Sick days off work: how many is too many per year ?

[johnny6]

My company have quite a reasonable sickness policy I believe.

If we are talking short term sickness than company policy is 10 days in a rolling 12 months. Any more than that involves a conversation with HR.

If we are talking long term sickness for major illnesses then company policy is up to 12 months full pay and then there is a discussion with HR to assess the individual case.

 

[malachi]

Haven't got a clue about sick day's at my place, been there for nearly 10 years, I be leaving next month and haven't had a sick day since 2005.

 

[Malevolence]

It's a cold, you're not exactly on deaths bed. Stop being so precious

That's all find and good, but when you have an underlying medical condition that is easily exacerbated to the nth degree by something as simple as the common cold you soon learn to detest the selfish ***** who can't be bothered to take a day or two off so as to not spread their germs around.

 

[Caracus2k]

That's all find and good, but when you have an underlying medical condition that is easily exacerbated to the nth degree by something as simple as the common cold you soon learn to detest the selfish ***** who can't be bothered to take a day or two off so as to not spread their germs around.

Common cold
The common cold is infectious from a few days before your symptoms appear until all of the symptoms are gone. Most people will be infectious for around 2 weeks.

 

[FloppyPoppy]

Just wondering as I was off sick with the flu over Christmas and new year and now am off with the flu again

How can you get the flu three times in the space of 4 months? And twice within a couple of weeks.

Are you sure you have the flu and not a common cold? Like has a doctor told you It’s the flu as it’s extremely common for people to misdiagnose themselves with the wrong illness.

 

[explicit4u]

2 sick days in 4 years, and that was due to a bike accident, in my previous job. Current job i've had double digits since September last year

 

[memyselfandi]

My current employer is pretty good with sick days. They used Bradford factor but with quite a high limit and you can self certify up to 5 days before needing a doctors note. And, at least in the areas I have worked, it wasn't abused much if at all .. Mainly because if people were feeling unwell they tended to work from home.

Personally I tended to end up having one day off sick every 2-3 years which wasn't bad. That was until the start of this year when a combination of factors meant I (and several others) were signed off with stress for around 6 weeks followed by 4 weeks or so phased return. Occupational health were involved and arranged counselling. But there were no issues with this and there was no disciplinary issues over it (if we wanted a slower phased return then that would have been agreed). That was on full pay too.

 

[booyaka]

No you're not. You're really not. You don't have "the flu" because if you did, you wouldn't be able to get out of bed, never mind be posting on the internet.

agreed - I've had flu once in my life and I was literally bedridden for 5 days......didn't barely move....

People saying they have the flu and are back at work 2 days later is just a bad cold.

 

[FoxEye]

Yea, then everyone else in the office gets it too. Which lowers productivity even more. We usually tell people to go home.

This. We're obviously not as big an a-hole as some employers in this thread, because we'd rather contagious people stay at home than spread it around.

Once is clearly too much. You should be fired for failing to come in and replaced by a machine.

And this. There is a really unhealthy - masochistic even - attitude to work in this country.

I think many of you really do "live to work". I think half of you would voluntarily dismiss yourselves for failing to be a good slave to your masters.

e: https://www.shortlist.com/news/opinion/work-burnout-desks-email-death/373631

We're doing it wrong in this country. Longest hours and still low productivity. Also high rates of burn-out, etc.

 

[Angilion]

No you're not. You're really not. You don't have "the flu" because if you did, you wouldn't be able to get out of bed, never mind be posting on the internet.

Well, there are various strains of flu. A mild strain isn't necessarily completely incapacitating. Also, they might be on the recovering end of it. I think it's likely that someone with flu, actual flu and not a lesser disease, would have a period of time in which they're lucid and able to type while resting but not fit to work. I've had flu twice and one was much less bad than the other. I was only bedridden for a day or so the second time and I was lucid when awake. I was fit for nothing much for over a week, but by the second day I was functional while sitting quietly doing nothing. The first time I wasn't lucid, didn't know what day it was and wasn't sure if I was dreaming or hallucinating. I have a strangely vivid memory of regaining consciousness on the stairs after crawling to the toilet. Did that really happen? I'm not sure. Afterwards, my bed smelled of stale sweat and illness but not urine, so I must have crawled to the toilet some times in that period of time. I didn't really understand it was possible to be that ill.

That what I was thinking

I thought most people get the flu or a cold just about every year

A cold, maybe. Not flu. They're only the same in a very vague way, like a housecat and a tiger. A cold is unpleasant. Flu can kill you (and does kill a lot of people). One of the worst plagues in recorded history was flu. ~50 million dead in months.

 

[bigmike20vt]

The 'professionals'would not agree with you because they would know that quoting a (mean) average like the article does in its headline without looking more in detail at things like the median, the distribution and underlying reasons would be very misleading.

That statistic conflates thoose who are off work for months on end often for things like serious physical injury with thoose taking numerous self certified days here and there.

An employee who takes 4 days of every year for thirty years self certified and one who doesn't take any sick for twenty nine years but in one year takes 120 days of because they broke their leg on the job would both contribute equally to the (mean) average sickeness in that period but would obviously be rather different from an employee point of view.

Ok come at it from another angle..... On my higher estimate of my sick days a year gives a Bradford score of 16. If you were an employer and moaned at a staff member for that I think it is fair to say your reputation as an employer would be a poor one

 

[AndyCr15]

My workplace does it by the number of absences in a rolling 12 months.

1 or 2 absences in rolling 12 months = you're ok
3rd absence in rolling 12 months = stage 1 warning

This is how my workplace works too. I don't think it's unreasonable. Usually the ones that get caught out are the ones that take a day here or there for probably a not so real/valid/necessary reason... then they actually get sick and end up in trouble.

I always used to give the example that I've probably only been off sick about 4 or 5 times in the last 17 years, but then I was off sick at New Year with a bad chest infection and I've just been off for a couple of days with terrible diarrhoea... One more before next year and I'll be in trouble myself!

It's a tollerance thing though, isn't it. If you rated how well you felt out of 100, some people call in sick if they dropped to a 90. Some if they get to 60. Some will still come in at a 30 etc. Personally I wouldn't say a cold is a reason to not come in to work.

 

[phrases]

I used to be a pain in the ass for time off during my 20 i totalled 30 absences in 2 months :O. So much so they would take bets if i would make it in on a friday and monday because i'd be partying all weekend. Safe to say i got through many jobs during that time mostly dismissed for time off! You learn your lesson after having a family and i've never had more than 2 days sick in 10yrs.

 

[chaparral]

Personally I wouldn't say a cold is a reason to not come in to work.

I agree but it not down to me to be able to choose if I can go into work or not
it the management at my place that will not allow workers with a cold or flu to come in

 

[LiE]

I've had about 3 days off in the past 4 years, I usually never get ill enough to take a sick day. It has to be pretty bad.

 

[krooton]

I hate the Bradford Factor, it only really works when you have a scheduled/shifted workforce, where random abscences have a noticeable impact, like call centres or restaurant staff.

I can guarantee you that if was off work for 2 weeks solid, **** would hit the fan vs me having 5 individual days off sick over a year.

Companies tend to have to use a one-size-fits-all approach though, so we are supposed to use it for any role in our office. Thankfully my department heads are cool with minor sick days just becoming working from home' days, HR doesn't need to know

 

[KillBoY_UK]

I'm probably on average of sick 1-2 times a year.

Last year I had a massive migraine and was puking into a bucket for 24 hours, the other time last year I woke up with bad chest pains, went to hospital and a doggy looking ECG which they are still trying to diagnose the now.

The most annoying thing is and this happens most years, I don't user my holidays or very little for few reason, so then October rolls around and I have 18-20+ days to use and i get told to use them. I take 2 weeks or so off in the November like last year AND then I get sick with the flu for most of them two week. Time off ruined, holiday days wasted. eps as last November I had planned to take a few mini breaks around Europe in that time as ive not had a proper vacation is 5 years.

The Bradford factor thing is a HR tick box BS like others have mentioned, say I was not on leave when I had the flu last year I would have had to dragged myself to the doctors (that's if you can get appointment in the two weeks) spreading germs along the way and at the GP office only to waste there time to get a bit of paper for HR when the GP could be using the slot for someone who needs it and I could be spent recovering.

 

[Tone1979]

I have had the flu twice in my 39 years. I remember both times.

I get a cold maybe twice or three times a year, certainly more this year as I have a 9 month old who I swear is patient 0 and the result is more colds than normal.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

I have had the flu twice in my 39 years. I remember both times.

I get a cold maybe twice or three times a year, certainly more this year as I have a 9 month old who I swear is patient 0 and the result is more colds than normal.

Wait until your nipper starts nursery. You’ll think you’re in a remake of Outbreak.

 

[MassiveJim]

I'm probably on average of sick 1-2 times a year.

Last year I had a massive migraine and was puking into a bucket for 24 hours, the other time last year I woke up with bad chest pains, went to hospital and a doggy looking ECG which they are still trying to diagnose the now.

The most annoying thing is and this happens most years, I don't user my holidays or very little for few reason, so then October rolls around and I have 18-20+ days to use and i get told to use them. I take 2 weeks or so off in the November like last year AND then I get sick with the flu for most of them two week. Time off ruined, holiday days wasted. eps as last November I had planned to take a few mini breaks around Europe in that time as ive not had a proper vacation is 5 years.

The Bradford factor thing is a HR tick box BS like others have mentioned, say I was not on leave when I had the flu last year I would have had to dragged myself to the doctors (that's if you can get appointment in the two weeks) spreading germs along the way and at the GP office only to waste there time to get a bit of paper for HR when the GP could be using the slot for someone who needs it and I could be spent recovering.

If you are sick during holiday time you are legally entitled to claim the days as sick and ask for the holiday back.

Like other have said if you have Flu you are going nowhere, I was not able to move from my bed for 24 hours when I got Flu, and after that time I still spent most of my time in Bed.