to be annoyed at employers new performance related pay scheme?

[bosch]

Last year my employer (local council) put us all on new contracts (job evaluation, making sure everyone is paid fairly etc) and announced the intention to award any increments due(typically £3-400 pay rise in addition to any nationally awarded pay rise)only in relation to a performance related pay (prp) scheme.

Employer now says it won't pay increments for this last year 'because it hasn't got a prp scheme in place'. And it needs more time to work out a prp scheme. So for next year, you'll only get any increment due if you've 'not had too much time off sick'.

Thresholds are (from memory)

• having had more than 8 days off sick
• having had at least one day off for three consecutive months
• having had more than four weeks off in one go
• having a pattern of eg mondays and fridays off (pattern not explained - is one enough?)

Increments are not due to every employee every year. Typically (speaking as white collar/ office worker) you might expect to receive them for between 3 - 9 years after getting a job. So you'd need to get a promotion to start at the bottom of a grade and have the right to more increments.

I think this would penalise people who were genuinely ill in order to try to weed out the people who in the past would pull a sickie in the knowledge that it would not affect their pay at all.

Thanks if you've stuck with me this far.

Anyone come across anything like this?

PS - I have no problem with employer saying 'dire financial circumstances chaps, we can't afford increments this year'.

We have to certify after 3 days I think.

If you are off sick and you have not seen a doctor, even if it is just a day it is made clear that this will not go in your favour and you should have been in work.

yes because under the DDA adjustments or allowances should made to help that employee maintain good attendance.

don't know what your point is re the sick notes. you self certify for the first week and get a note after that.

I work in the public sector and those who take vast numbers of sickies really rile me. I work in a healthcare field where more often than not things cannot wait until my sick colleague returns. Who is doing their work while they are away? Me.

I have never been off work for more than 2 days so maybe I am wrong. But I am sure our school requires a sick note after 3 days.

After every sickness 1 day up you have an interiew with a member of senior management when you have to say whether you have been to a doctor or not, what your symptoms were etc. The interview puts most people off calling in.

But that's going too far though twinset don't you think? I mean, we shouldn't all be running to our GPs with illnesses which need a couple of days rest, or perhaps isolation (thinking D&V).

I had a D&V virus and was off for two days, I think it was norovirus. I phoned the doctor as I knew I would have to say I had been and was not allowed in because i needed to be in isolation. I was given a polite but frosty return. I understand this and it did not bother me children need their teachers in school.

The doctor question is part of our rtws as well. I think it's in case we write to the GP later if the company decides to go down the Occupational Health referral which throws up something that might need verifying with the GP. The employee has to consent to this report of course but refusal would probably raise a few eyebrows.

Yes simplysally I would imagine that is what it is there for.

I once refused an employer the right to look at my health record, I said they could examine me if they wished. They backed down.

No twinset - that is not good. A frosty reception for two days off sick? That would annoy me greatly. Yes, children need their teachers in school, and I taught 6 hours today (keeping my after-school revision session going) with no voice and feeling like crap and will do five hours and a parents evening tomorrow. Am only up now preparing new lessons that require less talking from me. But if I were throwing up and by returning to school early would also expose both the children and my colleagues to the risk of illness, then no, I bloody well wouldn't expect a frosty reception after two days off

Oooh - that sounded like I was cross with you - sorry!
Feel bleurgh and not looking forward to year 9 tomorrow...

My dh has previously addressed the 'not turning up for work' issue by turning up and throwing up in the bin He got sent home by the boss - probably wouldn't count?

scumdog - peanuts are worth quite a bit when you work in the public sector! I was making the point about the sick note because this won't penalise people who are swinging the lead. It will penalise people who are poorly. It won't reward people who are doing a good job. It will reward people who pull a sickie on a wednesay (no more than 7 times a year!)

twinset - comment about getting more £ in private sector was sort of joke - I wouldn't be annoyed at losing a few £ in increments if I was already on loadsamoney. I know it's annoying if people pull sickies, but if you have a colleague who turns up every day and does less work than you even though you've had certified time off sick, wouldn't you be a little annoyed? (Nobody does my work when I'm off! I have to catch up.)

We have the rtw interview after one day off sick. I have to certify whether I was sick on the days that I don't work if I am off sick on a day next to one of my days off.

If you come in to work and go home sick, it counts as a day off sick.

yes normal again. rtw the day you return. reporting sickness on days off in between is for ssp purposes. there are waiting days when ssp is not applicable. so days inbetween need to be classified as sick or not.

Sorry ruddy, those are all things that we've always done, was also treating them as normal. But in new system, I'll have to lie about being sick on days when I don't work for fear that they'll count against me at the big reckoning...

It's a shame if prp boils down to how often you are sick rather than how good you are at your job.

And the 'are you hard enough' tone on here is a bit depressing.

we have a srtict system re doctir's notes, interviews etc and all that is fair enough. Public sector does have a higher number of days lost due to illness (although I would bet money there are genuine reasons for that in many cases).

But basing prp on it is extremely narrow minded

they won't count against you. it's just for ssp purposes so they can see if it is a continuous absence.

pointy- reality check me thinks rather than are you hard enough.

dh is in the public sector, i'm private sector. 2 different worlds. as far as i can see in my job we're out to make a profit. in his he's out to spend a budget.

Thanks pointydog, but you're right, consensus on here is that iabu.

Will go and buy some max strength cold and flu tablets forthwith for the next time I get a virus. (I know the doctors say that you should just take pararacetemol, fluids and rest for a virus, but they're obviously cissies who don't live in the real world blah blah)

well not really, but...