Calling in sick to work

[lifesavacation]

No and I wouldn't tell them why if they asked. I have sick days and I intend to use them. I don't call out enough to suspect I'm abusing my sick days.

I don’t care why someone calls in sick, but with COVID I do need to know if they are home because they’ve been exposed or tested positive. I feel like we all owe the people around us notice if they’ve been exposed to a deadly disease.

 

[OhDannyBoy]

I don’t care why someone calls in sick, but with COVID I do need to know if they are home because they’ve been exposed or tested positive. I feel like we all owe the people around us notice if they’ve been exposed to a deadly disease.

Fair enough. if I had Covid i would certainly disclose that.

 

[ronandannette]

I don’t care why someone calls in sick, but with COVID I do need to know if they are home because they’ve been exposed or tested positive. I feel like we all owe the people around us notice if they’ve been exposed to a deadly disease.

That should be handled on the management level. Most companies, I'd imagine, came up with some Covid-response protocols that would have touched on this. At mine, attending work with Covid-like symptoms OR staying home with Covid-like symptoms and not getting tested immediately and following isolation requirements were all grounds for immediate termination. There was no need for anybody to lie - we provided fully-paid sick time (in addition to the normal amount of sick days) for anyone requiring quarantine. Management then informed anyone who could have potentially be exposed and reported all parties to our provincial Health Authority who then determined if they were considered official "close contacts" or not.

 

[Everything's Fine]

Bosses or owners rarely miss work due to illness. So I guess it’s hard for them to believe. One thing is feeling ill and another is being sick. So many call off feeling ill but are in the next day. If a person is going to not feel well they might as well feel that way at work. Another is being sick and under a doctors care.

And this right here is a bad boss.

 

[ronandannette]

And this right here is a bad boss.

Yep - mine was one of the worst. He often came in sneezing, coughing and snotting all over everybody and thought he was virtuous for doing it. Blessedly Covid cured him of that because entering our workplace with Covid-like symptoms was an immediately fireable offence, even for people at his level. It hasn't been an issue for a while here but I've not been informed the rule has been dropped so hopefully we'll be safe from him during this winter's cold season too.

 

[lifesavacation]

Fair enough. if I had Covid i would certainly disclose that.

We’re just living through really strange times right now. I don’t care to know a reason. Just tell me if it’s COVID related or not.

 

[emmybee]

As a matter of fact, I called out today. I'm not sick, but I did injure my knee running on Saturday I still have pressure behind the knee, and I knew that I would have to wear lead and be on my feet at least half my shift. No explanation needed to the employer as I just called the sick line. I do hate the optics, though. But seeing as how I only have time to run on the weekends, I guess this kind of thing is bound to happen sometimes. What I am truly worried about is whether I'll be able to run next weekend! I hated not running on Sunday

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don’t care why someone calls in sick, but with COVID I do need to know if they are home because they’ve been exposed or tested positive. I feel like we all owe the people around us notice if they’ve been exposed to a deadly disease.

Yeah covid is one of those things that changes it. Companies aren't trying to be nosy then they are trying to follow some protocol. Normally you don't have an illness that means you quarantine for a long period of time or that you need to have testing (sometimes repeated testing) in order for you to go back to work or that the worker is trying to follow CDC protocol (how many of us have said CDC in the last year and a half lol).

 

[GreatLakes]

If you are feeling ill I don't want you here, even if you can still work. No one in any of my departments has to come in to do their job. Even if it is just a sniffle stay home and work if you don't want to burn a day of PTO.

The only exception is Covid, like most places. If anyone has covid-like symptoms you have to take a test and stay home, or work from home, until it comes back negative. If it comes back positive you have to stay away 2 weeks and provide a negative test to come back but very few of my staff are ever in the office and that is always by choice.

 

[wvjules]

I can't remember the last time I called in sick.

I am pre-calling in sick next month. I'm having a minor thing done on Thursday and I'm not sure how I'll feel on Friday so I sent out the notice (we don't get formal approvals, we just send a meeting invite to those that need to be aware. LOVE IT!) that I am tentatively out on Friday. Now the question is...since I'm already kinda planning on being off, will I still take the day off if I'm feeling fine? Hmmm...

BTW, it's one big PTO pot, not sick time.

 

[sam_gordon]

But why does it matter why someone called out? If someone wants to use their time to call out and sit on the beach that’s their business. PTO or sick time is part of your benefits package. Businesses aren’t paying people out of the goodness of their hearts. And if you don’t have sick time as part of your job I assume when you call out sick it is unpaid.

Totally disagree with this. Certain businesses/jobs require 'x' amount of people to do the job AND can't shutdown because there's not enough people. IMO, "calling out" because you just don't feel like working isn't fair to your employer or your coworkers.

Not sickness related, but in a similar vein... 15+ years ago I worked for the same company, but a different department, and had training in a specialized piece of equipment. I moved departments and no longer had responsibility for that equipment (two other people did). I scheduled a week off around DD's birthday. We had her party, had family & friends in and were just finishing dinner. I got a call from the "old" department... "we need you to come in to run <equipment>." I explained I'm on vacation (wasn't PTO at the time) and they'd need to clear it with my department head.

The assistant department head of the "old" department called... "we need you to come in to run <equipment>." Went round and round and I kept refusing. Next thing I know I'm on the phone with the General Manager, who "strongly asked" that I come in. Against my better judgement I did.

The following week, the GM called me in his office and gave me a gift card for $100 and told me to take my family out to dinner.

I'm still grumpy about it.

Oh, the two who WERE trained on the equipment... didn't answer their phones because they were "off".

 

[soccerdad72]

But why does it matter why someone called out? If someone wants to use their time to call out and sit on the beach that’s their business. PTO or sick time is part of your benefits package. Businesses aren’t paying people out of the goodness of their hearts. And if you don’t have sick time as part of your job I assume when you call out sick it is unpaid.

I have somewhere in the range of 156 days of accumulate sick time. If I "called in sick" every Friday for the rest of the year, I'd barely make a dent in it. I'd also be fired by Christmas

 

[OhDannyBoy]

Totally disagree with this. Certain businesses/jobs require 'x' amount of people to do the job AND can't shutdown because there's not enough people. IMO, "calling out" because you just don't feel like working isn't fair to your employer or your coworkers.

If a company can't handle someone calling out for a day, that's poor management and poor planning on their part. Of course their is exceptions to this.

I had an employer try to pull this with me for calling out with food poisoning. He berated me screaming he can't afford to have people missing work and then asked me what was wrong and why I called in. I told him that's not really your concern and based on what he pays I wasn't aware I was so important. I quit the next day. (I was an assistant warehouse manager at the time and they paid for crap)

My job is just a place I make money so I can live my life. It doesn't dictate what I do in my free time. I'm dependable and don't make a habit of missing work if I don't need to. While I'm there i do my job and try to do it well.

I'm still grumpy about it.

Oh, the two who WERE trained on the equipment... didn't answer their phones because they were "off".

That would have been me.

 

[DisneyOma]

because depending on the business too many people calling in can shut the business down. If not being able to open one day was going to cost you $10000 in sales and then you saw your employees who called in "sick" posting pics on FB of whatever they were really doing that day, you'd probably be upset too. Employees really expect businesses to care about them and value them as employees, yet they don't have that same energy back towards the employers.

Sounds like the workplace and employer don't mean enough to the employees to really care if he makes $10000 in sales. Perhaps the employer should take a look at his workplace policies and make changes so he doesn't have too many people calling out at the same time?

 

[maxaroni]

My current job is all PTO, no sick days per se. However, a prior job was quite liberal with vacation days and sick days. I had 10 sick days per year and if not used, we’d get paid for those days. Their theory was that they would prefer your time off be preplanned, if you got paid for sick days it would eliminate the call out saying you are sick and going to the beach. It was a medical lab that ran 24 hrs a day and so much was reliant on the people being there. It was an awesome place to work.

 

[Skywalker]

As a boss I dislike the expectation that employees can sort of/kind of work from home when they're sick instead of taking sick days. It's really a bit of gaming the system. One can either work or they can't. Taking at least a 1/2 day sick would more honestly represent the situation. I am so glad we don't have one big lump of PTO and our sick days are use-or-lose.

I disagree that "one can either work or they can't".... sometimes you can handle working from home but not going to work. If I have let's say a really bad cold, coming into the office to work requires getting dressed up, commuting, etc. It's hard to put makeup on with a runny nose and eyes and sneeze your way downtown on the subway. Once there you'd probably still have to take frequent nose-blowing breaks or close-my-eyes-for-a-moment-while-my-head-pounds break, or make-another-mug-of-tea breaks.

Much different story if I can just stay in my pajamas with a box of kleenex and work from home. I can be sick and no one cares. Maybe I would need to take a little more down time in the day but I could still get my required stuff done and be available and working. At least it's being honest rather than make a show of being in the office but not being all that much more productive anyway lol.

As an aside, in general I do think bosses should measure outcomes rather than "butts in seats". I get more done working from home on a sluggish sick day, than a certain co-worker of mine gets done in a week of showing up healthy and fashionably dressed.

 

[JenBush]

My employer doesn’t make me feel bad about calling off, but I don’t like calling off because I know how much of a scramble it is when my position isn’t filled for the day.

 

[tvguy]

I don’t care why someone calls in sick, but with COVID I do need to know if they are home because they’ve been exposed or tested positive. I feel like we all owe the people around us notice if they’ve been exposed to a deadly disease.

The other issue in states like California, employers here are required to give workers two additional weeks of sick time to deal with covid. So if you call in sick here and it is related to covid, you would want to disclose that so it doesn't count against your regular sick time.

 

[sasywtch]

I always made sure to call in early when I knew I'd get my supervisor's voicemail (we had to call in 30 minutes before start time which was before she got there). They did record it and leave the recording on your computer file they have on you. None of us knew they did this but she showed me one day. If they did not like you, they could make your calling in sick miserable. My coworker who has diabetes with daily shots, got an infection in her hand that was swelling, she was getting sweaty, etc. The doctor wanted to see her NOW. My work would not let her leave. Keep in mind, my bosses were RN's with MSN and Nurse Practitioners.

 

[dez1978]

Sounds like the workplace and employer don't mean enough to the employees to really care if he makes $10000 in sales. Perhaps the employer should take a look at his workplace policies and make changes so he doesn't have too many people calling out at the same time?

like what? firing people? Requiring Drs notes for call ins? As evidenced by some of the comments in this thread, people have no problems calling in, even when they like their jobs or feel valued by their jobs. No amount of being a great employer is going to over come a bad work ethic. You can give some employees everything they ask for and they still are only going to care about themselves.