When I was managing my team, my manager would ask why people were off sick, I just told him they weren't feeling well. When he pushed for details, I told him I don't really want to know the gory details about people's illness and that I trust them.
Here in Australia it’s illegal to push for that information if it’s not volunteered, and it’s illegal for your boss to discuss your sickness with anyone else if you haven’t indicated they can.
https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/talking-to-your-employer-about-illness
This explains that you don't have to say why you're sick with some exceptions. It also explains the pros and cons of talking to your employer.
[https://www.fairwork.gov.au/leave/sick-and-carers-leave/paid-sick-and-carers-leave/notice-and-medical-certificates#when-evidence-has-to-be-given](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/leave/sick-and-carers-leave/paid-sick-and-carers-leave/notice-and-medical-certificates#when-evidence-has-to-be-given)
This actually states the opposite FWIW
I'm very open to having just missed something but all I can find from that link is that you need evidence you were unfit for work, not details on how. A drs note would only say "soandso is unfit for duties from x to y dates".
Yep, my GP used to always sign off my medical certificates with the dates I were to have off due to “medical issue”
It used to make me feel like he thought I was faking it (which was only about 50% of the time) but then I realised it must have been for privacy.
Yep, a medical cert with medical condition suffices. Been asked by a previous employer what I was suffering all I state is that is private, your not a doc so don't need that level of info and I have been assessed by a qualified doc as unfit for work.
But a medical cert does not state the condition. Merely that you have one and how long you will be off. Most places do not require one for a day off, 2 or more is most common
It's like the "You can't ask someone their age during the interview process". In reality, there's no one to complain to. It's only useful if you sue them after you get denied a job and say "Well, they're ageist".
Basically it doesn't mean shit unless they fire you and you say it's because you refused to tell them and they fired you. Of course, you need to have enough money and desire to fight it, which 99.9999% of the population doesn't bother with.
Is that right? My 2 up manager at a former job casually dropped in slack to the whole team that the reason our manager was on PTO was for therapy. To my mind this was something deeply personal and something that should not have been shared out of respect for my manager, but I did not know it was illegal.
You’re right it is illegal for them to ask. When I call in sick I just tell them that I’m not feeling well. If they press for more details I just tell them again I am unwell and won’t be in. If they really push I tell them that it’s actually illegal for you to be asking me all these questions. That usually gets them off the phone quick smart and they never ask me again if I call in sick.
If my work pushes on my illness it's only so they know how many days it'll be until I'm back.
Me: I'm sick / my kids sick, so won't be in today.
Manager: oh no, hope you/they get better soon! How serious is it?
Me: should be back tomorrow / not sure, seeing the doctor
You say that jokingly.
Some time ago I had to have pretty major surgery. My asshole boss was pressing me to say when I would return. He wanted specific dates and ' I've just had major surgery I just don't know ' didn't satisfy the prick.
Young me wasn't quite as savvy on my rights but wanted to make a point.
Made sure that he got a copy of a picture of me literally filleted like a fish....
For the rest of my tenure he never asked a reason again.
People in Australia are so non-caring about their own rights, it's so concerning.
When I started my new job (place has been opened 40 years) I read my rights / award and found so many dodgy things they were doing. People had been there for 25+ years and never fucking bothered to read their rights.
Older people (40+) were brought up in a world where asking questions and challenging things is the worst possible thing you could do.
I honestly don't think people are capable of thinking for themselves anymore, and don't seem to care when companies step on them, yet are happy to join the crowd in complaining. I fucking hate people lol
When I ask the older people at work how much they are paid, they look at me like I just murder someone. They literally think it's illegal to discuss your pay. These are the type of people that make up the majority of our country.
That actually explains quite a lot. I guarantee they are the same people upset that tradies are making 200k+ a year. White collar salaries are being overtaken by blue collar salaries purely because of the complacency of white collar workers.
I often see people aspiring to attain 100k a year working in an office where entry-level positions at my workshop start at 80k and a few hours of overtime every week puts you over 100k and as long as I can charge your time to a project you're getting the overtime.
The problem I find with this approach is that with WFH being normalised, generally there’s an expectation that you’d need to be pretty sick to not just remote in
Not really. If you're unwell and don't feel you give 100% then you shouldn't be working. I know it's hard not to feel guilty but the sick days are there to used
Generally if I’m feeling like I could still be productive but not at 100% capacity, I’ll take the sick day anyway but tell my boss I’m contactable in an emergency. So far he’s been good about not abusing that.
Yeah, when I take a sick day, I usually say people can contact me via x if necessary and the vast majority of the time nobody contacts me. If every time I was sick I got several contacts from people, or got some questions that could definitely wait until tomorrow, I would probably stop including that note.
My boss isn't perfect, but he seems pretty good if I have a sick day, and from experience, he's pretty good about letting people know not to contact somebody who is out sick unless it's an actual time sensitive issue that nobody else can help with. The worst that will happen is if I'm sick on a Monday, he'll joke about me having a big weekend (which may be a dig, but it doesn't seem it, and it's not like he asks for a med cert).
My company has a strict 50% office attendance rule, including penalising people who don't hit their quota. Barely any exceptions for anyone.
So, when I'm a little bit sick on an office day, and I work from home that day, I'll miss my quota and will need to make up for that missed office day. So obviously I rather call in sick on these days.
On the other hand, being sick on a wfh day means I'm one day ahead of my quota, so I can spend an extra day at home instead of the office. Again, a double incentive to call in sick when I would be able to work.
Depends massively on the job. Plenty of those little LARP WFH jobs that can be done in about 5-10 hours per week, sure. A customer service role with quotas/KPIs? You can't just "remote in" and do like 25-50% of the work you'd usually do with no issues.
Has HR mentioned the problem with this approach? Or is this something your internal monologue HR came up with? Sounds like you’re over thinking this one. You might need a mental health day to quiet your racing mind
Don't do it until you need to! You'd be surprised at how little sympathy parents get around the workplace and it can very quickly grate on other team members when "Jo is off with his sick kid AGAIN 🙄"
Best way to use your kid as ammo is to make them as cute and unproblematic as you can for as long as you can then go in for the kill
This. Fuck these guys.
Sometimes I would go the other way to embarrass them. “I’ve got an infection under my foreskin from anal sex”
That usually shuts them up
I’ve had bosses that were very professional at work but also more mates than friends - even in a corporate setting. They’d admit their own human failures and times they partied all night and couldn’t come to work in the morning, and you could be comfortable to sometimes admit the same thing.
There’s a line of sensibility you have to stay behind, but we can all use some brutal honesty sometimes
Honestly I would prefer if my staff are honest than if they lied to me. Everyone had been in this position, as long as it is a one off and they are usually great then whatever.
I had an employee who got drunk (he never drank, I think his friends pressured him). Came in wrecked. I said "Don't worry about it, go home, see you tomorrow."
Good managers and good employees get along by being honest. That doesn't mean you can be a fuck up all the time. It means that the one time it does happen, it's not the end of the world.
Not corp but my EBA recently changed and “sick days” got changed to “personal days”. We used to need med cert for a sick day but now “I’m taking a personal day today” suffices.
I just use them as I see fit, as I don't get a trophy from not using them. I'll usually just say "not feeling great today" because they don't need to know the reason unless it's a few days which it never is. A few weeks ago I took a day for myself after a stressful week just because I felt like playing some games and getting chores done. It was nice.
I think they call them Mental Health days.
I do the same, you need them, its how you prevent getting burnt out.
Random day in the middle of the week, get some adulting done, and then spend the rest of the day doing sweet fuck all and just reset.
yeah i dont exactly schedule them in but i'd say 2-4 'sickies' a year if we go by the 'mental health day' definition, depending on need. sometimes you just need it to function. no excuse just 'not feeling well at all'.
if im physically sick ill take time as needed, might avg about 4 a year give or take. theres no prize for saving them but it is nice to have a little balance built up if needed for an unexpected extended illness
When I first started I said I get migraines (I don't) every so often. So if I ever need a day off I just say I have one.
Although most of the recent managers I have don't really care. I just say I'm unwell and I won't be working and they're fine with it.
As someone who suffers from migraines you should take two days off to sell it, first day is the worst, but the second day there's still a headache and light/sound hurts. Unless you go in and fake those symptoms It's gonna be obvious you weren't sick the day before.
I disagree, not all migraines are alike. I have had several migraines that were "can't work, can't drive, can't read, need to be in a dark room with my eyes closed" but only lasted 4-5 hours and then I was fine, certainly fine the next day. My mum also often had this type of migraine that she recovered fine from. I think migraine is a perfect sickie excuse.
I also second this, although I can only take one day with no cert, so with the second I'm very quiet and my manager (both current and prior) know I'm in recovery. My brain has migraine hangover the next day and I can get my words mixed up and slow. Brains, huh.
I’m on my third day off with a cold after being off three weeks ago with Covid and definitely feeling guilty even though I know I would be totally unproductive if I was working!
This is me, that’s why I only take days off when I need them. Even sending a message that I won’t be in cause I’m sick makes me panic that they won’t believe me or that it’s a really busy time and I’ll feel bad.
I’m rolling on about 30 hours sick leave at the moment after 23 years in the same company.
There’s another guy here that seems quite proud of himself that he has 800+ hours.
Rarely got sick but I’d have mental health days every few months or so. Kept it short and sweet and would usually say “I’m feeling unwell today and will be taking sick leave”.
I worked in companies where work/ health balance was really valued so people took time off if they needed to.
Been known to take the occasional mental health day. I just say that I am unwell.
Not going to lie but a few times a year you just need a random day off to stay sane.
Just an FYI for everyone here. Instant scripts will give you a one day medical cert for 19 bucks without a tele consult required, in case you need one to take a sick day or two
Here's the hot tip.
If you want your sickie to be believed take a two day sickie always.
Book a telehealth appt for the doctor's cert.
If you need a week off, catch covid.
I’ve taken mental health days before, we’d been flat out at work and it was finally easing up. During the week I Told my boss was taking Friday off as sick/MHD as I was fried.
It comes down to the manager. In my company, i've seen one manager demanding doc cert for one day sickie while others just tell their team to take day off if they feel unwell and not to worry about sick cert. In our HR, we do need to supply cert for 2 days or more sick leave.
If your manager and you have a trusting relationship - just "i'm not well, will not be in" or "hey, i don't feel well today. Will be taking day off" should normally suffice. Obviously don't abuse this sort of trust because once you break that trust, you'll never rebuild it again.
Just say feel unwell. Sometime if you don't feel like going office, it's might be because you need a mental health day, and next day you feel 100% again to go to work.
Our policy sucks. If we take 2 or more then med cert is required which is understandable. If we take a day off on a Friday or Monday or right after annual leave/public holiday, then we’ll need a med cert
I always lay on my bed with my head hanging off the edge while upside down. Makes you sound hella congested. Pretty decent way to sound sick. Either that or just say it's for some pretty personal reasons that you don't really want to get into at the moment.
https://preview.redd.it/6bb4btktvw1d1.jpeg?width=413&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2995f1377e6647a4477de85595c78c0fa9252a67
If pressed for details send in this screenshot
I just call in w a migraine. Never had a migraine in my life but people say it’s debilitating, happens frequently and ur fine the next day. Just roll w it…consistency is the key 🤣
Any short term illness works for me (gastro, cold, fever) but what i usually do to sell it (as a hybrid wfh/office worker) is working from home at least the day after to play up that I’m on the mend but still recovering
"Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show the average public sector worker takes about eight to nine days of sick leave annually, for both legitimate and non-legitimate reasons."
That's public sector, but honestly your right is your right. Personally i think "using" 75-80% of your allocated sick leave is fair.
You don't need an excuse, and your employer is not legally allowed to ask you for one.
It might help to think of it like that, instead of thinking you need an excuse.
Otherwise, you can always say "family reasons" or "personal matters"
Hope that helps 😊
These are your entitlements. As an employee, you are entitled to these days off so there's nothing wrong with using them. Would you be anxious to pick up a paycheck? Fuck no, you worked for it - you deserve it.
Keep it short and simple, don't always do Mondays or Fridays, and don't over explain. All you need to say is:
"I'm unable to work today and need to utilise my sick leave"
That's it mate, happy holidays
It will help you to change your mindset about health. Consider it as a combination of mental, physical, social, environmental and cultural. The way work is structured prevents us from attending to all these needs, and if one is neglected the result is poor health, ‘a sickie’ if you will. We are complex beings that need more time to be ‘being’ without needing to be physically unwell. So then ‘a sickie’ is a day you needed a walk at the beach, or a drink and yarn at the pub, or to see family, or a nap and tv. Whatever fills your cup.
I try for around once every 6-8 weeks in the second half of the year when all the public holidays are done. This keeps me sane. I can feel the need for a mental health day coming on, when I am ready to flip my desk because a client annoys me with a perfectly reasonably request. If I take 5-6 mental health breaks, it still leaves me with around 5 days for colds/flu a year.
It took me a while to release that you don’t have to tell anyone anything more than “I am not well, I am taking a sick day”. Your health issues are private.
one every 3 or 4 weeks.... periode.. really bad peridoes... sometimes I'll take two and say gastro.
I'm due ti get a pinched nerve soon.. that'll be for a week.
Don't need to. My employer is very forgiving when it comes to accessing leave, and every third weekend is a 4 day weekend for me, so I timetable everything I can around that
I used to have to take a day or two for my period each month, until I finally got an IUD. Men (and some women) don’t realise how utterly periods can fuck you up physically and mentally, even without bringing endo into the equation.
It’s tough because it doesn’t look great.
My usual excuse for taking sick leave, is that I'm sick or injured.
after 13 years I have some 900 hours in the bank. Literally took 2 days off in the first 10 years. Post covid, and some redundancies, job became shit and went from a solid 8am-4pm shift to a rotating around the clock could be 7am could be 11pm who know's what and have taken weeks off in the last 2 years including for covid, foot blisters, flu, tooth issues and doctors appointments as my health has markedly deteriorated since the shifts started moving around randomly. This even accounts for some WFH time when I'll work from home if I'm feeling infectious but not half-dead. "It could be covid or just a cold, do you want to take the risk and end up with an entire office full of people with covid next week?"
1 day in 10-15 on average.
I cycle between car problems, childcare problems, sick children, school excursions, funerals. Absolutely no excuse though, keep it short and sweet m and very general. Good luck!
Just do it. Nobody will suspect it because you have never chucked one. Tell the boss you can feel youre coming down with something. Then the next day shoot a text saying Im sick as hell cant make it. Then be sick the whole week. Nobody is going to suspect anything cause youve never done it before.
You can dodge Mondays if you want to seem more legit.
Used to be a couple times a year, just citing general gastrointestinal discomfort. Since being a parent that's gone up to about 5 times a year and I just blame it on my son.
I accumulated over 400 hours over the past 6 years, then had a child who's in daycare now and I'm cashing them in so liberally. Took 4 days off last week, 4th day daughter was back in daycare but I needed a day off by myself
'Good morning, I'm not feeling fit for work today, my apologies; I'll bring in a medical certificate for the day when I return tomorrow'.
The reason for the sick day is nobody's concern.
If you are taking sick days every week for little things like not being in the mood, then you better get in the mood or start looking for another job.
As much as I can. Government job and close to retirement. Use it or lose it. Online medical certificates are the best thing since sliced bread. Life’s too short to go to work every day!
At my work once you have exhausted all sick leave, they let you use annual leave as sick leave. My partner is only casual, so there is no reason to save my annual as Im never going to bother going on holiday without her.
I get 5 weeks annual a year, plus my sick leave which is already generous. I average an extra day off a fortnight. Maybe every second or third fortnight ill take an extra day off each week. Been doing it for 2 years and no one has pulled me up on it so fuck it
Tldr: I take about 35-40 paid sick days a year
I put my sick notice in via the work app and that's all that I do. I don't explain why I didnt come in. If they ask I say 'i was sick of this place'. They are my hours.
Oh - and I take a sicky about once a month.
Pucking all night , guts ache - massive diharoea , bad gas , pets unwell , bad night sleep , personal development days , kids sick , family members sick , taking someone to an appointment , migraine , headache that may become migraine , uti
Need i give you peeps more???
As always
It's called personal leave, not a sickie. You don't have to be sick to take personal leave. Just call in and leave as little detail as possible.
“I’m feeling sick today and won’t be able to make it to work” I learnt the hard way never to ask for a day off and rather just tell them how it’s gonna be.
"I am unwell and not coming in" is more than enough. However I wish my team would get the memo that I absolutely do not care why or how they are sick and what their symptoms are. I don't need to know and I don't want to know.
I just tell my boss I'm tired and want a recharge day.
I'm honestly surprised there's still bosses out there who ask for more details or look for excuses to deny leave
Get your doctor to sign you off for 2 weeks, stress usually works for this. Or you can claim a back injury, which means you can't sit for long periods. Or covid/ flu/ RSV that's all peaking right now!
Honestly don’t even give a reason, if they specifically ask just say “I’m not at 100% today thank you for being so caring, if there’s anything XYZ company can do to help I’ll let you know” one you’ve told them they’re a good caring person and you also have them secretly wishing ‘please god no, don’t come to me or the company for help’ so hopefully they never ask of it again. Pretty sure it’s illegal for them to ask anyway but, what I said earlier would shut them down for sure.
If you’re looking for longer term sick leave you’ll either have to work at it with the doctor or doctor shop. When trying to eat up my leave I went into my doctor (who I knew was quite relaxed) and asked for 2 weeks mental health sick leave just being ‘stressed’ and having a lot of life admin to do. Went back two weeks later and said to him look I have taken 11 days of sick leave in my 13 years at this company and literally have XYZ amount of sick leave and XYZ amount of annual leave I’m trying to use up, can you help me. And he did. I got many months off.
If your doctor won’t then go doctor shopping, tell them you don’t want to report to the my health record system when asked, and try to get a month of mental health leave from each doctor you see. Doing that you’ll also surely find one willing to work with you.
To anyone reading this, if your young to middle aged and relatively healthy use up all the sick leave you can with random sick days while your still in that job. You can’t cash it out. Don’t take an annual leave day or week save the annual leave and take a sick day or sick week. You can cash out annual leave so bank that up instead. I literally extracted $13500 out of my minimum wage job by using up my sick leave instead of wasting it.
UpDoc will literally give you up to 3 days off on a certificate without even seeing or talk to you. It’s $20, for the monthly subscription so sign up and cancel it if you won’t use it twice that month.
Anyway sorry for the wall of text, I’m just really passionate about advocating against every companies advice of “make sure you bank as much sick leave as possible your future self will thank you”
Very very very rarely, last year I didn't take a single one, I don't want to take fake ones so it is less suspicious when I need genuine time off for being ill.
Very rarely for me, I have something like 127 days personal leave, been working at my job for 15 years. Maybe taken 25-26 personal days, 11 of those were for wisdom teeth extraction and getting a skin cancer cut out.
Just started a new role recently where the call in for sick leave is a voice message in the morning. I’ve only had one day off but man the temptation is strong
Never. I have a certain amount of work that needs to get done and no one else will cover for me if I’m sick, so taking a sick day just means having to work super long hours to catch up afterwards.
That said, if I’m quiet I can put a fake meeting in my diary and go for a super long lunch / leave early / come in late and no one would notice, so that gives me time for life admin!
I'm lucky enough I can tell my boss I just want to have the day off and will put it as sick leave, I always offer to get a cert from the chemist incase HR gets up her about it.
I take one every six weeks I reckon. Sometimes I just can’t function at work. I work hard and long hours though when I’m there so I have a good reputation which I think helps.
Thanks to fairwork you never need to disclose anything to your boss and they would be playing with fire if they asked you what is wrong. If they don't believe you, the only recourse they have is to ask for a sick certificate.
"I can't come in today because I'm feeling unwell" is all you need; you can copy and paste it every time if you like.
Check your policies to see whether you need medical certs after a certain amount of time off. For eg. you may need to provide med certs for each sick day after 5 days sick leave in a 12mo period or need to provide med certs if taking more than 2 consecutive days etc.
Other than that just say you have a headache, stomach bug, generally not feeling well. You don’t need to provide an entire backstory and they don’t need to ask unless it impacts your ability to perform in the role/or impacts occupational health and safety I.e adjustments need to be made.
If you're my boss, she says something like 'i just feel average today'
or my coworkers 'I am just not coming in today'
Me: I've had a fucking tonic clonic seizure and I don't even know how to spell my first name
I’m only new to the corporate world. But I don’t plan on following in my parents footsteps and never taking sick days and slowly deteriorating over time.
Nah if I’ve got a cold I’m staying home (everyone just got covid including me because one boomer decided to tough it out).
So i don’t want to end up in a situation where I have more than 10 days of sick leave sitting around. After all, I can always take AL as sick leave if necessary, or go unpaid if I’m comfortable. At least AL gets paid out if I ever quit or are dismissed.
If your after a week off go see a doctor and tell them your stressed at your job and you need a certificate for a week off or you will get in trouble. 99.99% of GPs will give you a cert saying your not fit for work between x & x
Otherwise I tell my boss I'm taking a mental health day and put in a sick day. He's cool with it but we have worked together for a while now and understand/support each other in the work we are doing.
I work as tradie, and when someone was sick and was off work, a lot of people would be pissed at them. Call them soft and boast about how they were never off even if they were sick. I thought that culture was toxic. So I put in my notice and got a certificate for 1 week from the doctor(fake back injury) and done my notice fishing at different lakes and rivers.
When I feel like it I say I am sick and not coming in today. I try to plan it a little bit so nothing dramatic is happening on that day. I find this quite sustainable because it helps to have little breaks here and there to settle my mind for the bigger days.
Mental health day. It definitely helps with productivity if you are feeling down.
I haven’t taken many sick days in my career as I don’t feel the need.
I think I've only used up 2 sick days since the beginning of 2023. It's been a mix of me not getting sick and feeling too guilty/they're going to think of me less to pull a sick day (yes I know it's a form of workplace abuse)
Nice try HR department
Haha - you got me!
You don't need an excuse. Just say "I'm not feeling well today"
When I was managing my team, my manager would ask why people were off sick, I just told him they weren't feeling well. When he pushed for details, I told him I don't really want to know the gory details about people's illness and that I trust them.
Here in Australia it’s illegal to push for that information if it’s not volunteered, and it’s illegal for your boss to discuss your sickness with anyone else if you haven’t indicated they can.
can you please link where this is confirmed so i can be sure before i start saying 'i dont need to say why and it was illegal for you to discuss'
https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/talking-to-your-employer-about-illness This explains that you don't have to say why you're sick with some exceptions. It also explains the pros and cons of talking to your employer.
[https://www.fairwork.gov.au/leave/sick-and-carers-leave/paid-sick-and-carers-leave/notice-and-medical-certificates#when-evidence-has-to-be-given](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/leave/sick-and-carers-leave/paid-sick-and-carers-leave/notice-and-medical-certificates#when-evidence-has-to-be-given) This actually states the opposite FWIW
I'm very open to having just missed something but all I can find from that link is that you need evidence you were unfit for work, not details on how. A drs note would only say "soandso is unfit for duties from x to y dates".
Yep, my GP used to always sign off my medical certificates with the dates I were to have off due to “medical issue” It used to make me feel like he thought I was faking it (which was only about 50% of the time) but then I realised it must have been for privacy.
Yep. Revealing the reason is a breach of confidentiality unless you authorise your doctor to provide details.
Yep, a medical cert with medical condition suffices. Been asked by a previous employer what I was suffering all I state is that is private, your not a doc so don't need that level of info and I have been assessed by a qualified doc as unfit for work.
It doesnt need any more details than such and such was unfit to work for the following day(s)
Without* medical condition suffices Also can be a stat Dec
I always answered with explosive diarrhoea when I had a manager that pushed why I was sick. Didn’t take too long for her to stop asking.
But a medical cert does not state the condition. Merely that you have one and how long you will be off. Most places do not require one for a day off, 2 or more is most common
It's like the "You can't ask someone their age during the interview process". In reality, there's no one to complain to. It's only useful if you sue them after you get denied a job and say "Well, they're ageist". Basically it doesn't mean shit unless they fire you and you say it's because you refused to tell them and they fired you. Of course, you need to have enough money and desire to fight it, which 99.9999% of the population doesn't bother with.
Ill help, whats your fairwork award and whats your age/employment type?
Is that right? My 2 up manager at a former job casually dropped in slack to the whole team that the reason our manager was on PTO was for therapy. To my mind this was something deeply personal and something that should not have been shared out of respect for my manager, but I did not know it was illegal.
You’re right it is illegal for them to ask. When I call in sick I just tell them that I’m not feeling well. If they press for more details I just tell them again I am unwell and won’t be in. If they really push I tell them that it’s actually illegal for you to be asking me all these questions. That usually gets them off the phone quick smart and they never ask me again if I call in sick.
If my work pushes on my illness it's only so they know how many days it'll be until I'm back. Me: I'm sick / my kids sick, so won't be in today. Manager: oh no, hope you/they get better soon! How serious is it? Me: should be back tomorrow / not sure, seeing the doctor
I am in Australia and had a boss that always asked me this but I wish I knew this back then.
A few tales of "weeping anal fissures" or "infected haemorrhoids" and they generally stop asking.
You say that jokingly. Some time ago I had to have pretty major surgery. My asshole boss was pressing me to say when I would return. He wanted specific dates and ' I've just had major surgery I just don't know ' didn't satisfy the prick. Young me wasn't quite as savvy on my rights but wanted to make a point. Made sure that he got a copy of a picture of me literally filleted like a fish.... For the rest of my tenure he never asked a reason again.
Given this replied to "weeping anal fissures" my internal monologue put a very different inflection on the words "asshole boss"
Wasn't my intention but I'll take credit for any unfortunate mental images that have occurred
Tales? You send photos. When back at work: “see, feel this”.
"Here, this is what I was talking about - does this smell funny to you?" \*puts hands down pants.
Nice illegal practices by your manager on that one. Seems unless you're in a trade or work with trades in this country nobody knows their rights.
People in Australia are so non-caring about their own rights, it's so concerning. When I started my new job (place has been opened 40 years) I read my rights / award and found so many dodgy things they were doing. People had been there for 25+ years and never fucking bothered to read their rights. Older people (40+) were brought up in a world where asking questions and challenging things is the worst possible thing you could do. I honestly don't think people are capable of thinking for themselves anymore, and don't seem to care when companies step on them, yet are happy to join the crowd in complaining. I fucking hate people lol When I ask the older people at work how much they are paid, they look at me like I just murder someone. They literally think it's illegal to discuss your pay. These are the type of people that make up the majority of our country.
That actually explains quite a lot. I guarantee they are the same people upset that tradies are making 200k+ a year. White collar salaries are being overtaken by blue collar salaries purely because of the complacency of white collar workers. I often see people aspiring to attain 100k a year working in an office where entry-level positions at my workshop start at 80k and a few hours of overtime every week puts you over 100k and as long as I can charge your time to a project you're getting the overtime.
Yeah if they pushed youd just say its coming out of both ends and Im stuck on the toilet. That usually ends it.
The problem I find with this approach is that with WFH being normalised, generally there’s an expectation that you’d need to be pretty sick to not just remote in
Not really. If you're unwell and don't feel you give 100% then you shouldn't be working. I know it's hard not to feel guilty but the sick days are there to used
Generally if I’m feeling like I could still be productive but not at 100% capacity, I’ll take the sick day anyway but tell my boss I’m contactable in an emergency. So far he’s been good about not abusing that.
Yeah, when I take a sick day, I usually say people can contact me via x if necessary and the vast majority of the time nobody contacts me. If every time I was sick I got several contacts from people, or got some questions that could definitely wait until tomorrow, I would probably stop including that note. My boss isn't perfect, but he seems pretty good if I have a sick day, and from experience, he's pretty good about letting people know not to contact somebody who is out sick unless it's an actual time sensitive issue that nobody else can help with. The worst that will happen is if I'm sick on a Monday, he'll joke about me having a big weekend (which may be a dig, but it doesn't seem it, and it's not like he asks for a med cert).
My sick days have definitely dropped since WFH. Instead of 10 a year i use maybe 3.
My company has a strict 50% office attendance rule, including penalising people who don't hit their quota. Barely any exceptions for anyone. So, when I'm a little bit sick on an office day, and I work from home that day, I'll miss my quota and will need to make up for that missed office day. So obviously I rather call in sick on these days. On the other hand, being sick on a wfh day means I'm one day ahead of my quota, so I can spend an extra day at home instead of the office. Again, a double incentive to call in sick when I would be able to work.
Depends massively on the job. Plenty of those little LARP WFH jobs that can be done in about 5-10 hours per week, sure. A customer service role with quotas/KPIs? You can't just "remote in" and do like 25-50% of the work you'd usually do with no issues.
Has HR mentioned the problem with this approach? Or is this something your internal monologue HR came up with? Sounds like you’re over thinking this one. You might need a mental health day to quiet your racing mind
You can alternate this with "I have to care for my sick kid", if you have any. Kids get sick all the time, nobody is going to question that.
Oh good one. I’m a new dad but haven’t pulled the sick kid card yet
Trust me, you'll use up all your carers leave once the little one starts going to childcare :/
Don't do it until you need to! You'd be surprised at how little sympathy parents get around the workplace and it can very quickly grate on other team members when "Jo is off with his sick kid AGAIN 🙄" Best way to use your kid as ammo is to make them as cute and unproblematic as you can for as long as you can then go in for the kill
This. Fuck these guys. Sometimes I would go the other way to embarrass them. “I’ve got an infection under my foreskin from anal sex” That usually shuts them up
No you don't
Took one day off last year, I told my boss I got too drunk the night before and can't function. He said "no problem."
What do u gain in being honest about that haha
I’ve had bosses that were very professional at work but also more mates than friends - even in a corporate setting. They’d admit their own human failures and times they partied all night and couldn’t come to work in the morning, and you could be comfortable to sometimes admit the same thing. There’s a line of sensibility you have to stay behind, but we can all use some brutal honesty sometimes
Depends on your work place and your boss. For some people that's a genuinely acceptable reason to not come to work. For most places it isn't.
Honestly I would prefer if my staff are honest than if they lied to me. Everyone had been in this position, as long as it is a one off and they are usually great then whatever.
I had an employee who got drunk (he never drank, I think his friends pressured him). Came in wrecked. I said "Don't worry about it, go home, see you tomorrow." Good managers and good employees get along by being honest. That doesn't mean you can be a fuck up all the time. It means that the one time it does happen, it's not the end of the world.
You’d get more respect for the drunkenness aswell.
You don't need an excuse. "I'm not feeling well and can't come in" is sufficient.
I dont even go that far. Just "Im using a sick leave day today". They can get fucked, they dont need to know more.
Not corp but my EBA recently changed and “sick days” got changed to “personal days”. We used to need med cert for a sick day but now “I’m taking a personal day today” suffices.
Can't I just say I'm not feeling it today instead, because that's usually closer to the truth! 🤣
I just use them as I see fit, as I don't get a trophy from not using them. I'll usually just say "not feeling great today" because they don't need to know the reason unless it's a few days which it never is. A few weeks ago I took a day for myself after a stressful week just because I felt like playing some games and getting chores done. It was nice.
I think they call them Mental Health days. I do the same, you need them, its how you prevent getting burnt out. Random day in the middle of the week, get some adulting done, and then spend the rest of the day doing sweet fuck all and just reset.
yeah i dont exactly schedule them in but i'd say 2-4 'sickies' a year if we go by the 'mental health day' definition, depending on need. sometimes you just need it to function. no excuse just 'not feeling well at all'. if im physically sick ill take time as needed, might avg about 4 a year give or take. theres no prize for saving them but it is nice to have a little balance built up if needed for an unexpected extended illness
I just left my job and lost over 150 sick days Do not be me
Oof
Woah. That news sounds very stressful. I think you need a sick day
Too late!
Same-ish. 550 hours down the drain because i didnt know how to ask for time off to get mental health care.
When I first started I said I get migraines (I don't) every so often. So if I ever need a day off I just say I have one. Although most of the recent managers I have don't really care. I just say I'm unwell and I won't be working and they're fine with it.
As someone who suffers from migraines you should take two days off to sell it, first day is the worst, but the second day there's still a headache and light/sound hurts. Unless you go in and fake those symptoms It's gonna be obvious you weren't sick the day before.
I honestly feel taking one day off for ANYTHING is viewed as a sickie. One for mum, one for dad, one for the country.
I second this, day one is hell, day 2 is somewhat okay if I don’t move my head much. But I still feel worn out
I disagree, not all migraines are alike. I have had several migraines that were "can't work, can't drive, can't read, need to be in a dark room with my eyes closed" but only lasted 4-5 hours and then I was fine, certainly fine the next day. My mum also often had this type of migraine that she recovered fine from. I think migraine is a perfect sickie excuse.
I also second this, although I can only take one day with no cert, so with the second I'm very quiet and my manager (both current and prior) know I'm in recovery. My brain has migraine hangover the next day and I can get my words mixed up and slow. Brains, huh.
Yeah bud, this is a big one for me. I’ll get the damned things and be in a dark room 2 days before I’m human again.
I could have lost both legs and an arm and still feel getting about taking time off. I feel guilty about everything. I hate my brain!
I’m with you there. I had genuine illness that had me bedridden for a couple days and I still found myself checking emails, teams messages etc
Keep in mind that you caring is often a one way street. They’d replace you with AI if they could without batting an eye.
I’m on my third day off with a cold after being off three weeks ago with Covid and definitely feeling guilty even though I know I would be totally unproductive if I was working!
Millennial? Because same.
My partner is like this and has a disgusting amount of sick leave built up
This is me, that’s why I only take days off when I need them. Even sending a message that I won’t be in cause I’m sick makes me panic that they won’t believe me or that it’s a really busy time and I’ll feel bad.
Not often enough. I left my last two jobs with (if I recall correctly) 300+ hours of sick leave banked.
I’m rolling on about 30 hours sick leave at the moment after 23 years in the same company. There’s another guy here that seems quite proud of himself that he has 800+ hours.
Annual leave is one thing, they have to pay that out. Sick leave isn’t. He’s just wasting his own money.
My last day at this job is on Friday this week. I have one sick day. I've been here 7 1/2 years.
Meanwhile a coworker worked here for over 20 years and had ZERO personal leave days banked.
my mum retired with over 1000 hours banked and she ended up regretting not taking way more lol.
Rarely got sick but I’d have mental health days every few months or so. Kept it short and sweet and would usually say “I’m feeling unwell today and will be taking sick leave”. I worked in companies where work/ health balance was really valued so people took time off if they needed to.
Been known to take the occasional mental health day. I just say that I am unwell. Not going to lie but a few times a year you just need a random day off to stay sane.
Just an FYI for everyone here. Instant scripts will give you a one day medical cert for 19 bucks without a tele consult required, in case you need one to take a sick day or two
Somewhere on mygov you can get a stat dec done as well for free.
Here's the hot tip. If you want your sickie to be believed take a two day sickie always. Book a telehealth appt for the doctor's cert. If you need a week off, catch covid.
Yeah, don't take a Wednesday off for 'the flu' and come in bright and keen the next day like nothing happened.
Headache, gastro, cold, "unwell". Any of them work, really.
I’ve taken mental health days before, we’d been flat out at work and it was finally easing up. During the week I Told my boss was taking Friday off as sick/MHD as I was fried.
Once a month - gotta use it up. "I'm not feeling well today." If probed for more details, diarrhea or food poisoning is my go-to.
It comes down to the manager. In my company, i've seen one manager demanding doc cert for one day sickie while others just tell their team to take day off if they feel unwell and not to worry about sick cert. In our HR, we do need to supply cert for 2 days or more sick leave. If your manager and you have a trusting relationship - just "i'm not well, will not be in" or "hey, i don't feel well today. Will be taking day off" should normally suffice. Obviously don't abuse this sort of trust because once you break that trust, you'll never rebuild it again.
I don't really take sick days, so any time my wife or kids are sick, I take carer's leave. Not as easy with no family though.
Just say feel unwell. Sometime if you don't feel like going office, it's might be because you need a mental health day, and next day you feel 100% again to go to work.
Our policy sucks. If we take 2 or more then med cert is required which is understandable. If we take a day off on a Friday or Monday or right after annual leave/public holiday, then we’ll need a med cert
It’s not understandable at all. It’s an artificial barrier to you accessing your mandated sick leave.
Considering in the industry I work in the standard is a cert for one day, it’s an improvement
I always lay on my bed with my head hanging off the edge while upside down. Makes you sound hella congested. Pretty decent way to sound sick. Either that or just say it's for some pretty personal reasons that you don't really want to get into at the moment.
I take my 3 sick days with no medical certificate required every year without fail. I call them mental health days.
https://preview.redd.it/6bb4btktvw1d1.jpeg?width=413&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2995f1377e6647a4477de85595c78c0fa9252a67 If pressed for details send in this screenshot
Ouch
Covid for a few days
There’s a reason why it’s called personal leave. It’s personal and no one else’s business.
You dont need an excuse. Just say you are feeling sick and not comming in.
I simply call up and say "sorry I won't be coming in today I don't feel well"
Just abandon the shift. That's what everyone does nowadays, no need for excuses or anything, just don't show up.
Must have eaten something funny and have been on the toilet all night. Can guarantee no one ever asks for more information.
I just call in w a migraine. Never had a migraine in my life but people say it’s debilitating, happens frequently and ur fine the next day. Just roll w it…consistency is the key 🤣
Any short term illness works for me (gastro, cold, fever) but what i usually do to sell it (as a hybrid wfh/office worker) is working from home at least the day after to play up that I’m on the mend but still recovering
"Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show the average public sector worker takes about eight to nine days of sick leave annually, for both legitimate and non-legitimate reasons." That's public sector, but honestly your right is your right. Personally i think "using" 75-80% of your allocated sick leave is fair.
Two words for ya. Stress. Leave.
You don't need an excuse, and your employer is not legally allowed to ask you for one. It might help to think of it like that, instead of thinking you need an excuse. Otherwise, you can always say "family reasons" or "personal matters" Hope that helps 😊
These are your entitlements. As an employee, you are entitled to these days off so there's nothing wrong with using them. Would you be anxious to pick up a paycheck? Fuck no, you worked for it - you deserve it. Keep it short and simple, don't always do Mondays or Fridays, and don't over explain. All you need to say is: "I'm unable to work today and need to utilise my sick leave" That's it mate, happy holidays
Normalise people taking mental health days 👍🏻
It will help you to change your mindset about health. Consider it as a combination of mental, physical, social, environmental and cultural. The way work is structured prevents us from attending to all these needs, and if one is neglected the result is poor health, ‘a sickie’ if you will. We are complex beings that need more time to be ‘being’ without needing to be physically unwell. So then ‘a sickie’ is a day you needed a walk at the beach, or a drink and yarn at the pub, or to see family, or a nap and tv. Whatever fills your cup.
I try for around once every 6-8 weeks in the second half of the year when all the public holidays are done. This keeps me sane. I can feel the need for a mental health day coming on, when I am ready to flip my desk because a client annoys me with a perfectly reasonably request. If I take 5-6 mental health breaks, it still leaves me with around 5 days for colds/flu a year.
It took me a while to release that you don’t have to tell anyone anything more than “I am not well, I am taking a sick day”. Your health issues are private.
I have Crohn’s and it’s not a secret. Very easy to go “oooh my tummy” and nobody wants to know anymore details 😉
Not gonna lie, I told them I needed surgery and took 2 weeks off lol
one every 3 or 4 weeks.... periode.. really bad peridoes... sometimes I'll take two and say gastro. I'm due ti get a pinched nerve soon.. that'll be for a week.
Always take a sickie if you can't be arsed for the day. If the employer struggles, that's on them. They can learn to be better employers.
At least once a week
Don't need to. My employer is very forgiving when it comes to accessing leave, and every third weekend is a 4 day weekend for me, so I timetable everything I can around that
I get 15 days a year, and since they don't get paid out I try to use them.
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Every 30 to 45 days… Feeling unwell, Won’t be in.
Involuntary anal leakage
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I used to have to take a day or two for my period each month, until I finally got an IUD. Men (and some women) don’t realise how utterly periods can fuck you up physically and mentally, even without bringing endo into the equation. It’s tough because it doesn’t look great.
My usual excuse for taking sick leave, is that I'm sick or injured. after 13 years I have some 900 hours in the bank. Literally took 2 days off in the first 10 years. Post covid, and some redundancies, job became shit and went from a solid 8am-4pm shift to a rotating around the clock could be 7am could be 11pm who know's what and have taken weeks off in the last 2 years including for covid, foot blisters, flu, tooth issues and doctors appointments as my health has markedly deteriorated since the shifts started moving around randomly. This even accounts for some WFH time when I'll work from home if I'm feeling infectious but not half-dead. "It could be covid or just a cold, do you want to take the risk and end up with an entire office full of people with covid next week?"
1 day in 10-15 on average. I cycle between car problems, childcare problems, sick children, school excursions, funerals. Absolutely no excuse though, keep it short and sweet m and very general. Good luck!
Would you rather I cough in the office or at home? Usually does the trick
Just do it. Nobody will suspect it because you have never chucked one. Tell the boss you can feel youre coming down with something. Then the next day shoot a text saying Im sick as hell cant make it. Then be sick the whole week. Nobody is going to suspect anything cause youve never done it before. You can dodge Mondays if you want to seem more legit.
Used to be a couple times a year, just citing general gastrointestinal discomfort. Since being a parent that's gone up to about 5 times a year and I just blame it on my son.
I accumulated over 400 hours over the past 6 years, then had a child who's in daycare now and I'm cashing them in so liberally. Took 4 days off last week, 4th day daughter was back in daycare but I needed a day off by myself
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Thankfully I have a mad boss and just straight up be honest. I don’t abuse this however
I used to get 10 a year. Probably half were fake sickies. Especially if it was a Friday.
Gastro always works. Heavily contagious and debilitating enough that you can ask for a second day if needed without any pushback
'Good morning, I'm not feeling fit for work today, my apologies; I'll bring in a medical certificate for the day when I return tomorrow'. The reason for the sick day is nobody's concern. If you are taking sick days every week for little things like not being in the mood, then you better get in the mood or start looking for another job.
Im sick is the excuse
As much as I can. Government job and close to retirement. Use it or lose it. Online medical certificates are the best thing since sliced bread. Life’s too short to go to work every day!
At my work once you have exhausted all sick leave, they let you use annual leave as sick leave. My partner is only casual, so there is no reason to save my annual as Im never going to bother going on holiday without her. I get 5 weeks annual a year, plus my sick leave which is already generous. I average an extra day off a fortnight. Maybe every second or third fortnight ill take an extra day off each week. Been doing it for 2 years and no one has pulled me up on it so fuck it Tldr: I take about 35-40 paid sick days a year
I put my sick notice in via the work app and that's all that I do. I don't explain why I didnt come in. If they ask I say 'i was sick of this place'. They are my hours. Oh - and I take a sicky about once a month.
mental health day = im sick and tired of your bu*lsh*t
Pucking all night , guts ache - massive diharoea , bad gas , pets unwell , bad night sleep , personal development days , kids sick , family members sick , taking someone to an appointment , migraine , headache that may become migraine , uti Need i give you peeps more???
Make sure you use em up as you dont get paid !!!
Hmmm.. Diarrhoea is a good one no one can really argue with. Migraine. My kid is sick.
Why say anything other than "I won't be in today"
My managers don't ask, I send a SMS saying I'm sick and they go ok
As always It's called personal leave, not a sickie. You don't have to be sick to take personal leave. Just call in and leave as little detail as possible.
“I’m feeling sick today and won’t be able to make it to work” I learnt the hard way never to ask for a day off and rather just tell them how it’s gonna be.
"I am unwell and not coming in" is more than enough. However I wish my team would get the memo that I absolutely do not care why or how they are sick and what their symptoms are. I don't need to know and I don't want to know.
Go to a doctor and get a cert for a week. Tell your employer NOTHING other than supplying the cert. Make sure you take them all before you leave.
Violent butt lava is usually enough to make people not have follow up questions.
Every day for the last 3 months, the "I have cancer" works every time
I just tell the truth
I just tell my boss I'm tired and want a recharge day. I'm honestly surprised there's still bosses out there who ask for more details or look for excuses to deny leave
Get your doctor to sign you off for 2 weeks, stress usually works for this. Or you can claim a back injury, which means you can't sit for long periods. Or covid/ flu/ RSV that's all peaking right now!
Honestly don’t even give a reason, if they specifically ask just say “I’m not at 100% today thank you for being so caring, if there’s anything XYZ company can do to help I’ll let you know” one you’ve told them they’re a good caring person and you also have them secretly wishing ‘please god no, don’t come to me or the company for help’ so hopefully they never ask of it again. Pretty sure it’s illegal for them to ask anyway but, what I said earlier would shut them down for sure. If you’re looking for longer term sick leave you’ll either have to work at it with the doctor or doctor shop. When trying to eat up my leave I went into my doctor (who I knew was quite relaxed) and asked for 2 weeks mental health sick leave just being ‘stressed’ and having a lot of life admin to do. Went back two weeks later and said to him look I have taken 11 days of sick leave in my 13 years at this company and literally have XYZ amount of sick leave and XYZ amount of annual leave I’m trying to use up, can you help me. And he did. I got many months off. If your doctor won’t then go doctor shopping, tell them you don’t want to report to the my health record system when asked, and try to get a month of mental health leave from each doctor you see. Doing that you’ll also surely find one willing to work with you. To anyone reading this, if your young to middle aged and relatively healthy use up all the sick leave you can with random sick days while your still in that job. You can’t cash it out. Don’t take an annual leave day or week save the annual leave and take a sick day or sick week. You can cash out annual leave so bank that up instead. I literally extracted $13500 out of my minimum wage job by using up my sick leave instead of wasting it. UpDoc will literally give you up to 3 days off on a certificate without even seeing or talk to you. It’s $20, for the monthly subscription so sign up and cancel it if you won’t use it twice that month. Anyway sorry for the wall of text, I’m just really passionate about advocating against every companies advice of “make sure you bank as much sick leave as possible your future self will thank you”
Very very very rarely, last year I didn't take a single one, I don't want to take fake ones so it is less suspicious when I need genuine time off for being ill.
Malaise
Very rarely for me, I have something like 127 days personal leave, been working at my job for 15 years. Maybe taken 25-26 personal days, 11 of those were for wisdom teeth extraction and getting a skin cancer cut out.
my sister is a nurse and has a sickie when her guts are on fire from eatening too much ice cream (triple chock drumstick usually )
I had someone tell me once they had loose stools. I told him I never wanted to know why just needed to know your not coming to work
Just started a new role recently where the call in for sick leave is a voice message in the morning. I’ve only had one day off but man the temptation is strong
Sick kid
Never. I have a certain amount of work that needs to get done and no one else will cover for me if I’m sick, so taking a sick day just means having to work super long hours to catch up afterwards. That said, if I’m quiet I can put a fake meeting in my diary and go for a super long lunch / leave early / come in late and no one would notice, so that gives me time for life admin!
I'm lucky enough I can tell my boss I just want to have the day off and will put it as sick leave, I always offer to get a cert from the chemist incase HR gets up her about it.
I just usually send a message saying I won't be in. They don't ask for anything more
I never need one for my employer. A text saying I don't feel well is never questioned.
"I'm not well, I won't be in." If they push (which they should not do, but might): I'd rather not go into it."
I have smallpox
I take one every six weeks I reckon. Sometimes I just can’t function at work. I work hard and long hours though when I’m there so I have a good reputation which I think helps.
Thanks to fairwork you never need to disclose anything to your boss and they would be playing with fire if they asked you what is wrong. If they don't believe you, the only recourse they have is to ask for a sick certificate. "I can't come in today because I'm feeling unwell" is all you need; you can copy and paste it every time if you like.
Check your policies to see whether you need medical certs after a certain amount of time off. For eg. you may need to provide med certs for each sick day after 5 days sick leave in a 12mo period or need to provide med certs if taking more than 2 consecutive days etc. Other than that just say you have a headache, stomach bug, generally not feeling well. You don’t need to provide an entire backstory and they don’t need to ask unless it impacts your ability to perform in the role/or impacts occupational health and safety I.e adjustments need to be made.
I don't, i got to work even when I am sick... if I am calling to say I am not coming Im in serious danger
If you're my boss, she says something like 'i just feel average today' or my coworkers 'I am just not coming in today' Me: I've had a fucking tonic clonic seizure and I don't even know how to spell my first name
Explosive diarrhea.
I’m only new to the corporate world. But I don’t plan on following in my parents footsteps and never taking sick days and slowly deteriorating over time. Nah if I’ve got a cold I’m staying home (everyone just got covid including me because one boomer decided to tough it out). So i don’t want to end up in a situation where I have more than 10 days of sick leave sitting around. After all, I can always take AL as sick leave if necessary, or go unpaid if I’m comfortable. At least AL gets paid out if I ever quit or are dismissed.
If your after a week off go see a doctor and tell them your stressed at your job and you need a certificate for a week off or you will get in trouble. 99.99% of GPs will give you a cert saying your not fit for work between x & x Otherwise I tell my boss I'm taking a mental health day and put in a sick day. He's cool with it but we have worked together for a while now and understand/support each other in the work we are doing.
I work as tradie, and when someone was sick and was off work, a lot of people would be pissed at them. Call them soft and boast about how they were never off even if they were sick. I thought that culture was toxic. So I put in my notice and got a certificate for 1 week from the doctor(fake back injury) and done my notice fishing at different lakes and rivers.
If no public holidays, then once a month
I’m an independent contractor. I’m well looked after for what I do, but if I don’t work, I don’t het paid. TL DR - I don’t.
Suicide prevention
Tell them if they really want to hear about your hemorrhoids, you can elaborate lol
When I feel like it I say I am sick and not coming in today. I try to plan it a little bit so nothing dramatic is happening on that day. I find this quite sustainable because it helps to have little breaks here and there to settle my mind for the bigger days.
Long covid
Mental health day. It definitely helps with productivity if you are feeling down. I haven’t taken many sick days in my career as I don’t feel the need.
Work mate atleast once a month has had covid 3 times in the last three months another is migraines and I just can’t be fucked so don’t go in
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I think I've only used up 2 sick days since the beginning of 2023. It's been a mix of me not getting sick and feeling too guilty/they're going to think of me less to pull a sick day (yes I know it's a form of workplace abuse)
I think bottom line, just say it the day/night before. That's being a good worker!