warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
It looks like it's designed to force employees to come into work when they're sick.. which makes other employees sick.
Reducing productivity.. Brilliant!
Presenteeism: Encouraging Sick Workers to Come in
- Thread starter Rashiminos
- Start date
It looks like it's designed to force employees to come into work when they're sick.. which makes other employees sick.
Reducing productivity.. Brilliant!
Akka
Moody old mage.
IIRC, here we get as many days as required if a doctor signs a note, and we can call it sick when required without proof.
But the first two days missing work are not paid. It means you can perfectly says "I'm sick, I can't come to work" and it will be considered normal even if you don't provide a "proof", but you're not paid.
And if you're sick enough to require more than two days of being away from work... then it feels normal that you'd call a doctor.
Though for me, the last time I fell ill was in 2007 or 2006 I think (one single day), and probably about 2001 before that, so I don't really know how it works first-hand
But the first two days missing work are not paid. It means you can perfectly says "I'm sick, I can't come to work" and it will be considered normal even if you don't provide a "proof", but you're not paid.
And if you're sick enough to require more than two days of being away from work... then it feels normal that you'd call a doctor.
Though for me, the last time I fell ill was in 2007 or 2006 I think (one single day), and probably about 2001 before that, so I don't really know how it works first-hand
I need a doctor's note past 3 days. The catch is doctors all charge 20-30 bucks for a note 
Disgustipated
Deity
I get no sick days, but if you do call in sick, you can use one of your floating holidays (we have 3) or worst case, use your actual vacation days. Otherwise you just don't get paid.
innonimatu
the resident Cassandra
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2006
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- 15,377
I think I took the grand total of one sick leave day so far. I guess I've been lucky never to have needed more.That as back when I could call in once a month for a day off for taking care of any personal matter. That policy ended last year. I'll blame it also on the EU...
Where I live the law requires a doctor's note, but many sites waived that requirement for short absences so long as the employee hadn't gotten himself a bad reputation. It used to be the case that people mildly sick showed up for work anyway, but that was partly replaced by a more rational policy of not spreading around the bugs (and not having unproductive workers around). It varies very much depending on the place, though. If some employers could reinstate slavery I bet they would.
Where I live the law requires a doctor's note, but many sites waived that requirement for short absences so long as the employee hadn't gotten himself a bad reputation. It used to be the case that people mildly sick showed up for work anyway, but that was partly replaced by a more rational policy of not spreading around the bugs (and not having unproductive workers around). It varies very much depending on the place, though. If some employers could reinstate slavery I bet they would.
Bamspeedy
CheeseBob
How often every year do people get the flu? If you are vomiting or have a fever then heck yeah, stay home. A little cough or runny nose do some people go to the emergency room for that? Some people would be calling in sick 3 months every year if they need to stay home for the common cold.
Not healthy people.
I've gotten a single cold (ie. cough and runny nose), and no other illness, in the past 2.5 years.
Bamspeedy
CheeseBob
3 months was an exaggeration. During the winter (almost) everybody gets a cold (or two or more).
So the typical adult is supposed to take 2-5 weeks off per year for the common cold?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_cold
So the typical adult is supposed to take 2-5 weeks off per year for the common cold?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_cold
aimeeandbeatles
watermelon
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2007
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- 20,112
Not everyone has the good fortune to be healthy all the time like you.
Bamspeedy
CheeseBob
My wife always wants to say it's her healthier diet that is the reason she gets over a cold faster than I do.......but she never can because I get better before she does.
It's not luck, I put a ton of time and energy into being healthy.
Silurian
Deity
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2010
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- 7,567
Time and energy help but luck also plays a large part.
I come out ahead as the time you dedicate to that is greater than the time I lose to the flu. But good for you, I'm sure the effort counts for something!
Disgustipated
Deity
Heretic_Cata
We're gonna live forever
Over here we're not allowed to get sick if we have a job.
That's why there are hand sanitizers all over the place. And some places actually have written instructions, complete with pictures, posted in the bathrooms to show people how to wash their hands.
And then, because they know that some people will not pay attention to that, they also post instructions to not touch the door handle of the bathroom with your bare hands.
Cheezy the Wiz
Socialist In A Hurry
At my old job I was required to present a doctor's note for days that I called out on, or my very employment was at the mercy of my boss. Most of the time, someone who was sick was generally also pressured to find their replacement for the shift themselves.
But I guess this is generally not a problem for non-shift jobs like office positions, which is probably what most people on this forum are familiar with. I can see where a phone call there would suffice.
I still get no sick days, or paid days off.
JohnRM
Don't make me destroy you
My company has a point system.
4 points for the first day called off.
2 points for the second consecutive day.
Third day requires a doctor's note/FMLA.
16 points and you get a "decision-making day" where they emasculate you, treat you like a five-year old, and have you write a letter explaining why you want to keep your job. Funny thing is; This is a union shop. But, the union has been infiltrated and co-opted, so it does very little for the workers.
4 points for the first day called off.
2 points for the second consecutive day.
Third day requires a doctor's note/FMLA.
16 points and you get a "decision-making day" where they emasculate you, treat you like a five-year old, and have you write a letter explaining why you want to keep your job. Funny thing is; This is a union shop. But, the union has been infiltrated and co-opted, so it does very little for the workers.
From reading all this, I'm wondering how many of the companies that use a point system to punish sick workers also provide ways to enhance or encourage their workers to be healthy (I don't consider threatening to fire them to be "encouragement"). Personally, I detest it when an obviously sick clerk or bank teller is coughing and sneezing and then hands me money or an item I purchased. The first thing I do when I get home is WASH MY HANDS!
Since I've mostly been self-employed, I haven't needed to worry about anything except sick clients passing their ailments along to me. That happened one year when a regular who should have stayed home in bed but had a term paper that needed typing showed up sick, sneezed all over his papers, and handed them to me. Even though I was as careful as I could be, I still caught what he had - and spent one of the most miserable Christmas/New Year's in my life!
Since I've mostly been self-employed, I haven't needed to worry about anything except sick clients passing their ailments along to me. That happened one year when a regular who should have stayed home in bed but had a term paper that needed typing showed up sick, sneezed all over his papers, and handed them to me. Even though I was as careful as I could be, I still caught what he had - and spent one of the most miserable Christmas/New Year's in my life!
Bamspeedy
CheeseBob
I still wish I had 130 days of sick time, but even better if it was with my schedule. Take 2-3 days off each week when my current schedule is only a 3 day work week to begin with....talk about a dream job, working one day every two weeks!
As for the OP, if you want to stop abuse of sick days then the whole system needs to be revamped. Who wouldn't take a day off WITH FULL PAY? Sure, some people would if the really have a sense of pride in their work, but most people won't. I think one possible solution would be to make 'sick days' be only 50% pay.
Now that I think it over, what I explained with the step system was for absenteeism, not specifically sick days. How do other companies deal with absenteeism (if it exceeds the number of allocated sick days)?
The 'worst case' scenario I posted earlier has the other extreme that a worker could exploit and that would be to say, miss 12 days in a month, get their paid day off for the decision day, then go 6 months without missing a day and get a clean record and then repeat the process for the next 7 months, so an average of 20 or so days a year of being 'sick'. But that's playing with fire, since it's easy to miss one day due to events beyond your control.
Since we have sick hours, we don't have sick days. You can start using the sick hours on the second day in a row you are sick (for the first day you can use personal time, deferred holidays or vacation). I've never been sick two days in a row to use them, so I'm not sure if a doctor's note is needed.
Since I'm maxed out my sick hours the hours I would normally accumulate is transferred to personal time, so when I take a day off I'm technically using my personal time but I had actually earned it as sick time.
As for the OP, if you want to stop abuse of sick days then the whole system needs to be revamped. Who wouldn't take a day off WITH FULL PAY? Sure, some people would if the really have a sense of pride in their work, but most people won't. I think one possible solution would be to make 'sick days' be only 50% pay.
Now that I think it over, what I explained with the step system was for absenteeism, not specifically sick days. How do other companies deal with absenteeism (if it exceeds the number of allocated sick days)?
The 'worst case' scenario I posted earlier has the other extreme that a worker could exploit and that would be to say, miss 12 days in a month, get their paid day off for the decision day, then go 6 months without missing a day and get a clean record and then repeat the process for the next 7 months, so an average of 20 or so days a year of being 'sick'. But that's playing with fire, since it's easy to miss one day due to events beyond your control.
Since we have sick hours, we don't have sick days. You can start using the sick hours on the second day in a row you are sick (for the first day you can use personal time, deferred holidays or vacation). I've never been sick two days in a row to use them, so I'm not sure if a doctor's note is needed.
Since I'm maxed out my sick hours the hours I would normally accumulate is transferred to personal time, so when I take a day off I'm technically using my personal time but I had actually earned it as sick time.
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