Sick leave.

[Mice!]

It depends on what industry you work in, I've worked in places where office staff get sick pay but shop floor don't.

 

As said its a perk some bigger places will offer, I worked at one place as a contractor and someone actually asked how much sick leave they still had for that year!! Think they got six months at full pay then it dropped to half?

 

It's nice knowing its there if you have it but you can guarantee some will take the Michael.

[kyska]

 

But they don't offer sick pay out of the goodness of their heart (the companies I worked for never had one!). They offer it and other 'perks' in order to attract better quality staff. If they didn't then the staff would work for an employer who did. My last employer used to give you an annual 'Compensation Statement' detailing your salary, bonus and the value of the various 'perks' that you got such as pension, death in service cover, health insurance, sick pay etc. It was a way of showing staff that they got 'paid' more than just their salary.

Universities need to be whiter than white, they should be the pioneers of equal employment, and I think they do.

 

They do indeed employ, or try to, the best they can, the intelligence pool is worth too much to a university, and they can't treat employees differently.

 

I could earn huge amounts more in the private sector, but it kind if doesn't seem worth it.

[lister1]

It's the industry I'm in. Some employers do and some don't. We're compensated by the flexibility that we have eg my missus was I'll during pregnancy and couldn't get our eldest to school or pick her up, they don't mind if I'm late or leave early to do the school run.

Edited July 25, 2017 by lister1

[Jason_ox]

It amazes me that so many places offer different things. With my firm they doc you your wages for your first day sick then you'd also lose out on £100 from the quarterly bonus for attendance and availability. So for one day sick you're already £200 odd quid down, it puts a lot of people off having a sickie but also people who are genuinely ill still come in.

[Paul1440]

Most rules set and because it's reconised that there are those that take the proverbial some governance is put in place.

In large companys the rules tend to be x amount of sick leave and then basically it's discaplinary and a check to see if your worth keeping on or just a liability. If your considererd to be taking the £$$$ your out. However in a real case of sickness or need to care for a sick child/partner etc a good manager or business will recognise the situation and act sympathetically. Unfortuately some managers are simplistic uncaring, selfish and a bit thick to actually separate the p!$$ takers from the genuine and treat everyone the same.

Edited July 25, 2017 by Paul1440

[Vince Green]

In some parts of the public sector its still not uncommon to have 25% of the workforce off sick at any given time. The NHS is one of the worst but there are extenuating circumstances like assaults, bad backs and if you are a nurse in, say, premature baby unit you can't go in if you have any sort of cough, cold, sore throat.

However, the NHS manages it badly because although they might not be able to do their designated job they could still go in and do paper work etc

Edited July 26, 2017 by Vince Green

[Davyo]

Managers within HMRC have no say,they simply follow a disciplinary guide from resources.Be it bad back or cancer it will be the same outcome when you go down the disciplinary route.We even have telephone interviews with occupational health therapists (doctors).Your own doctors diagnosis is ignored.

[Lloyd90]

Managers within HMRC have no say,they simply follow a disciplinary guide from resources.Be it bad back or cancer it will be the same outcome when you go down the disciplinary route.We even have telephone interviews with occupational health therapists (doctors).Your own doctors diagnosis is ignored.

Depends who you work for.

 

Some places now have a 'cancer policy'. Fat lot of good it is though. I've known a woman with breast cancer half way through a temporary contract have her contract cancelled with no further pay because she went off for treatment.

 

Meanwhile people who had been on and off long term sick for years continues to go off on full pay for 6 months, then suddenly get better as soon as their pay gets reduced to 50% ... then go sick again 🙄

[kyska]

This is the problem isn't it, as a university manager I generally, mostly see motivated happy people and sick leave is normally moderated and genuine.

 

It's a minority taking the urine.

 

I remember a perpetual sicknote, after been off for weeks and weeks she returned to work and not many days in asked to book annual leave for a holiday.

 

After being told she had no leave left she enquired about 'dependent leave' which most uni's give on top of annual leave for ill relatives, this is on top of compassionate leave.

 

I told her that she wasn't entitled to this leave, it's there to look after relatives in emergency circumstances.

 

The next morning she rang me to tell me both of her children were ill, took five days off.

[amateur]

Meanwhile people who had been on and off long term sick for years continues to go off on full pay for 6 months, then suddenly get better as soon as their pay gets reduced to 50% ... then go sick again

 

In the days when I was responsible for HR, these people, of which we had several when I first joined that company, were quickly referred to the Occupational Health consultant, who would advise whether or not they were fit for work.

 

Most were out within months on grounds of unfitness to work.

I seem to remember that one had a miraculous recovery

[JohnfromUK]

The company I worked for (I'm now retired) paid full salary (inc. pension contributions) for 6 months, then 80% salary and pension contributions (from an insurance scheme) - if necessary up to your normal retirement date. It was a very generous scheme, but there were strict checks on those who were away for more than a few weeks, including visits from a company/insurance engaged medical assessor I understand. Having said that, I only had 3 days sick in over 20 years, so I didn't benefit from it.