Poll of the Day > After a pandemic we have a new policy incentivizing working sick

(+) Yeah! (+)

If you use more than 70 hours of sick time in a year you get put on a special list where you get a special memo regarding your attendance. You will then have your sick time usage reviewed on a quarterly basis and if you don't improve then you will be subject to a fact finding investigation to decide if disciplinary action is needed.

If you're a good employee and don't use sick time and instead come into work while ill you will instead get $200at the end of the year... Not even a lot of money, but enough that it's crazy to me they are trying to get people to come in sick and spread what they've got. Our contract grants us 8 hours of sick time accrual every month, but we're not supposed to use it?

Anyways, the policy has been in place for two months and 50% of my crew is out with either Influenza B, Covid, pneumonia, or a combination of any of those. Cool.

9 sick days

I'd look for another job

sounds like a dumpster fire

I've been looking for something that would work for me and my family. Mostly trying to find a lateral move to a different department, but I'd like to stay with the university because the rest of the benefits are still good (while also being a shadow of what they were 15 years ago). We get premium free health insurance for our family, 144 hours vacation annually, 40 hours personal time, up to 10% employer match to our retirement, and all that factors into keeping me with them. Just seems asinine and short sighted to implement this policy after a pandemic that is still pretty much ongoing.

Wow that sucks you should find a better job

when I was hired at my new job, we were given 20 sick days to use however we wanted 160 hours) for the rest of the year. We get them all available right away (dont have to work hours to earn them) and can use them whenever we want

My girlfriend worked in the HR department of our provincial government for a while doing filing, and she came across a ton of instances of people having to attend "attendance management meetings" because they exceeded some arbitrary threshold of absences. Those meetings, however, were set up automatically with a department completely separated from where they were actually doing work, and the vast, vast majority of them were cases where their managers had approved the leave and already made the appropriate arrangements to ensure continuity of service. In every way, it was just a bunch of micromanaging bureaucracy that wasted everyone's time for no actual gains.

We have the same thing at my job, it's called the Sick Control List. Iirc if you use more than 50 hours in the first year then they add you to the list and you might have your probation slightly extended (it's a year to begin with). If you're on the SCL and call out sick again, they send people to your house at a random time to verify that you're actually home sick and not out elsewhere. If you need to leave the house, you need to call the Sick Desk and let them know beforehand. It's trash

hockey7318 posted...

I've been looking for something that would work for me and my family. Mostly trying to find a lateral move to a different department, but I'd like to stay with the university because the rest of the benefits are still good (while also being a shadow of what they were 15 years ago). We get premium free health insurance for our family, 144 hours vacation annually, 40 hours personal time, up to 10% employer match to our retirement, and all that factors into keeping me with them. Just seems asinine and short sighted to implement this policy after a pandemic that is still pretty much ongoing.

Iktf
Unless you've had a job where the perks just slightly outweigh the absolute bullshit you have to put up with regarding company culture, it's hard to explain.

SilentSeph posted...

We have the same thing at my job, it's called the Sick Control List. Iirc if you use more than 50 hours in the first year then they add you to the list and you might have your probation slightly extended (it's a year to begin with). If you're on the SCL and call out sick again, they send people to your house at a random time to verify that you're actually home sick and not out elsewhere. If you need to leave the house, you need to call the Sick Desk and let them know beforehand. It's trash

What bugs me is that policing absences directly like that is completely unnecessary. Performance metrics exist. If you're concerned that somebody's absences might be affecting their work, just look at their work and appraise that. If their work is fine (including them being available when other people need them), there's no problem. If their work isn't fine, then you've got a problem and should frame your discussion with the employee around that instead of arbitrary attendance management.