Mental Health Days?

[ShuisFan584]

I think sick days are dumb and all companies should switch over to Paid Time Off. What if you never get sick during the year? You end up losing your days since you can't carry them over.

Because of that, I see nothing wrong with people taking sick days every now and then just to take the day off.

 

[goofyernmost]

Part of the trouble with this country is that we don't really know what real stress is. Oh, my goodness, my boss is demanding. Oh, my goodness, I can't go to lunch for a half hour because I have to get this "work" done. Oh, my heavens, I am so stress out.

Buck up. Grow up and realize that millions of people have life so much harder than any of us do in this country. We do not know what true stress is. We do not know about basic survival. We think a reprimand for shoddy performance is about the worse thing that could ever happen.

We then decide that we need a day off to steady ourselves from our terrible ordeals. Bull Hockey. What we are really doing is showing everyone how unable we are to cope with simple life problems. We will gladly leave and put additional stress and work on our fellow workers rather than to just pull ourselves up and get the job done. Mental health days are just another name for hiding from our own inabilities to deal with life and passing the burden onto others.

Did anyone guess that I voted NO on the poll. Maybe I should take a day off and just chill out. Just a thought...we all own computers and we all frequent Disney parks...my how tough we do have it.

 

[lg3]

NO. It is total bs. DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[aprilgail2]

I think sick days are dumb and all companies should switch over to Paid Time Off. What if you never get sick during the year? You end up losing your days since you can't carry them over.

Because of that, I see nothing wrong with people taking sick days every now and then just to take the day off.

Why couldn't you carry them over?? It depends where you work---we can carry ours over until the day we retire and then you can sell them back to the company for half of what they are worth- if you have 300 to sell back you can sell them back for a lump sum payout of almost 40,000 the day you retire. I prefer to take most of mine though so I won't see that payout LOL. Our personal days are what I guess you would call paid time off- I get 6 right now a year but next year I will pick up my 7th and final personal day per year.

 

[ShuisFan584]

Why couldn't you carry them over?? It depends where you work---we can carry ours over until the day we retire and then you can sell them back to the company for half of what they are worth- if you have 300 to sell back you can sell them back for a lump sum payout of almost 40,000 the day you retire. I prefer to take most of mine though so I won't see that payout LOL. Our personal days are what I guess you would call paid time off- I get 6 right now a year but next year I will pick up my 7th and final personal day per year.

I assume that's how they work for companies that use sick days. My company does Paid Time Off so I don't have to worry about sick days. But my parents have sick days and absolutely hate it (I swear they're never sick). They'll end up taking a random sick day during the week just so they don't get wasted by the end of the year since there sick days definitely don't get carried over.

 

[MoniqueU]

I voted yes but that's because my DH works his tail off and isnt even able to call in sick when he is sick. Short of stomach flu while you are on the job you don't get time off for anything. Even asking for a vacation right now is dicey. I used to say that if everyone at work spent 10 percent of their day surfing the net then the office had too many people working there. Turns out I was right and tons of people are finding themselves expendable rather fast. But hey if you are that secure in your position and know it is ok go for it. I wish my DH could stay home just once when he got a cold or the flu. It would be a nice benefit.

 

[pigletgirl]

I believe in them! If you work with the public I'd rather have a person gone than just be rude, negative or emotional because something happened in your personal life (I.e....the cat died, divorced, ect) It isn't fair to those who have to your baggage.

 

[Kteacher]

If you are so stressed out that you are ill, then yes.As someone mentioned before, if you are just calling in to go the beach, then no. I used to work with a teacher who took mental health days on a regular basis-she would get her hair done, stay home for her birthday, her husband's birthday, if she talked too much over the weekend( yes, that was actually an excuse once!). Guess who had to pick up the slack

 

[jrmasm]

Like my DD said "I thought that's what Saturdays and Sundays are for."

I agree. And if you're so stressed that you're ill, one day isn't going to fix it.

I vote 'no' to the OP's quesiton.


Now if you have PTO, that's a different story.

 

[rotlex]

I voted "yes", however, at my company, our "sick days" are actually labeled sick\personal days. We are allowed to take them on a moments notice, even if a family member\child is sick, without having to lie about it, LOL. It's kind of nice actually. Adding those days, to my normal vacation time, 15 days a year, give me 22 total days I can take each year, while having 7 of those days available to take on at will.

The only thing I liked better, was at the last job I had. All your days were labeled as PTO\Paid Time off, and you could take them however you pleased!

 

[PollyannaMom]

I voted yes, but I must admit bias. - As a substitute teacher, someone else's mental health day is another day I get paid!

 

[Sparx]

absolutely.

last year's fall semester was the hardest few months of my entire career as a student. i had 8 classes. and somehow, i did it and kept a 3.89 gpa.

i wouldn't have been able to do it without taking breaks every once in awhile. i went to school from 6.30 am till almost 3.30 pm, without a break. so yes, i took occasional days off.

do i regret it? not at all. i needed to sleep, i needed to rest. and so do other people.

 

[luvsJack]

I need a mental health day just due to the rest of my co-workers taking them and leaving me to do all the work!! I am having a major issue right now at work being left to run the office by myself (this is usually a 4 person office and all 4 are needed)!

I have never actually taken a mental health day but if this keeps up I do feel one or two a'coming.

 

[jenm2878]

Yes, I think it's fine as long as you don't take advantage of it. I'm in a salaried position with a vacation policy that is antiquated at best, and no set amount of sick time. We don't have a certain number of days available, we just take what we need.

Sounds great, right? Well, I am nearly never sick. I generally get a small cold after flying, but it's never bad enough to take off of work, and I haven't be down-and-out flat on your back sick in 10 years. I don't feel bad about calling off 3 or 4 times a year. My work is always done, and I take days during slow periods. My boss knows my dept. does this and basically has a 'I won't ask and you shouldn't tell me' policy about it.

 

[bookgirl]

Did anyone guess that I voted NO on the poll. Maybe I should take a day off and just chill out. Just a thought...we all own computers and we all frequent Disney parks...my how tough we do have it.

I agree....you need a day off.

 

[bookgirl]

I assume that's how they work for companies that use sick days. My company does Paid Time Off so I don't have to worry about sick days. But my parents have sick days and absolutely hate it (I swear they're never sick). They'll end up taking a random sick day during the week just so they don't get wasted by the end of the year since there sick days definitely don't get carried over.

I can carry over my sick time. I get some ridiculus amount (for me) year. Like 100 hours (2 1/2 weeks). I was half time until a year ago and then I got 50 hours. So I carry over alot. We do have a cap on sick leave though. I want to say it's 6 months worth. After that you can't bank anymore. But if we use 3 or less sick days we get two extra vacation days the next year. 4-6 days sick gets you one extra day. That's in addition to banking sick leave.

 

[SydneyFalco]

I voted yes, but doggonit, it just didn't make me feel very butch. I like to feel very butch when I give my opinion.

Darn.

 

[MM27]

As a teacher, I am a firm believer in mental health days for both me AND my students.

Me too! My principal actually encourages us to take mental health days when we feel stressed.

I have a friend from work who told me that she gave her kids mental health days from school. She had rules, they got 1 a quater i think. They could not avoid a test or work that was due. She felt that it made them better students. Both went to a top private school and both got full college acedemic scholarships so apparently it worked for them!!

My mom always let us use our days. We were "allowed" three days per marking period before you needed a doctor's note. I didn't always use all of them, but when I felt like staying home every now and then, I was allowed to. It didn't hurt, I graduated in the top 5% of my class and went on to get a BS and MEd degree from a great college.