I work for a medical facility, and their attendance policy is a bit strict, imo.

An employee is allowed to be sick 2X within a 6 month period. If s/he is sick a 3rd time in 6 months, s/he gets written up and put on a 6 month probation period where s/he can't call in sick at all. Further "disciplinary action" ensues, otherwise.

Doesn't that seem a bit.....stringent?

I work with babies and a ton of sick, (infectious) young children and I go into a lot of different homes during my workday. I can't really do a whole lot to avoid picking things up, other than try various means to boost my immune system via exercise, proper eating, etc. But sick is sick, imo.

What's your work policy and how often do you call in?
[Edited 1/18/05 19:18pm]

My policy on absences?

I don't like them one freakin' bit.

2the9s said:

Shoulda said "work's policy", shouldn't I?

My days off are similar to my days on.

Fauxie said:

What do you mean by that--that you are off sick as many days as you are in to work? Are you self-employed?
[Edited 1/18/05 19:46pm]

8 out of 10 sick days taken are taken by those who are not sick. There should be greater rewards for those who dont take sick days.
[Edited 1/18/05 19:40pm]

DarkKnight1 said:

"not taken by those who are not sick"

Do you mean that most people who call in aren't really sick? I don't dispute that there should be rewards for people who have perfect/good attendance, but I'm asking if people think my company's policy--allowing 2 times in 6 months--is strict.

My work's attendance policy for the non-salaried employee is a mile long. Basically, you can be gone up to 8 times in a rolling calendar year without being let go. If you are out more than 1 day for an illness or to take care of your child's illness it is only considered 1 occurence. So you can be gone a LOT and still keep your job. Oh sure, at certain levels you go on a counseling or warning or what have you, but it really does little to deter people from staying home and even rewards you for staying out for longer periods of time (as we don't have sick pay unless you're out for 3 days in a row or more). It's really messed up.

AnotherLoverToo said:

Thats what i meant. I edited it, thanks

Here, we're expected to use our vacation time (or Paid Time Off, as they call it) to cover for any sick days. However, if it goes over two days in a row, short-term disability kicks in and PTO days are no longer used to cover any more concurrent sick days. If someone doesn't have the PTO to cover those first two days, though, shit starts to hit the fan.

CarrieMpls said:

Yeah, ours is the same, where it only counts as 1 absence if you're gone on consecutive days. And if we come in to work for a little while, but then leave due to illness, it doesn't count. So I suppose a person could come in and puke or mope around and "prove" his/her illness.

That's pretty fucked up, though, that they only pay you if you're out 3 or more days. That WOULD kind of encourage a lot of people to take an extra day or 2.

MrJoker said:

I wish we could lump our vacation and sick time together into PTO time. I guess it's been suggested, but it hasn't happened because (DUH) people end up using more of their time and it's more expensive.

We get a TON of sick time where I work (I have over 100 hrs available to me), but we get penalized if we actually USE it.

AnotherLoverToo said:

See, that's where ours gets a mile long. We also have a policy on being tardy. And if you come in late or leave sick it can count as either half an occurence or a full occurence or just "tardy" depending on how late you got to work or how early you left. And you can get somethig like 11 tardy occurences before your let go. It's all insane. LOVE human resources in corporate america.

CarrieMpls said:

And to think--more than one person gets paid to keep track of that shit! That's probably like most of their job!

He he! In all seriousness, they are fine about it. As long as you don't take the piss.

Try calling in sick as someone else.

subhuman09 said:

What, like Adolf Hitler?

JDINTERACTIVE said:

Depends on how many sick days he has.

I'm not too bad. I get 30 days holiday leave a year PLUS all public holidays.

You can ring in sick a maximum of three times every three months.

On top of that, you can ring in and take emergency holidays from your holiday quota.

They also have an on-site sick bay with a nurse and a company shrink off-site. Yes, I have been sent to the company shrink!

BinaryJustin said:

WOW! That is amazing!

What sort of company do you work for?

We're on an "honor system" basically. Although I work with a bunch of pill-popping, whiny, hypochondriacs that milk our insurance plan every which way they can. Their desk looks like a pharmacy, and whenever they get bored, they fake a migraine and go sprinting out the door...

I have unlimited sick days. I personally don't take advantage of the system, but a lot of people do.

we get one paid sick day every three months. My employer really doesnt get upset unless someone is abusing the "sick" excuse just to take time off from work.

they are pretty easy here, if I need a day off, as long as I am caught up its ok, when I was going through the interview process, i made them fully aware that I am a single mom and when shes sick i am at home, so they understand

I guess I'm lucky. not only there's no policy, but I also call my own work hours and decide which projects I take for myself and which goes to the other employee.
Well, that was before we sold the business. Now we're starting a new one in NY. we'll see how it goes there.

Dunno. I'm never there.

AnotherLoverToo said:

It's an English megalo-corp called Vertex. There's over a 1,000 employees just at my site. They've got about twenty sites in the UK and offices in the U.S., Russia, Japan - everywhere.

The downside of all this lax informality is that you don't feel like you're respected - just a cog in a wheel. I could be working for Dr Evil and not know it basically. Then again, I swear that I could just take a week off, not phone in and nobody would notice.

as an employer myself i have very little tolerence to people who call in sick for daft things like colds or headaches in my opinion this an excuse for a hangover or just too lazy to get out of bed.if you can get out of bed and make a cup of tea in my opinion you can haul your ass into work.as for doctors appointments....use your own time for that.

I don't get paid for sick days, period. my boss basically does not care if I take off sick cuz he's not paying me anyways.