Ducati Monster Forum

Ok, so my company makes me feel guilty as can be when I need to use a sick day, but give me 5 each year. They don't carry over and if not used, I lose them. Question is, what do you all do especially in this economic environment?

I use them if necessary but am too stupid to shut my phone off so I get bothered all day anyway.
Vacation days are another thing I need to learn to use more. Have a couple hundred hours at the moment.  :P

They give them to you - don't let them make you feel guilty. Those are a 'benefit' to your job...cough cough....

[thumbsup]

We get 6.. they frown when you use all, was told once in my evaluation I wasn't getting a perfect cuz I used all of them..  but if you don't use them you get a check at the end of our year..  I use the hell out of then when I just don't feel like working.. why stay home when your sick?

We get 5 sick day per year up to a max of 152 hours  [thumbsup]

Anything unused becomes vacation at 1/2 rate (8 unused sick hours become 4 vacation hours).

Fortunately, I rarely am sick enough to use them.

I use them when I need them...I have worked here long enough, that my boss knows my work ethic, and knows that when I call in sick, he knows that he REALLY doesn't want me to be here...I don't call in sick for no reason...never have...

Quote from: zooom on May 04, 2011, 12:12:40 PM
I use them when I need them...I have worked here long enough, that my boss knows my work ethic, and knows that when I call in sick, he knows that he REALLY doesn't want me to be here...I don't call in sick for no reason...never have...

+1

I never call in sick. If things are great and sun is shining and the bike runs and there is beer in the fridge and the tourists are gone and my mood is good . . . I'll call in and say I'm too well to attend. I'm due for some of that this summer.

My favorite sick day taken of all time was by polpetta's friend Jerry. He had been on vacation for over a month and on the day he as supposed to return to work he calls in and has this conversation:

"Hey, I'm not going to be in today."

"why not?"

"I have a problem with my eyes."

"what's wrong with your eyes?

"I can't see myself working today."  *click*


sac

I'm a civilian federal employee so my situation is different.  We get 4 hours every two weeks.  They do accumulate.  I only take them when I'm truly ill.  So, it is like a second health insurance plan.  I have something like 1400 hours in the bank now.  I'm covered for a major illness or accident.  Saving them really payed off when my wife had cancer.  I was able to take her in for her treatments and spend all the time with her that she needed.   No one complains when I take one.  Everyone knows who those are that take advantage and those that don't.  

Where I work you just accrue paid time off at a fairly reasonable rate per week. However, this includes your sick time.

So, you can pile up a pile of PTO fairly quick, but if you get sick or injured guess what happens?

IMO, this type of plan just encourages you to come to work sick.  :P

I don't get sick days

If I am between projects I just need to be reachable

I can do as I please which can go on for weeks

but when I get pinged I am expected to drop everything

If I am on a project I cannot be sick,

they prefer if I do not sleep

and I am not permitted to die until it is done

i'm usually not sick very often, but yes they are supposed to be a "benefit" so i always make sure they are used. what i do is i'll save them for most of the year just in case i am really sick & truly need them. then come october/november/december if i have time left i call in whether im truly sick or not.

I get 20 a year.  8)

But don't really use them (unless I am 'ill') and they do accumulate. Only don't use them because I work a 9 day fortnight, so I get a day off every 2 weeks anyway.

At the moment, I have 31 annual leave days and 200 Long Service leave days owing to me.  [bacon]

For some, including me, it's an integrity issue. My integrity isn't worth a sick day, or five sick days. If I'm sick, I burn a sick day. If I'm not sick I go to work. If I don't want to work I burn a vacation, holiday, or accumulated overtime day. I don't want to work much..by the end of May I will have taken 21 days (12 hour days) off and worked 56 days since January 1st.

I used to lose a day or so every year, because I tended not to take many vacation days, or any sick days, and I would reach my maximum carryover days.  Now, the company that I work for does not allow you to carry over vacation, and you accrue it monthly.  You are allowed to go into vacation debt, but if you leave the company, they deduct your vacation hours owed. 
On the other hand, I seem to accrue sick days at a brisk rate.  It strikes me that the company is encouraging people to take vacation at the end of the year (Christmas) and use lots of sick days (presumably in lieu of vacation I don't have yet).  I don't like to play games with HR, but on this point I am happy to oblige them on their vacation incentive plan occasionally.
I have noticed a lot of companies going this direction recently - our Cisco sales rep was *forced* to take three days of vacation last holiday season. I don't like this direction...

I do not get actual sick days, but I do get 5 weeks vacation. I usually plan 3 of them, leave one week for unforeseen circumstances and the knowing that I will be sick during the year, save the last week for that.

I hate calling out sick because I always feel guilty.  There is never any backlash because I don't abuse sick time.  Last two sick times were for family emergencies.  One day my dad had a stroke and the other my grandma was about to pass away.  I offered to use personal time but my manager insisted I use sick.  He said it was out of my control, health related, and family related.  So I did what I was told =)

all we get is vacation

half a shift every paycheck

if you call out sick it burns a vacation day

if you go to work and they send you home because you coughed on your way to the ambulance you are shit out of luck

if you are clocked in for 1 minute or 6 hrs and go home sick you lose the rest of the day's pay

calling out for a mental health day is very common

there are days when you just can't be at work

as an employer here's my view:

sick days are for when you are too sick to work.  I will pay you a certain number of days per year for that circumstance.  They are not mental health days, they are not riding days, they are not "use them up because I offer them and otherwise you don't get them" days.  They are 'I can't physically be there but I don't lose money" days.

If you want a day off when you're ok it's a vacation day.

It's a perk only in that you get paid even if you can't work.

It got so bad with one person that was a 'use them up or lose them' type that I started requiring doctor proof.    When she couldn't show it the day became a vacation day.  She's no longer here.

If you're a great employee I will always give you more vacation than you actually accrue.  If you're going to be the type that says "I get 5 sick days so I'm going to use them all whether I'm sick or not" then I'm going to be exactly the same type of boss you deserve/expect.


(before people start jumping all over that harsh thinking, my office structure allows me to be quite generous with good employees.  I give attorneys significant paid time for maternity/paternity leave, and was able to give full paid time off for about three months to an attorney going through cancer treatment.   It's the 'use up everything I can get away with' mentality that I find distastefull)

Quote from: Statler on May 05, 2011, 07:15:06 AM
as an employer here's my view:

sick days are for when you are too sick to work.  I will pay you a certain number of days per year for that circumstance.  They are not mental health days, they are not riding days, they are not "use them up because I offer them and otherwise you don't get them" days.  They are 'I can't physically be there but I don't lose money" days.

If you want a day off when you're ok it's a vacation day.

It's a perk only in that you get paid even if you can't work.

It got so bad with one person that was a 'use them up or lose them' type that I started requiring doctor proof.    When she couldn't show it the day became a vacation day.  She's no longer here.

If you're a great employee I will always give you more vacation than you actually accrue.  If you're going to be the type that says "I get 5 sick days so I'm going to use them all whether I'm sick or not" then I'm going to be exactly the same type of boss you deserve/expect.


(before people start jumping all over that harsh thinking, my office structure allows me to be quite generous with good employees.  I give attorneys significant paid time for maternity/paternity leave, and was able to give full paid time off for about three months to an attorney going through cancer treatment.   It's the 'use up everything I can get away with' mentality that I find distastefull)

I would agree 100% with you.......in your instance.....you recruit professionals, you treat them as such and if they perform to the task or above and beyond,,, you reward that behavior accordingly

Many people work in organizations where the environment is adversarial, and otherwise disrespectful, disingenuous and in a state of imbalance with regard to the give and take.....if the management mindset is one of chiseling benefits, expecting givebacks, expecting long hours without comp...and in a word exploitative...then the old saying applies

you get what you give

Yup... then I'd become friends with a doc or nurse or similar and take all days and get 'notes'   [evil]

Quote from: Statler on May 05, 2011, 07:15:06 AM
If you're a great employee I will always give you more vacation than you actually accrue.  If you're going to be the type that says "I get 5 sick days so I'm going to use them all whether I'm sick or not" then I'm going to be exactly the same type of boss you deserve/expect.


(before people start jumping all over that harsh thinking, my office structure allows me to be quite generous with good employees.  I give attorneys significant paid time for maternity/paternity leave, and was able to give full paid time off for about three months to an attorney going through cancer treatment.   It's the 'use up everything I can get away with' mentality that I find distastefull)

Sounds like a good boss to me.  [thumbsup] I don't see how anyone can complain about that.

I take sick time when I'm sick (or doctor visits for me or my son). I also have to be pretty sick. It's an honesty thing...it's how I am now in my career, and it's how I was at the shitty busboy job my first summer after college.

Quote from: RAT900 on May 05, 2011, 07:46:44 AM
you get what you give

That's a great point.

Quote from: RAT900 on May 05, 2011, 07:46:44 AM
I would agree 100% with you.......in your instance.....you recruit professionals, you treat them as such and if they perform to the task or above and beyond,,, you reward that behavior accordingly

Many people work in organizations where the environment is adversarial, and otherwise disrespectful, disingenuous and in a state of imbalance with regard to the give and take.....if the management mindset is one of chiseling benefits, expecting givebacks, expecting long hours without comp...and in a word exploitative...then the old saying applies

you get what you give

If the place of employment is that bad then quit.  There're other businesses in the world to work for.  I live by the mantra of don't give them an excuse meaning that no matter how bad the place is I'm not going to give the supervisor any ammunition to use against me especially any negatives to tell a potential future employer that may prevent my getting the hell out of there.

Quote from: Drjones on May 05, 2011, 01:39:33 PM
If the place of employment is that bad then quit.  There're other businesses in the world to work for.  I live by the mantra of don't give them an excuse meaning that no matter how bad the place is I'm not going to give the supervisor any ammunition to use against me especially any negatives to tell a potential future employer that may prevent my getting the hell out of there.

i feel that's a blanket statement that can't always be applied. for example, i live in a place that has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation. it's not that i don't look for other job opportunities, it's that they aren't out there. i think using sick time when i'm not sick is the better alternative than going without a job. in addition to that, i am also an employee that will work anywhere from 2 to 4 hours of o/t without being on the clock atleast once or twice a week. so, i don't feel bad for using it at all

Quote from: Drjones on May 05, 2011, 01:39:33 PM
If the place of employment is that bad then quit.  There're other businesses in the world to work for.  I live by the mantra of don't give them an excuse meaning that no matter how bad the place is I'm not going to give the supervisor any ammunition to use against me especially any negatives to tell a potential future employer that may prevent my getting the hell out of there.

"Just quit" is not an option for many people for a variety of reasons...

I play it straight with all my employers

as I do not want anyone owning my reputation other than me

The people who really piss me off are the ones who still come to work who are hacking & coughing their lungs up, spreading their disease through the workplace.

make the beast with two backsen have a sick day, another reason to have a sick day is to not spread your lurgie to other people at work.  [bang]

It is always an option and there are no excuses for staying in a shit job environment that has no signs of improving.  People all over the world are subject to a lot worse than a crappy job environment and do a lot more to get out of their situation, so do not sit there and say "it is not an option."

I wonder how many people would steal four or five hundred bucks from the bank deposit bag/cash register? Same thing as abusing sick time but takes a bit more balls I guess.   

oh lord people.... why is everyone so judgemental? live & let live. the original question was what do you do with YOUR sick days? why has it turned into accusations & judgements? it's a forum for motorcycles for petes sake! it's supposed to be FUN... just sayin...

Because

during the months of November to June

when us Northerners have our bikes packed up and collecting dust

this is not a motorcycle forum

it is a judge others harshly to make yourself feel better forum

there will be no fun had during the off season

Quote from: Jacob on May 05, 2011, 05:16:46 PM
Because

during the months of November to June

when us Northerners have our bikes packed up and collecting dust

this is not a motorcycle forum

it is a judge others harshly to make yourself feel better forum

there will be no fun had during the off season

lol APPARENTLY  [laugh]

One thing that I have noticed, is that too many people do "not" take a sick day when they really should. Most viruses just end up floating aroung the workplace for months getting far too many people sick. If you have the sniffles, go to work, but if you have a bad cold or the flu, STAY HOME.

So everyones a straight arrow.  No running of tolls with bent plates, aftermarket exhaust which are all illegal, wont exceed the speed limit by 1mph which you can get a ticket for..  I guess the sick day taking depends on your job environment and which company or type of work you do.. in ours where its mandatory Saturdays,  you can't take one vacation day, you must use a whole week.. you can't combine days with holidays.. the thousands of employees here use sick days as they please..  f the man and his billion$ profits..

i get 2 weeks of sick time and earn 3 weeks of vacation per year. i rarely take sick days because i don't get sick often. i used to have a very black anbd white view of this and sick time was for being sick.

until 5 years ago your unused sick time was lost. then they started putting unused sick time into a "bank" in case you got sick or injured and had to go out on disability. then they did away with the sick time bank and you can't carry the time over. that stopped a lot of people from playing hooky. however, we are allowed 1 "personal day" per month that can come from sick or vacation time and doesn't have to be scheduled. i have used that and called in with anal glaucoma. i used to tell my boss when i was playing hooky. the way things are now, we are made to feel guilty about taking vacation. 3 of the 5 managers have gone so far as to ask why you are requesting to use the vacation time you have earned. when i got hurt last year and was on pain killers for 2 weeks i was asked why i couldn't work from home. this has drastically changed my attitude towards calling out. i only feel bad for my co-workers who have to cover for me.

we are also moving to a paid time off system where we don't have designated sick or vacation time and can only carry over a week of time to the new year. many of those who have been there for 15+ years and havne't taken vaca time have maxed out on what they can carry over. the max is 400hrs and they have to use 320 hrs of that stored time while still accruing up to 5 weeks per year or they lose it. i have a few co-workers who are out at least 1 week every month for the next year, and will be out at least 1 week per month for the next 2 years. this has also driven up the number of people who get deathly ill and are fine the next day.

so yeah, now i say that if they are going to make the beast with two backs us over every chance they get use all the time you are given.
and no, i cna't "just quit" though i have explored that option. when i find a new job i will happily leave my current one.

In 27 years at my own Business I took 4 weeks of Vacation.

Sad , but true.

Dolph

The policy at my office is "take the time you need and want". So long as you are hitting your numbers, and keeping customers happy, they don't really care where you work from or how many hours you are working.

Most folks, myself included, wind up working from home whenever we're "sick, but not sick enough to not work", and cancel our meetings if we're "really sick".

As for vacation, to keep the bookkeeping costs down, we do not have a vacation policy. No accruals, no forms to fill out to use time, no rollover or banking. Again, "take the time you need and want". It results in managers usually aggressively pushing their team members to take time off and enjoy themselves.

Quote from: Monster Quack on May 05, 2011, 05:11:50 PM
  the original question was what do you do with YOUR sick days? 

I use them to sit at home and drink "Ginger Soother" and watch lurid crap TV shows while shnuggling in several blankets and trying to sweat out whatever it is that is keeping me from doing anything else...

Quote from: Stinky Wizzleteats on May 05, 2011, 02:53:46 PM
The people who really piss me off are the ones who still come to work who are hacking & coughing their lungs up, spreading their disease through the workplace.

make the beast with two backsen have a sick day, another reason to have a sick day is to not spread your lurgie to other people at work.  [bang]

let me offer an answer to your situation from a 1st person POV for a moment. What if, you wake up and you don't feel 100%, BUT, you do feel well enough to go to work. You don't want to burn a sick day because it is early in the year and you haven't accrued really all that much yet or you have a whole year to go and think you may want to save that time for when you REALLY feel like shit. So you take the chance to go in and be productive and bang out that project you know needs to be done or something you left unfinished. You don't want to end up shorting yourself in a situation similar to what Mother cited here -> http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=48666.msg888359#msg888359 (http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=48666.msg888359#msg888359) because of the logistics.

Quote from: Statler on May 05, 2011, 07:15:06 AM
as an employer here's my view:

sick days are for when you are too sick to work.  I will pay you a certain number of days per year for that circumstance.  They are not mental health days, they are not riding days, they are not "use them up because I offer them and otherwise you don't get them" days.  They are 'I can't physically be there but I don't lose money" days.

If you want a day off when you're ok it's a vacation day.

It's a perk only in that you get paid even if you can't work.

It got so bad with one person that was a 'use them up or lose them' type that I started requiring doctor proof.    When she couldn't show it the day became a vacation day.  She's no longer here.

If you're a great employee I will always give you more vacation than you actually accrue.  If you're going to be the type that says "I get 5 sick days so I'm going to use them all whether I'm sick or not" then I'm going to be exactly the same type of boss you deserve/expect.


(before people start jumping all over that harsh thinking, my office structure allows me to be quite generous with good employees.  I give attorneys significant paid time for maternity/paternity leave, and was able to give full paid time off for about three months to an attorney going through cancer treatment.   It's the 'use up everything I can get away with' mentality that I find distastefull)

so...when can I start working for you?....

Quote from: cokey on May 05, 2011, 06:00:04 PM
I guess the sick day taking depends on your job environment and which company or type of work you do.. in ours where its mandatory Saturdays,  you can't take one vacation day, you must use a whole week.. you can't combine days with holidays.. the thousands of employees here use sick days as they please..  f the man and his billion$ profits..

Rat said it best for your situation.

I earn 4 hours sick time for every paycheck (2 wk intervals, 20 checks per year). I'm a high school teacher. We can carry over all unused time at 100%. We also get three personal days per year, one of which becomes a sick day if unused, and can be banked over. We are held to a strict standard of what constitutes sick and what doesn't. Most people do not abuse the sick leave because they treat us well with the personal days and incentivize us to be there via the carry-over. At the end of our careers, we can cash out our sick time at 25% the value accrued. That can be a pretty big bonus check. I love this system and think it works very well. Teachers get exposed to lots of germs (you'd be shocked at some of the gross things we get to endure - kids licking desks and leaving tissues on the floor) so this sick package is something we really appreciate. Sadly, our current governor is trying to do away with it, even though it saves money.

Ironically, I am home today and not sick. Since I have a sane and generous package of days, when our kid gets sick and has to go to the doctor, I take him. My wife has 80 hours a year (after 7 years of service) of "paid time off," meaning vacation or sick time. None carries over and it is all use it or lose it.

Quote from: redxblack on May 06, 2011, 08:23:00 AM
At the end of our careers, we can cash out our sick time at 25% the value accrued. That can be a pretty big bonus check.

I'll be honest, this is the one thing I know I'll miss about my company's "no vacation policy" policy. At my last two jobs, I walked away with 3+ weeks of PTO as a nice final paycheck. Of course, I'm also crazy and have always left a job on Friday and started the new one on the following Monday.

If there's no banking, no accrual, and no records, they really don't owe employees anything when they leave  :-\

Two things:  kudos to those that don't abuse the sick day policies.  The opposite of kudos to companies issuing increasingly stingy PTO policies.  While I take pride in the fact that I work hard, and generally play by the rules given to me, the fact is, we here in the US don't take as much time off as we should.

I worked overseas for a little while - what I learned was that working hard is the national religion of the US.   By way of comparison, I hired people at the entry level who enjoyed three weeks of PTO immediately.  There were a bunch of national holidays.   Generally speaking, people took sick time in weeks and not days.  Women got *three years* of maternity leave at partial pay.  This was renewable if you got pregnant again during the three years.  When people left work, they turned off their work phones and spent time with their families.   Some of this is good, and some bad.

So, great, we don't abuse sick time.  But we don't take enough time off, for physical or mental health.  I would go as far as to say this is a health issue and an ideological problem.  Should we really be proud that we are coming to work sick?

Also, I was going to call in judgmental to work today.  Instead I posted up here...

I used to work for two companies that had really good benefits, but sick days were just considered vacation days.
I never really had any issues with that, as I never called out sick, anyway.
If I was moderately sick, I had the option of working from home, and supporting my complex clients ad serving situations.

Unlike the bulk of my team, I almost never worked from home, anyway.
Just about everyone would work from home at least once every other week.
I just preferred working from the office, even having to drive through bad weather conditions.

Then I had to go see the doctor because of my hip issues, and was told I needed to get a full hip replacement.
I had 29 days of vacation accrued, and scheduled my hip surgery to be a month away from my last day of work for the company (corporate take over switched to temporary employee status). So basically, I set it up so that my last month with the company would be on vacation time.

My bosses worked it out with the HR team to have me put on temporary disability, paid by the company's disability insurance policy, and that my 29 hours would be an additional check added to my severance compensation. So I still got my 29 days, got paid for those last days I "worked" for the company, and got my full severance package. I had great bosses.

My current job is in a call center environment.
We have NO benefits.
No sick days.
After you work 1500 hours in the calendar year, you receive a check for the equivalent of a week's pay that is taxed at the bonus rate.
I have crappy bosses.

Heck, I just had Jury Duty this past Monday.
I was there 2 hours, and released, so I got to work at 11 am instead of 8 am.
Not too bad, I can just not take a lunch break, and I'm 2 hours short, and I should get paid for that for doing Jury Duty.

Nope.
Because I went to work, and made over $50, they aren't going to pay me for those 2 hours at the beginning of the day.

I have yet to ever get paid for going to Jury Duty, but at least here in Colorado, you only get held for 1 day if you are chosen, unless you get picked for a District Court case that goes for multiple days. In NYC, when you get picked, you're screwed for the entire week. Not being paid for an entire week in NYC really, really hurts.

But at least I have a job, right?
Right?
*sob*

BC.

Quote from: il d00d on May 06, 2011, 12:06:35 PM
, the fact is, we here in the US don't take as much time off as we should.

So true!

Quote from: il d00d on May 06, 2011, 12:06:35 PM
Also, I was going to call in judgmental to work today.  Instead I posted up here...

tee hee  [laugh]

Quote from: bevel on May 06, 2011, 08:29:02 AM
I'll be honest, this is the one thing I know I'll miss about my company's "no vacation policy" policy. At my last two jobs, I walked away with 3+ weeks of PTO as a nice final paycheck. Of course, I'm also crazy and have always left a job on Friday and started the new one on the following Monday.

If there's no banking, no accrual, and no records, they really don't owe employees anything when they leave  :-\

Not necessarily true - did you start prior to this policy going into effect?  That time is definitely still owed to you if so FYI.

Cheers,
Adam

Quote from: Drjones on May 05, 2011, 03:11:41 PM
It is always an option and there are no excuses for staying in a shit job environment that has no signs of improving.  People all over the world are subject to a lot worse than a crappy job environment and do a lot more to get out of their situation, so do not sit there and say "it is not an option."

There are plenty of perfectly good reasons to stay in a shitty job, like eating next week, continuing to have shelter and providing for those that one provides for. I'm not sure why you think walking away from a shitty job, while always an option, is necessarily a viable one.