Are Companies Obliged to Pay Sick Leave?

Soldato
Joined
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Suffolk
As the Director of an SME Tech business (we employee circa 100 staff) sickness is a real bone of contention..

You of-course want to support employees when they have a genuine illness or accident, etc.. however when we ran a full-pay sick policy some people just see this as an excuse for some extra holiday; especially where you can self-cert your illness. Given we are already generous in terms of package, benefits and flexibility of working location and hours it really does rub up the wrong way when people abuse sickness.

As such we got rid of the occupation sick scheme and now only run a statutory sick scheme.. that said in the odd case where someone has a genuine problem we have continued to also pay regular salary; we just are no longer contractually obligated to.

In terms of sick rate we never had a massively high issue it was more particular individuals than a problem across the business.. but those individuals miraculously no longer take the odd Monday or Friday "sick" now..
 
Soldato
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South Wales
As the Director of an SME Tech business (we employee circa 100 staff) sickness is a real bone of contention..

You of-course want to support employees when they have a genuine illness or accident, etc.. however when we ran a full-pay sick policy some people just see this as an excuse for some extra holiday; especially where you can self-cert your illness. Given we are already generous in terms of package, benefits and flexibility of working location and hours it really does rub up the wrong way when people abuse sickness.

As such we got rid of the occupation sick scheme and now only run a statutory sick scheme.. that said in the odd case where someone has a genuine problem we have continued to also pay regular salary; we just are no longer contractually obligated to.

In terms of sick rate we never had a massively high issue it was more particular individuals than a problem across the business.. but those individuals miraculously no longer take the odd Monday or Friday "sick" now..

Same thing happened where I work. Everyone had full sick pay (I still do) until a certain individual joined and used to take at least one day off a week. Everyone new since him doesn't get it.
 
Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
32,618
As the Director of an SME Tech business (we employee circa 100 staff) sickness is a real bone of contention..

You of-course want to support employees when they have a genuine illness or accident, etc.. however when we ran a full-pay sick policy some people just see this as an excuse for some extra holiday; especially where you can self-cert your illness. Given we are already generous in terms of package, benefits and flexibility of working location and hours it really does rub up the wrong way when people abuse sickness.

As such we got rid of the occupation sick scheme and now only run a statutory sick scheme.. that said in the odd case where someone has a genuine problem we have continued to also pay regular salary; we just are no longer contractually obligated to.

In terms of sick rate we never had a massively high issue it was more particular individuals than a problem across the business.. but those individuals miraculously no longer take the odd Monday or Friday "sick" now..

There are ways to solve this though. For example, employees only get 5-7 floating sick days a year for your cold/tummy bugs etc. You can off full or say 70% pay for long term illness after the 3 days off with a valid medical certificate.

People cheating the system will quickly use up their 5-7 days and then if they take longer they will need to show a doctors note
 
Soldato
Joined
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Woking
Lol.

I actually lolled.

"Sorry guys im off ill, pay me my full wage anyway while im not doing my job"

That's normal. It's part of the transaction for your loyalty to the company, and their loyalty to you.

As the Director of an SME Tech business (we employee circa 100 staff) sickness is a real bone of contention..

You of-course want to support employees when they have a genuine illness or accident, etc.. however when we ran a full-pay sick policy some people just see this as an excuse for some extra holiday; especially where you can self-cert your illness. Given we are already generous in terms of package, benefits and flexibility of working location and hours it really does rub up the wrong way when people abuse sickness.

As such we got rid of the occupation sick scheme and now only run a statutory sick scheme.. that said in the odd case where someone has a genuine problem we have continued to also pay regular salary; we just are no longer contractually obligated to.

In terms of sick rate we never had a massively high issue it was more particular individuals than a problem across the business.. but those individuals miraculously no longer take the odd Monday or Friday "sick" now..

Our work does the same I think. I've had a couple of weeks off twice in the 5 years that I've worked at the company. They're well aware that despite ongoing illness, I am never really ill other than having these two major incidents. That, combined with the fact that I keep them updated and show willing to return to work, means that although they occasionally say, "if you're not back by x date we may have to pay you statutory" they never have done.

It means that I don't take the ****, and that I value being employed by them. It's honestly a consideration for me when I think about possibly changing jobs that they'll understand that sometimes things happen outside of your control and you need multiple weeks to recuperate.

Aside from those total 4 weeks I've taken in 5 years, I've probably had 3/4 other sick days, and they're the sort of days when you can't leave the bathroom.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
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Wiltshire
At a previous company there were a few people who were quite open about having a few extra weeks off a year as it was all paid for. It does tend to encourage this sort of behaviour from those sorts of people.

Apart from being off with flu for a week a year ago I tend to have 1-3 days off a year on average.

Growing up it was hammered into me to keep enough money to survive a good few months in case you lose your job or are on longer term sick etc, which is sensible advice. Also good in case you have a one off unexpected expense.
 
Soldato
Joined
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7,809
Wish I would do that

Alas being self employed means i have to work to pay myself :D


Yep, it is amazing just how much less illness is experienced by self employed people. Self employment obviously must be good for the constitution.

Mind, Most self employed people do not really have any comprehension of the meaning of the word "Holiday" either.
 
Soldato
OP
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Am I in the tiny minority ? I'm 48 this year, been working full time since leaving school and never had a day off sick.:confused:
I very very rarely took a sick day in 13 years until I had children. Last year my daughter gave me viral conjunctivitis and I was in bed for 5 days with a fever that wouldn't go away. I've never experienced eyeball pain in my life until then!!
 
Soldato
Joined
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Bristol
We're a small company (5 employees) and we only offer SSP but after 2 years service we'll pay full pay for 4 days before SSP takes over. It would be lovely to be able to pay all staff full pay when they're off but we simply can't afford to as a small company and, as people have eluded to, there will inevitably be someone who takes advantage of it eventually.

We also provide private medical insurance after 4 years and for immediates after 10.
 
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Caporegime
Joined
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58,912
Then you are on the statutory sick leave from the government. It's a bit off-putting if you're the main earner in a household and may be struck down with an illness or accident which requires time off work, and knowing your company isn't going to support you.

well you need to factor that into any job offer you receive, if you have a chronic illness then things like sick pay and medical insurance (especially medical insurance that allows for pre-existing conditions) might well have greater value for you when deciding whether to chose a particular job... so you consider those as well as salary... if you don't get sick pay then perhaps you need to pay separately for some insurance to cover you in the event that you're unable to work for a period of time, if you're just talking about not being paid for the odd few days per year that the average employee ends up taking off then just factor that lost income in when comparing salaries
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
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Posts
12,508
Location
Wokingham
well you need to factor that into any job offer you receive, if you have a chronic illness then things like sick pay and medical insurance (especially medical insurance that allows for pre-existing conditions) might well have greater value for you when deciding whether to chose a particular job... so you consider those as well as salary... if you don't get sick pay then perhaps you need to pay separately for some insurance to cover you in the event that you're unable to work for a period of time, if you're just talking about not being paid for the odd few days per year that the average employee ends up taking off then just factor that lost income in when comparing salaries
Yep you're right. I am in the process of potentially accepting a job offer from a very small company ~70 people. I've always worked for large multi nationals but this new position is something I am really interested in, as well as paying 20% more than what I'm on at the moment. The downsides are there are literally no benefits other than discount from the products.
 
Soldato
Joined
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Birmingham
Am I in the tiny minority ? I'm 48 this year, been working full time since leaving school and never had a day off sick.:confused:

Based on your location, I'm guessing that's because you don't interact with other people at all? Because otherwise you're extremely lucky and should play the lottery, or you have the immune system of superman (or are you a robot? :p)
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Aug 2004
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2,691
Never worked at a place that had anything other then SSP.

My current place has sick pay but only for supervisors and above, and yes all of them use it :rolleyes: and I found out the other day that the car that's been parked outside the empty lot next door was the company car of a woman who quit recently. So in 2016 when the company was asking for voluntary redundancies and ideas on how the company can save money the people upstairs are lolling around in company cars.
 
Soldato
Joined
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10,719
Based on your location, I'm guessing that's because you don't interact with other people at all? Because otherwise you're extremely lucky and should play the lottery, or you have the immune system of superman (or are you a robot? :p)

Always the alternative that someone gets sick but keeps going in to work.

This may or may not be followed by other staff getting sick ofc...
 
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