anything other* than work will help.
I wouldn't have the audacity to post pics of me getting pissed up at a festival.

I wish we could say MH problems/issues, not just "off with mental health" - we all have mental health

I have an office job and can WFH but I’m not going back until I’m ready and have the all clear from my consultant.
I’m only a week post surgery but already very mobile so will be socialising out in my village as part of my recovery!!

Her employer probably thought (quite reasonably) that if she could get herself to a community event, she could get herself to work (with reasonable adjustments if needed).

A colleagues dad died suddenly, it was awful. She was called home from work, we all heard her mum through her phone. Had about 6 weeks off, kept extending it after the funeral to 8. Came back all bouncing with stories of dates she’d been on, a couple of one-night stands etc. Everyone deals with grief in different ways but we thought it a strange thing to broadcast after bereavement leave.

I knew of someone years ago who was dismissed from their job for posting pictures at a spa whilst off sick with depression.

They ended their life a month or so after that.

You really don’t know what people are going through based off of pictures alone.

I was in hospital for two weeks and in my second week now at home with a respiratory problem and have been told to try and walk as much as possible to try and improve my lung capacity. I have not been fit for work.

Mental health issue could mean stress, anxiety, overwhelm or that old concept of a ‘nervous breakdown’. It means turning up for a structured day of work, complex concepts, dealing with difficult situations and managing people or children is just not possible and makes the situation worse.
Taking time off from these things that trigger the reaction is why they’ve been signed off. To recoup, get physiological support and build up their capability.
It doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of or should avoid events, exercise, activity or socialisation. In fact those things would help immeasurably.
Their sick leave is their business. You don’t know what else they are going through. If you are short staffed that’s not their issue but managements.

When I was signed off with severe anxiety my GP actually encouraged me to go on holiday. YABU.

Well they were talking bollocks .

So depressed people can't use a spa?

Tribunal waiting to happen.

Clinical depression is a fucking illness. So is severe anxiety. I never understood either until a family member got ill. It was fucking brutal. Their personality just evaporated. What was left was a physical shell, them, but not THEM. And no amount of "sort yourself out" speeches could help. They got fixated by noises, unable to do anything except focus on certain sounds. It was actually scary to witness, having known them all their life before they got ill. I wish people would stop using the terms depression and anxiety for normal life stuff. It makes genuine illness seem trivial. I dont know much about most things, but I can say that real mental illness, real depression or anxiety, is serious. And going to the park, or seeing friends may literally keep someone alive for another day. So don't judge.

You know what’s also a management problem? Lazy feckless employees who take sick leave in order to facilitate their social life.

Are these lazy, feckless employees paid enough to care about their job?