Really as long as people have the appropriate certificates required, you can do whatever you want with your sick days. They are your right, and you don't have to justify why you need to take a day off!!!
I feel bad if I take a sick day and I'm not sick. I recently had an exam on a day that I would normally work and work had not yet granted me annual leave. Because it's my regular day, I couldn't just say I wasn't available that day, I actually had to take leave. One of the supervisors (who would have been my supervisor on the day anyway) told me to call in sick the day before. I felt so guilty even thinking about it! Thankfully, it didn't come to that.
ds is sick today and I almost called in sick to take care of him. Good thing I didn't, becuase we were down 2 people.
In our work place, if you're sick, you stay away. It's as much for the residents as for the staff
When I was working, I used my sick days when I was sick. My DH manages a branch here and doesn't like it when his staff come in sick because they make other staff sick and end up needing more sick days all up than if the sick person just took time off in the first place. Having said that, DH has his own office so if he is sick but needs to get some stuff done at work, he heads in and goes straight into his office and keeps himself away from the rest of his staff. He usually only goes in for a bit and then works from home for the rest of the day.
He was talking to another manager who was saying that they have recently swapped sick leave over to personal leave. Everyone is entitled to 10 days of personal leave a year on top of their annual leave as a replacement for sick leave. If they are sick they have to use their personal leave, but they can plan to take a day of personal leave if they need it for anything because it is easier for the company to managed planned days off then to deal with people calling up at the last minute. It also keeps their work place a lot more honest and people can say that they are having leave without having to bung on being sick. I think it sounds great as long as people can manage their leave well enough to still take time off when they are actually sick but most people have a few weeks of sick leave owing to them within the first couple of years of working so it sounds like a good way to let them use it to me
Ive worked in private and public sector. Public has your RDO once a month....you could actually 'bank' them and use them up to 3 up at once at the time. Private, you just got x no. of days for how long you had been there. People were always, always sick in private sector in ths particular company i worked for...Monday itis was a biggie...i can honestly say, in the public dept i worked, people never, ever had sickies...unless genuinly sick.
Everyone spare a thought for those who work in Defence...when they are sick, they have to drag themselves into work, for a "sick parade" where they wait to be seen first by a medic and - only if deemed necessary - then a dr, who finally gives them a "chit" to go home and be sick. (!!!!)
My own feeling about sick leave is it's there to be taken when you need it. I don't pull sickies but like BW I do think mental health is important too.
My attitude towards sick leave has changed over the years. When I first started working I had little compunction towards taking a sickie. But I think as I've grown, I've become a little more responsible about it. I think being part of a good team helps - I don't like to let them down by chucking a sickie.
I think it's really important not to go to work sick. I really hate doing it, and up until a year ago I wouldn't. I'm a nurse, so there's nothing that looks worse than having some nurse walk in and cough and sniffle all over your child! When I transferred to the job I have now, I had four years worth of sick leave saved up - I hardly ever got sick. In our award, we are entitled to "Carer's Leave" to look after children or immediate family, and that leave is deducted from your sick leave entitlement - so in other words, it's like a tacit acknowledgement that it is okay to use your sick leave to look after your family. Anyway, during DW's last pregnancy, she got so sick during the first trimester she had to have three months off work, so I drew pretty heavily on my sick leave to look after her and the two eldest girls. Well, I was in the midst of a fairly bitter dispute with my manager at the time, and lo and behold, she slapped me under a managed sick leave policy, because she had never bothered to classify all of the sick leave I had been taking as "carer's leave" and she managed to make it look like I had a problem with absenteeism. So I had to show a medical certificate every time I needed a sick day. Which was fine at the start, but now my GP has a week-long waiting list for appointments, she won't write my medical certificates in retrospect because by the time I see her, I am well again. So for the first time in my career, I did exactly that - I turned up to work as sick as a dog, coughed and sneezed all over my patients, and got an absolute mouthful from one of them who was an ex nurse herself for being at work sick.
For a profession that knows so much about illness, I am constantly amazed how many nurses and nurse managers expect you to be a martyr and turn up no matter what. Case in point - another girl was pregnant here at the same time as my DW, and she also hyperemesis. DW did the right thing, saw her OB, and was certified off work for three months, gave her manager notice. This other girl kept on coming to work, lasting an hour before she'd be in a bed or on a lounge somewhere - sometimes just slumped over in the corridor - vomitting her heart out. It was disgusting, and incredibly unprofesional, and the rest of the team had to pick up the slack every day she was there. And yet, they complained about my DW taking time off and asked why she couldn't just "push on" like the other girl. I mean, FFS, at least my DW was getting replaced with someone else who could actually work more than an hour at a time!
I think more people should take it when they are sick! Nothing annoys me more than turning up and work and having a colleague coughing and spluttering all over the shop. I don't care if you have popped two codril and are 'soldiering on'. You are still contagious and I do not want it!
"Thank you for your purchases, and here, because you were lucky to come in today, have a free sample of Influenza"
I currently have over 200 hours accrued in sick leave from the first 5 years I worked at Telstra, and I haven't accrued any more since then when I've been on AWA (it's all manager's discretion). My father really taught me the value of sick leave - he had accrued over 5 months leave in his work at ATO, and when he had his pacemaker put in, and mum had a full hysto, he took it all off ... it was so less stress to know that they still had a full wage coming in during that time!!!!
I take mine when I need to - the only time this year I haven't gotten a certificate is when the midwife has said there's no point to see me cause they can't do anything, and to have bed rest. With my MI, my doc is more likely to over-prescribe time off than under - I often have to go back and get a certificate that I'm OK to work!
If you need time, you need time. When team managing I can tell how my team are travelling by the amount of sick leave. When they are happy, I'm sending them home. When they are unhappy, they're calling in with a stubbed toe. It's a good measure of work levels and team happiness.
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So for the first time in my career, I did exactly that - I turned up to work as sick as a dog, coughed and sneezed all over my patients, and got an absolute mouthful from one of them who was an ex nurse herself for being at work sick.
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