Sick days / mental health days

[mackenzie]

The last time I had any time off work because of a mental health problem was around 2002.
Not to say that I haven't had issues since then but I actually find that going into work takes my mind off things.
Everyone is different though and some mental health issues are incredibly debilitating.

 

[denislawsbackheel]

If only people like you had joined the railway company ;-)

On his days off?

 

[I'm With Stupid]

The thing that gets me in America, beyond the shitty number of holidays and basic employee rights, is how often the person who's sick is responsible for finding their own cover. Isn't organising cover one of the basic responsibilities of a manager? I've worked in places where things are well-organized enough that the process for someone being sick is pretty automatic, because they factor cover into people's contracts and no-one complains. I've also worked in places where someone being sick creates some desperate rush of phone calls trying to find someone to cover. Guess which one finds it easier to retain staff.

And yeah, some people take the piss, but you've got to balance that against all of the people who come in to work when they're sick because they're worried about losing their job, or pressured to by shitty bosses, or simply don't have any 'allowance' to be sick.

 

[Coatigan]

15 days in the US is good! Worked at one place where it was 5 (didn’t stay long) and another where it was 10

15 days is fucking terrible.

While people do take the piss with me tal health days, you can't exactly put a limit on them either. If people want to take 3 months, pisstake or not, they take 3 months (with a sick note, which no GP will hold back).

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

15 days is fucking terrible.

While people do take the piss with me tal health days, you can't exactly put a limit on them either. If people want to take 3 months, pisstake or not, they take 3 months.

But you (rightly) need a sick note to be off for 3 months.
Calling in for a "mental health'' day but the next day you are fine (and the day before you were fine) hghlights it was a piss take of a day off.
If the mental health day wasn't an option, these piss takers wouldn't be able to take advantage of it

 

[Coatigan]

I've always used at least 2 weeks sick a year on top of regular holidays. Why not if your employer pays you?

People who say I've never had a day off in 20 years as if it's virtuous are absolute morons.

No-one on their deathbed has ever said I wish I spent more time in work (and there are plenty of studies of this kind).

I don't disagree, if you are ill, or even partly ill, or don't want to risk giving something to your colleagues. That's what sick days are for, no point being a martyr and working through illness or pain.

But taking days off just because they are there with no illness just for the fuck of it and to make up the numbers, I draw the line at. Not on imo. Same with parental leave, grievance leave etc. Those things are reserved as cover for genuine unforseen things, not as paid days to do nothing on.

 

[Coatigan]

But you (rightly) need a sick note to be off for 3 months.
Calling in for a "mental health'' day but the next day you are fine (and the day before you were fine) hghlights it was a piss take of a day off.
If the mental health day wasn't an option, these piss takers wouldn't be able to take advantage of it

Fair enough.

You don't need signed off for the first week. And in fairness, the second as long as it is not consecutive. I doubt any employer in 2024 would question this.

There will be people that take the piss. And you accept that, for the people that may genuinely need it. Just like with (non-mental related) illness.

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

The thing that gets me in America, beyond the shitty number of holidays and basic employee rights, is how often the person who's sick is responsible for finding their own cover. Isn't organising cover one of the basic responsibilities of a manager? I've worked in places where things are well-organized enough that the process for someone being sick is pretty automatic, because they factor cover into people's contracts and no-one complains. I've also worked in places where someone being sick creates some desperate rush of phone calls trying to find someone to cover. Guess which one finds it easier to retain staff.

And yeah, some people take the piss, but you've got to balance that against all of the people who come in to work when they're sick because they're worried about losing their job, or pressured to by shitty bosses, or simply don't have any 'allowance' to be sick.

I’ve never heard of a work place where the employee is responsible for finding cover when they are off.
The question to be asked is (as a 61 year old) why is it that the piss takers are all under 30 while the older staff members turn in day in day out?
These entitled fuckers have no boundaries. One was late in last week. When I casually and (in my opinion humourlessly) mentioned this, he replied that the rules were you were allowed to be up to 7 minutes late!
Where the fuck he made that up from I don’t know. But I bet on his time sheet he inputted 3pm and not 3.06pm

 

[denislawsbackheel]

I don't disagree, if you are ill, or even partly ill, or don't want to risk giving something to your colleagues. That's what sick days are for, no point being a martyr and working through illness or pain.

But taking days off just because they are there with no illness just for the fuck of it and to make up the numbers, I draw the line at. Not on imo. Same with parental leave, grievance leave etc. Those things are reserved as cover for genuine unforseen things, not as paid days to do nothing on.

Stephen Ireland says hi…

 

[I'm With Stupid]

I’ve never heard of a work place where the employee is responsible for finding cover when they are off.

It's apparently pretty common practice in low-paid service industries like restaurants and retail. I've even heard of teachers phoning in sick and being asked to provide a full lesson plan for their cover teacher, CCing in various members of admin staff. You'd wonder how these workplaces would cope if someone was hit by a car and was rushed to hospital.

The question to be asked is (as a 61 year old) why is it that the piss takers are all under 30 while the older staff members turn in day in day out?

You tell me. There have been calls of 'no-one wants to work any more' and 'entitled' younger workers that 'lack the necessary skills' since time immemorial. But if I had to guess, I suspect there's a huge difference in motivation between the people who entered the workforce at a time where you were rewarded with a salary and benefits that enabled you to build a comfortable life for yourself, buy a house, save for retirement, pay off your modest student debts, etc, and the people who entered the workforce at a time where the pay barely allows you to afford a shitty rental in the city you work in. Whenever I find myself annoyed at shitty service here in Vietnam, I remind myself that I'd probably be doing a half-arsed job too if I was being paid a pound an hour.

Ultimately there's a huge amount of anti-work sentiment in America right now, so it's not surprising that fewer and fewer people give a shit. The pandemic in particular, but also loads of highly-publicized mass layoffs, taught a lot of people that it's futile to work yourself into the ground for an employer that will drop you at the first sign of trouble. With that background, it's not a massive surprise to see lots of younger workers having the attitude of getting whatever they can out of their employer and then fucking them off at the first sign of a better opportunity.

Personally, I've definitely found myself taking my cue from my employer. I'm a teacher, so I'm fairly free to work when I want other than the actual classes. As a result, I tend to do a fair bit more than my contracted hours. But if my employer starts to get petty about things (as one did after covid), then I will respond likewise and start 'working to the contract.' If my employer started to do things like asking us to fill in a timesheet, I guarantee they would get far less hours out of me than they do currently, and there would be far more, "Sorry, I can't do that. I've already hit my allotted hours this week."

I get that in certain industries, these things are necessary, but you often hear about them in places where it's not. And that's when you end up with stuff like presenteeism, where people boast about how many hours they do or always being in work come rain or shine, without actually getting any more work done than anyone else. Note how none of your criticisms of the younger staff members, for example, are actually about the quality of their work.