Manager does not reply to sickness notice

[Savannahuk]

What do you make of a manager who does not reply when emailed regarding taking sick leave/carer's leaves/emergency annual leave etc? And never replies when colleagues complain about each other

First I would check the policy about notifying sick leave - we have to phne, not text or mail. If you are following that, then I would ask for an acknowledgement that it's been received. If you haven'the been doing it as expected, then I would ask why wasn't that feedback given.

As for complaining about colleagues - I suppose it depends on what the complaint is. Is someone just having a whinge? Or are they bringing up behaviour which can be changed, or is it something which could result in a formal grievance? It's crap that he doesn't acknowledge any of them (hmm, funny that I assume "he" - might be projecting there....) but it’s particularly bad if it's of a serious nature. I think in that case, I would go back and again, at least ask for an acknowledgement and feedback about what he or she will do about it, "I want you to speak to annoying colleague / we will update the procedure to make sure that thing isn't missed in future/I will discuss this with HR, but I may not be able to tell you the outcome because of confidentiality" - or whatever. If his/her behaviour didn't change at all, I'd go to the next level to ask for thei'r help in how to handle it. (In my case, manager in question is still uselessly uncommunicative, but we did get a departmental reorg out of it, so the effects are lessened.)