Slacker on long term sick

Anxiety and depression is something you can't possibly understand until you've been there and felt the effects. I suffered a bad bout of labrynthitis last summer and that left me with severe anxiety and mild depression. I've had several panic attacks that have resulted in me having to go to hospital on about 4 occasions, convinced I was having a heart attack and about to die. It's impossible to describe the feeling, but it literally feels as if the whole world is falling apart.

Hyperventilation which goes hand in hand with panic attacks and anxiety causes many symptoms that you can feel and see. eg. chest pains, heart palpitations, numbness, sweating, hyper activity, muscle cramps/twitches over breathing, nausea, dizziness etc... This is caused when the level of co2 in the blood becomes too low because it is being breathed out during hyperventilation.

This type of mental illness can literally put you in bed and make you a recluse and in severe cases lead to suicide. It's not worth talking about until you have felt what your mind is capable of and what symptoms can be felt.
 
Last edited:
The problem with people being on long term sick is partly that their workload is shifted onto the remaining people who are at work and when they do get back they tend to be phased in, which frankly gets on peoples nerves.

Add onto this the fact that many HR departments especially in local councils and the NHS are scared or seemingly unable to offload long term sick people. There's one guy in my department who's been off sick for 25 of the past 26 months - I haven't even met him yet, but we're unable to replace him until he quits or someone grows a pair and sacks him for simply being unable to fullfill his post.

Depression, stress etc are all problems that can start in the workplace but at some point someone has to stand up and say "hey look you haven't been at work for two years, time to call it quits." or they have to accept that possibility themselves.

I've worked with a guy who was off sick for 6 months with depression and stress, then would work 6 months and repeat. Essentially play the system, what we didn't find out until later was that he was working a second job at weekends and kept that going when signed off from his main job - even taking overtime when he'd normally be at his primary post.

There's players like that and then there's genuinely sick people, problem is that it's bloody hard to figure out which is which in our benefits obsessed society.
 
Halfmad said:
The problem with people being on long term sick is partly that their workload is shifted onto the remaining people who are at work and when they do get back they tend to be phased in, which frankly gets on peoples nerves.

Add onto this the fact that many HR departments especially in local councils and the NHS are scared or seemingly unable to offload long term sick people. There's one guy in my department who's been off sick for 25 of the past 26 months - I haven't even met him yet, but we're unable to replace him until he quits or someone grows a pair and sacks him for simply being unable to fullfill his post.

Depression, stress etc are all problems that can start in the workplace but at some point someone has to stand up and say "hey look you haven't been at work for two years, time to call it quits." or they have to accept that possibility themselves.

I've worked with a guy who was off sick for 6 months with depression and stress, then would work 6 months and repeat. Essentially play the system, what we didn't find out until later was that he was working a second job at weekends and kept that going when signed off from his main job - even taking overtime when he'd normally be at his primary post.

There's players like that and then there's genuinely sick people, problem is that it's bloody hard to figure out which is which in our benefits obsessed society.
Click to expand...

I totally understand your frustration, it must be difficult having more work through no fult of your own. I can appreciate both sides, people who abuse the system are way out of order, but it is important not to use that against the people who don't.
 
Andy_82 said:
I totally understand your frustration, it must be difficult having more work through no fult of your own. I can appreciate both sides, people who abuse the system are way out of order, but it is important not to use that against the people who don't.
Click to expand...

It's not a case of using it against someone, there has to some common sense set in stone for employers to be able to dismiss someone who's clearly not up to the job and it shouldn't be done as it is now - with the employer being seen to be some sort of villain because he/she isn't willing to support someone for years on end who cannot do the job they were hired for.

Anxiety attacks, depression etc are all as disabling as any physical disability, however society, the law and employers all treat them differently. If they're that serious then they should be treated as such. When someone isn't able to recover from them in a suitable time they should have to leave their job and allow someone capable to take their place. Likewise employers should have to support that person up until that point, but there has to be a bit of reality here, which isn't currently there in employment law, or if it is I've never seen an employer actually use it.
 
Halfmad said:
It's not a case of using it against someone, there has to some common sense set in stone for employers to be able to dismiss someone who's clearly not up to the job and it shouldn't be done as it is now - with the employer being seen to be some sort of villain because he/she isn't willing to support someone for years on end who cannot do the job they were hired for.

Anxiety attacks, depression etc are all as disabling as any physical disability, however society, the law and employers all treat them differently. If they're that serious then they should be treated as such. When someone isn't able to recover from them in a suitable time they should have to leave their job and allow someone capable to take their place. Likewise employers should have to support that person up until that point, but there has to be a bit of reality here, which isn't currently there in employment law, or if it is I've never seen an employer actually use it.
Click to expand...

I'd agree with that, I guess it came from the discrimination laws going to far. I think there needs to be a better balance between employer and employee. If you can't function in your current job you should find something you can do. If more people were honest and not 'set upon' when discussing the issues things might change for the better.
 
Imagine if you were running a small business and one of your employees took 6 months of work for 6 months constantly. that is how it is unfortunately so a line has to be drawn at some point. the way it is now isn't sustainable either.

We had a woman that started working for us, she was a bit rubbish to be fair and also on more money than everyone else yet she was constantly off ill. just long enough to not need a note or long enough so that one note would do.

Then she got pregnant, vanished for like 6 months, came back, took all her holidays in the first 4 months, got pregnant again and was off for another few months, she was here over a year and I never worked a shift with her.

She then went ill again until she eventually quit off her own back. We just couldn't get rid of her as it was all by the book and only managed to claw back the last month of her pay because she forgot to phone up one day.

Now for a big company it is annoying, for a small business it could mean the end of your business and 20 years down the drain.


At some point you have to admit to yourself that you just can't cut it or whatever and need a less stressful job. But obviously I am talking months and years here, not just sacking people willy nilly because they are 5 minutes late one day.
 
Gavin said:
I'm in the middle of arguing with some one on benefits about why they shouldn't be spending their money on a new TV!

You just can't make the idiots see sense.

I'm sure food debts or bills would be better.
Click to expand...

I hope you see the sense! ;) :p
 
kylew said:
I hope you see the sense! ;) :p
Click to expand...

I don't see why you "corrected" plasma telly to new TV:confused:

Telly is a perfectly acceptable colloquialism and the "plasma" part is important to show they are getting an expensive high end model rather than a new 15" CRT.
 
Tefal said:
I don't see why you "corrected" plasma telly to new TV:confused:

Telly is a perfectly acceptable colloquialism and the "plasma" part is important to show they are getting an expensive high end model rather than a new 15" CRT.
Click to expand...

Might have been LCD or LED? Best to keep it vague and be sure!
 
Tefal said:
I don't see why you "corrected" plasma telly to new TV:confused:

Telly is a perfectly acceptable colloquialism and the "plasma" part is important to show they are getting an expensive high end model rather than a new 15" CRT.
Click to expand...

What starfighter said. I've seen so many people who seem to think large flat TVs are called "Plasmas" and refer to them as such.

It's a TV first and foremost.

Some people will call an LCD TV a "Plasma" simply because that's what they think big TVs are called.
 
FYI OP my Dad has been out of work with depression for over 6 months now.
He's been working on all sorts of projects at home these last few months and doing decorating, DIY, cleaning up etc.
Doesn't change the fact that he's still depressed.
Perhaps you're jumping to conclusions here.
 
At the end of the day, the doctor will have done a proper assessment and the bloke has probably been to several consultations.

The last thing he is going to do is tell anyone who is not immediate family about his real condition.

People on here totally miss understand the true meaning of the subject and until you have been through it yourself you can't.
 
Stop complaining about him and go join him!

Quite clearly he has worked out how to live life :D
 
platinum87 said:
If i somehow loose a leg or an arm then mabye i will snap, but nothing else..
Click to expand...

If your real personality is anything like your internet personality (which it probably isn't, I refer you to the (in)famous Nitefly cartoon) then I would say that you have already snapped. :D :D :D
 
I'm very sceptical of back problems, depression and stress. IMO more exaggerate or just plain lie than actually have issues, going by the people I've encountered that actually "have" these issues.

It's funny how once their salary drops to a lower amount (ie first 6 months full pay, after that half pay) they are well again.
 
you ****** god I hope you never have to manage anyone!!!! how uncaring maybe the guy has real problems, perhaps you will feel bad if anything ever happens to him.

I recently had a colleague who committed suicide and had been off sick quite a bit before, everyone who slagged her like this for being a "slacker" feels pretty ****, no wonder really being such uncaring ****s.
 
JBuk said:
Or maybe they cannot afford to live so they are forced to go back to work
Click to expand...
I can't afford to live off JSA alone, better get some child suport too.

rodo said:
I don't think you have enough information to judge the situation. Less scepticism and more compassion needed.
Click to expand...

I have all the information I need. He's been to several interviews for other jobs and complains how he hates his current job. Fact is that he can't do his job (software developer), he's in over his head. All his work is just rehash of stuff he finds off the internet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom