Sickies

[CAB SAV]

Read today where average sick days taken in OZ by employees is 9 days per year.
sounds ok?
Do self employed people/employers take less?
Should Mondays be blown up?

 

[roland]

Read today where average sick days taken in OZ by employees is 9 days per year.
sounds ok?
Do self employed people/employers take less?
Should Mondays be blown up?

I am "self employed" - own company and had a half day sick about 6 years ago, so half a day in nearly 20 years.

That also means no holidays in the same period of time

 

[prawn_86]

My father is self employed and barely ever takes a sick day, maybe 2 per year.

But he makes a point of taking at least 1 - 2 months a year overseas on holidays, as if he is at home he will always find work to do.

 

[Tysonboss1]

Read today where average sick days taken in OZ by employees is 9 days per year.
sounds ok?
Do self employed people/employers take less?
Should Mondays be blown up?

Sick days are abused by employee's,...

You can't tell me that the Average Australian is to sick to work 9 days out of every year, if there was no paid sick days that number would drop right down.

You see, sick days are supposed to be there as kind of an insurance to protect a worker if he happens to fall sick, however alot of people look at them as if they are an entitlement and they fake sickness just to be lazy and and have a day off,

Whats worse is now people expect to get there sick days paid out if the dont use them,...

Each actual hour of work is very expensive these days when you look at all the time off you have to pay staff such as,.... 4 weeks holiday, 1 week sick pay, leave loading, long service leave, various breaks through out the day, unproductive time that staff have such as extra breaks, arriving late, leaving early, phone calls,...... and then they want to add maternity leave and paternity leave.....

and then if you have to get a staff member to give you and extra hour every now and then you have to pay penalty rate over time....

 

[prawn_86]

Interesting that you bring that point up Tyson.

There was a recent study done and published in BRW a few months ago. It found that people coming in when they were actually sick (lack of work, infecting other etc), actually costs the economy over double what taking sick days when your not sick costs the economy.

Although these probably go hand in hand, ie people coming in when sick then taking days off when not sick.

 

[Sprinter79]

Sick days are abused by employee's,...

You can't tell me that the Average Australian is to sick to work 9 days out of every year, if there was no paid sick days that number would drop right down.

You see, sick days are supposed to be there as kind of an insurance to protect a worker if he happens to fall sick, however alot of people look at them as if they are an entitlement and they fake sickness just to be lazy and and have a day off,

Whats worse is now people expect to get there sick days paid out if the dont use them,...

Each actual hour of work is very expensive these days when you look at all the time off you have to pay staff such as,.... 4 weeks holiday, 1 week sick pay, leave loading, long service leave, various breaks through out the day, unproductive time that staff have such as extra breaks, arriving late, leaving early, phone calls,...... and then they want to add maternity leave and paternity leave.....

and then if you have to get a staff member to give you and extra hour every now and then you have to pay penalty rate over time....

10 days sick leave per year, accumulative and aren't paid out. Yes, some people take advantage of them, but most people don't. When I left my last job, I had 2 months worth of sick leave, and that didn't get paid out.

Most organisations have lumped carer's leave and compasionate leave into sick leave and called it 'Personal Leave' without giving more than the 10 days.

What annoys me more however is those people who should take sick leave try and plow on, and make everyone else in the office sick...

 

[Tysonboss1]

There was a recent study done and published in BRW a few months ago. It found that people coming in when they were actually sick (lack of work, infecting other etc), actually costs the economy over double what taking sick days when your not sick costs the economy.

I don't believe that would be the case,... Hang overs are not really that contagious.

I don't think there is a difference between having a sicky(fake) and taking $100 from the till.

 

[Sprinter79]

I don't believe that would be the case,... Hang overs are not really that contagious.

I don't think there is a difference between having a sicky and taking $100 from the till.

There's a big difference in taking a sickie and pulling $100 from the till........ I'm worth much more than that hahahaha

 

[Tysonboss1]

There's a big difference in taking a sickie and pulling $100 from the till........ I'm worth much more than that hahahaha

your right it is worse, because at best I have to make up that other persons shift with either casuals(who are on a higher pay) or other full timers which then get over time.

or worse I have to take on more work myself which takes me away from sales which could mean losing deals worth $1000's. In fact about a month ago I had 2 staff off sick and we were that flat out no one had a chance to check the emails for a few hours, in those few hours a customer emailed a $2,800 order which would have had a profit of about $1,600, but because we didn't reply to the email fast enough, they canceled it.

 

[Sprinter79]

Well, if people are taking 'sickies' as opposed to actually being sick, maybe you should investigate why they are taking 'sickies'. A high level of absenteeism is an indicator of a poor working environment.

 

[Bloveld]

I usually go fishing on my sickies.

 

[Smurf1976]

I can't recall exactly how much I've taken but it would be somewhere between 0.5 and 1 day per year on average since I began working for my present employer.

And the benefit. Well in the unfortunate situation that I do get sick, I keep getting paid for quite some time since sick leave accumulates. Hopefully that's an insurance I won't need but better to have it than not.

If I find a need to take "sickies" then I'll find another job instead.

 

[Buster]

Hey Tyson..

In fact about a month ago I had 2 staff off sick and we were that flat out no one had a chance to check the emails for a few hours, in those few hours a customer emailed a $2,800 order which would have had a profit of about $1,600, but because we didn't reply to the email fast enough, they canceled it.

It kinda amuses me that you are calling in others for the alleged 'rort' of a basic work place entitlement, yet the rort that is immediately obvious (to me at least) is that you can fleece a customer for 50 - 60% profit..

Whatever happened to the honest 20% markup..

You must contract to Defence..

Cheers,

Buster

 

[white_goodman]

i cant afford to, cadetships are casual paid not salary

 

[M34N]

Sick days are abused by employee's,...

You can't tell me that the Average Australian is to sick to work 9 days out of every year, if there was no paid sick days that number would drop right down.

You see, sick days are supposed to be there as kind of an insurance to protect a worker if he happens to fall sick, however alot of people look at them as if they are an entitlement and they fake sickness just to be lazy and and have a day off,

Whats worse is now people expect to get there sick days paid out if the dont use them,...

Each actual hour of work is very expensive these days when you look at all the time off you have to pay staff such as,.... 4 weeks holiday, 1 week sick pay, leave loading, long service leave, various breaks through out the day, unproductive time that staff have such as extra breaks, arriving late, leaving early, phone calls,...... and then they want to add maternity leave and paternity leave.....

and then if you have to get a staff member to give you and extra hour every now and then you have to pay penalty rate over time....

You sound like my boss, and from an employee's perspective, I completely understand why people take sickies when you have to listen to that kind of ranting from a boss.

Perhaps your staff are unhappy, because in my experience, you only take sickies when you're not happy at work, so maybe you should look more at the work environment instead of assuming staff are lazy and unwilling to work. Remember people need to work, but you need quality staff more. Look after your staff and they will look after you.

This is 2008 not 1988, and people can easily leave and find a better job somewhere else, so why should people put up with this kind of work environment when they can do less work, get paid more and have the same entitlements? Give your staff a reason to stay, be loyal, and I'm sure you won't have a problem with 'sickies', but until then, be prepared to lose more money in lost productivity and lost sales.

 

[nioka]

You sound like my boss, and from an employee's perspective, I completely understand why people take sickies when you have to listen to that kind of ranting from a boss.

Perhaps your staff are unhappy, because in my experience, you only take sickies when you're not happy at work, so maybe you should look more at the work environment instead of assuming staff are lazy and unwilling to work. Remember people need to work, but you need quality staff more. Look after your staff and they will look after you.

This is 2008 not 1988, and people can easily leave and find a better job somewhere else, so why should people put up with this kind of work environment when they can do less work, get paid more and have the same entitlements? Give your staff a reason to stay, be loyal, and I'm sure you won't have a problem with 'sickies', but until then, be prepared to lose more money in lost productivity and lost sales.

And you sound like some of the employees I have had over the years.I have often heard that sort of ranting from useless, lazy parasites. Luckily they were not the majority and I can boast that some of my best friends were former employees. They were the ones that gave that little extra and got the rewards that honesty and reliability deserved.

 

[r34ztune]

I can see both perspectives. m34n - my boss called me up while I was sick in bed, telling me if I didn't come to work I would be demoted, needless to say that store had high turnover and alot of staff off sick. Now I'm actually in his position and I get frustrated with the same employees calling in sick, however I understand it's just a cost of business.
My father in law works at Kmart warehouse, they have introduced a voucher system where if you don't call in sick for a year they give you vouchers for x amount to spend in store, its a "win win" for employer and employee, and had great results so far....

 

[CAB SAV]

I run a small business with 3 staff and they only average a day or two off per year and seem to enjoy the workplace(as much as one could)
Told them they should learn yoga so each morning when they get out of bed they could kiss their backsides and be so thankful they have such a great boss-and they laugh. They know they are appreciated.
My wife on the otherhand chooses to work for a very large organisation where the absentee rate, particularly on Mondays, is extremly high. Met a lot of these people socially and most are great and most complain about all levels of their management. Is the real problem that some people are appointed to positions above their capabilities and surround themselves with similar management losers and can't manage?

 

[M34N]

And you sound like some of the employees I have had over the years.I have often heard that sort of ranting from useless, lazy parasites. Luckily they were not the majority and I can boast that some of my best friends were former employees. They were the ones that gave that little extra and got the rewards that honesty and reliability deserved.

Err, I've had 4 sick days in the past 3 years of my current job, so I don't believe that falls under 'lazy', does it? If anything, most employers that I've worked for have always wanted more, and have not been willing to increase pay rates and expect people to give that 'little extra' for nothing.

I'm more than happy to give more, but I expect remuneration for it later on down the track, which I have found most employers overlook this and take advantage of hard working employees.

But again, varies on the circumstances and I will only give more if an employer gives something back as well

 

[M34N]

I can see both perspectives. m34n - my boss called me up while I was sick in bed, telling me if I didn't come to work I would be demoted, needless to say that store had high turnover and alot of staff off sick. Now I'm actually in his position and I get frustrated with the same employees calling in sick, however I understand it's just a cost of business.
My father in law works at Kmart warehouse, they have introduced a voucher system where if you don't call in sick for a year they give you vouchers for x amount to spend in store, its a "win win" for employer and employee, and had great results so far....

Yeah my parents manage their own small business and experienced similar problems, so my parents give staff RDO's in return for no sick leave, or pay bonuses every quarter for loyalty. Had the same staff working for a couple years now, only actually added someone new a while back.

Like I said above, there has to be give and take for both the employee and employer, and it's not all about the employee only putting in a 'little extra', you scratch my back, I scratch yours.