Can I ask what a new employer sees as excessive sick leave?

[Moanyoldcow]

Just that really. I'm currently pregnant and having some health issues. I am going to have to take some sick leave and am just worried about my sickness record.

I've hardly been sick the past two years (2/3 times a year) but will probably go up to nearer 10 this year.

I'm not planning to look for new work necessarily but you never know. Would a new employer find 15 days sick over the last two years unacceptable?

^^ And I am also paid v well too, along with a job I enjoy and flexible working and a great team.

I count myself extremely lucky.

Lucky indeed! May I ask what line of work you're in and if it's a small/large uk/global company?

IT, SME-sized, global

OP you're fine, honestly. Your attendance clearly matters to you and I'm sure your conscienciousness will be picked up as you have the right attitude. Pg related absences are ring-fenced for a reason - men do not get pg, so it's massively unfair on women who bear children to be penalised and compared negatively

I can't stand it when people say "pulling a sickie" it creates stigma around people's health issues and negative associations generalise to people who genuinely are ill and cannot come to work.

It's like the bonkers idea of giving staff a 'duvet-day'. Most sensible people want to have a clean sickness record, its only to minority who spoil it by not taking attendance seriously and fail to turn up on Mondays because of a hang-over.

Thankyou daisy

It's hideous being sick and pregnant. Every time I go for a basic check up there's more wrong (with me, not the baby). I've made up all my missed time, work from home when I can and then posts like Bopi's just make you realise how people can view you through no fault of your own.

I only asked on the offchance I might need to look for a job. Given the responses I'm staying put.

Pregnancy related sick leave is different.

It's U to have sick leave for a "heavy cold" IMO.

Thanks Loopy, but a) that wasn't the question and b) my manager didn't.

If I have a cold I just work from home rather than go in and spread the bug around the office. Nothing unreasonable about that!

I'm lucky that my past couple of employers have been pretty good.

It is the people who take just the Mondays or Fridays off sick who tend to get nailed
If you have an operation or are pregnant, then you are ok.
If you keep taking random days then you just get judged for not looking after yourself properly and not 'finding the cause'. It is tough out there!

*Do people really take time off for a heavy cold?? Not flu??

Surely you just take Lemsip or paracetamol?*

Where I work if I turned up with a heavy cold or any other communicable illness I would be sent packing and possibly disciplined. Also, coming in to work and leaving early if you're too ill to work DOES go on your record as sick leave. So you could work nearly a full day, go home an hour early and that would count as a half-day sick leave. You're better off staying home in the first place (which I guess is the whole point of the policy).

I suppose it depends on the nature of the work but there are definitely some workplaces where you will not be thanked or applauded for attending while sick. Quite the opposite.

Honestly, it really depends if you work for a sensible organisation or not. I had very few days off, for 8 years, then was off for a hysterectomy (not exactly one I could avoid) and had to have a sit down kind of verbal warning on my return from my very apologetic boss about my unacceptable sickness record. But it was just a policy ill thought out to reduce sickness. Caring eh.

I started at my new job in 2012 and I've never been of sick, 2 of my team have never been of sick either. 2-3 time a year would put you "under review" in our company,, not sure what that entails as I've never been there.

Our company is bad for how they view sickness. 3 days would be borderline which is crazy since there are 365 days per year!

People still go sick , though. If you are puking or can't get put of bed, what can you do? And you still get the piss takers anyway. We have a high turnover and people don't care because they'll soon be moving on. The ones who do pay for it are the permanent staff

It's pretty selfish when people come into work ill and spread illness around! Especially when they just want to prove a point.

I've worked on all types of organisations - relaxed, ridiculous, pretty balanced - but it takes the biscuit when the boss comes in clearly pretty ill, spreads the germs about liberally... insisting on long meetings in confined spaces and has the cheek to complain when later some of the staff don't struggle in when they get ill, and their families / children...

True story. She could have done the above meetings via phone... and when she couldn't speak (no voice left) she could have sent a message instead of wildly gesticulating and pointing at pieces of paper. Like she did in the meetings.

Yep she may have passed the bug on before this particularly sick day. But she may not.

Funny how now I'm self employed I and yet now when I am ill I take time to recover instead of struggling into work and I don't feel absolutely hellish for weeks while I pick up every other bug going and carry on working, with lower than average work performance because... well someone makes my life shit if I don't come in!

I think 2 days getting over something, for example, (if it's bad enough) can be better for long-term QUALITY of work!

Yes I've also sent people home for coming in too sick to be of much use. (Different company). Just stop it!

Ok I think I've got that off my chest now. As you were...

I once worked for a company who counted your weekend (in a Monday to Friday role) as sick days if you admitted to being ill on either of those days and you had had either the Friday or Monday off ... Seemed unusual to me at any rate.

Do people not realise that a bad cold can be worse than the average flu?!

I guess people just think mild = cold; severe = flu.

You wouldn't take time off for those in my company; the cold you'd medicate and carry on and the migraine you'd leave early if it was bad enough.
YOU might not but that doesn't mean that everyone SHOULD.
When some people get a migraine they can't get out of bed let alone work and the medication for either condition could mean that driving was unsafe.
I've never taken time off for a run of the mill cold but I have had the odd day for a really heavy cold.

I hate organisations where this ridiculous mentality exists. People get ill, when they get ill it is better for them and everyone else if they have time off to recover. If the workload is so high that an absence causes so much grief then they are understaffed.
Over-zealous micro-managing of time off sick does not increase loyalty or commitment - it tends to increase resentment.

I worked in a public library for several years, if you weren't well enough to work at the counter you weren't to come in. So I really bad cold etc. did mean you could be off.

As for migraines - if I had a severe one no way would I be at work, vomiting, diarrhoea and agonising pain that makes me scream - struggle to make it between the bed and toilet when they're like that.

I work in HR and we don't monitor sickness. We record it as we have to track for UKBA compliance but do not punish for it as we have an adult, trusting work environment.

If you are sick you are sick, if it is for more than the allowed days of self-certification you will have a note anyway.

2 periods in a year would trigger an interview, 3 a formal warning, 5-6 contract closure in my organisation. Pregnancy is different.

For office based roles there should be an understanding that people can dial in from home and work from the sofa with a laptop. Obviously that's not possible with many jobs but it is for a lot and its crazy it's not done more.

This. It's so frustrating when people come and spread the germs around, struggle through the day, being much less productive than usual because they're unwell.

I make it clear I much prefer people to stay home if they're ill. If they're well enough to work they'll likely be more productive from home where they can take more breaks, don't have to commute, etc. And if they're not well enough, I'd much prefer they took a day or two to recover rather than struggling through feeling sub-par for a week or so.

Part of this is because I'm a decent human with good staff whom I trust. Part is because I get pissed off about the cost to our productivity caused by presenteeism during illness, especially if it's an infectious one.

What's all this 'in the private sector' bollocks? Where I work in the public sector we have very clear set sickness triggers with clear disciplinary procedures attached. My mates in the private sector are forever calling in sick or dissing at home because there are no procedures.

Wow, some super women (and men?) on here. I take days off when I'm sick. Typically about 2-3 days in a year I think, and sometimes work from home if I'm feeling okay but not great enough to commute.

But I worked in an office where my output could be clearly tracked so it's easy to see I still got all my 4-5 deliverables per month done in time regardless of whether I was sick or not. And it was only during annual leave that I had to cover for others or they had to cover for me.

I've had a different job during pregnancy which is even more self paced so don't have useful advice, but seems like so many others have such starkly different expectations of people! Fwiw the only reason I bloody fall ill is because inconsiderate wankers bring themselves and their stupid colds into the office and infect everyone else while moaning about and not actually doing any work!

I work in HR and we don't monitor sickness. We record it as we have to track for UKBA compliance but do not punish for it as we have an adult, trusting work environment.

No companies can punish for it. You do monitor it, you have to in case of a redundancy review.

I was once on the senior management team for a hotel chain - only four hotels, four and five star. Aside from the SMT, the first three days of any period of sick leave were unpaid - after that staff needed to provide a doctor's note. This meant that kitchen staff who were pretty poorly paid would struggle in, full of germs, preparing and cooking food for the customers who were paying extortionate prices for their meals. There was something very wrong about this approach in my view, but is apparently normal in the hospitality industry.

I don't think OP's sickness record is at all bad!! I've had staff take a lot more than that - I always hold return to work meetings though.