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My company gives me 10 hours of vacation time a month + 2 floating holiday days. Ends up being about 14 vacation days a year. We also get about 6.67 hours a month of sick time.
The sick time has unlimited build up, the vacation time maxes at about 150 hours, and the floating holidays are use them or lose them.
What's hilarious is that you can be tardy no more than 2X in a 90 day period, but you can have up to 3 sick occurs. I live 30 miles one way away from work, and sometimes stuff happens on the highways on the way in. I'm rarely late, but when I'm late, it's generally going to be VERY late.
A couple of weeks ago, I got a verbal warning from my manager because I was 30 minutes late on a day when there was a massive accident on the highway that shut down 3 of the 4 lanes. A month earlier, I was 20 minutes late due to something similar. Both times I made up the hours, but this department has an issue where you can stay an hour late and get no recognition, but if you're 2 minutes late even if there's a blizzard or huge accident a mile away, managers go nuts.
However, since I haven't called in since February...so, the next time that there's a major accident on the highway, I'm just going to use some of the 160 hours of sick time I've built up over 5 years, take a sick day and head on home. They forced it.
This coworker says to me...."i don't understand if I have all this sick time why is it a problem if I use it?
i had to explain to her that even though you have tons of sick time it's not to be used like it's vacation time. It's thete for when you get sick or have to be in the hospital for a serious illness. Not to call out ever other monday when you don't feel like coming to work.
I only used two sick days the entire year of 2016. Can't believe someone over 30 didn't know this.
Hey, I was like that. When I was working MW and needed to take a sick day, I call to let them know, and I wouldn't get paid for however long I would've worked that shift.
When I did internships, I never missed a day of work, so that never came up.
When I did office/"real" jobs, I didn't have any sick day. It was all PTO. When you wanted to go on a vacation, take a day for yourself, or really were sick/injured, you used your PTO. I was quite shocked that there were companies that actually went through the trouble of separating out "vacation days" and "sick days". Seemed to be more work than was necessary.
As for folks using sick days as PTO, I could see that if they normally don't get days off, even though it'd be against policy.
There are those who don't know it, and there are those who do know it and still take advantage of it.
At my workplace, every Monday and Friday the parking lot is noticeably emptier, T-Th it's packed like sardines.
I wondered about this as well at one point. So I worked in a satellite office, and could count the empty spaces when I came in. Id say about 60% of time off for sick or personal reasons occurs on Friday and Monday. Weird, it should be 40% right? WTH?
Then I looked at my scheduling.....and I am the same. Again, WTH? (H stands for heck for those curious)
So heres what occurs based on my behavior. I tended to take my scheduled time off on Mondays or Fridays because it turns a 2 day weekend into 3 days off. Which beats the heck out of taking it on a Wednesday for example. I can GO somewhere.
But my sick time.....well it wasn't 40% either. So whats the deal? I also scheduled dental work for fridays. That way I didn't have to work while still recovering. Same for any medical stuff.
So I wouldnt read too much into the parking lot stuff.
This coworker says to me...."i don't understand if I have all this sick time why is it a problem if I use it?
i had to explain to her that even though you have tons of sick time it's not to be used like it's vacation time. It's thete for when you get sick or have to be in the hospital for a serious illness. Not to call out ever other monday when you don't feel like coming to work.
I only used two sick days the entire year of 2016. Can't believe someone over 30 didn't know this.
I've been in positions for the last 10-12 years where sick time wasn't defined/limited. I'm salaried (exempt) and when I've been sick or needed surgery or other procedure that required recovery time, I took it. One year, I took 27 days (had cervical spine surgery and the flu in the same year) but for the past five years, I've taken anywhere from two to five days. A few have been 'mental health' days but they were discussed with my boss in advance and I basically completed most of my work ahead of time.
But for hourly or Non-exempt salaried employees, sick time is usually accrued. The norm seems to be five days per year and many (most?) see this as their time to be taken....and they usually do. More progressive employers have started adding a few 'flex days' (for example, three sick and two flex days per year) which allow the time to be taken for reasons other than illness.
From 2001-2003, I worked for a now-defunct division of Dupont Flooring. Our employees were given five sick days per year, but we paid any unused days at the end of the year at 125% of the employee's pay rate. I was A/P Manager and had 11 direct reports. The vast majority didn't use all of their sick days once this procedure was implemented. The cost of an employee calling in sick cost far more than the extra 25% incentive we paid for them to NOT use their days.
I've also worked for companies that pay out accrued sick time just as they do vacation time when an employee resigns or is terminated. It always seemed to soften the blow a little (especially if they were being terminated).
At my workplace, every Monday and Friday the parking lot is noticeably emptier, T-Th it's packed like sardines.
Mondays and Fridays are the most common days for vacation or flex days to be used (for the 3-day weekend benefit). But they are also the most common days for an employee to call in stick (Monday is the worst). Most good managers and/or HR departments will notice this pattern if it happens repeatedly and that's not a good thing.
On the flip side, I've had employees report to work on a Monday despite being obviously sick. They were either super-dedicated to their job or they knew that calling in on Monday was usually frowned upon by upper management. I've had to send more than a few back home in those cases. A sick person isn't going to get better as quickly working as they do resting, if the illness is contagious (flu, virus, etc.), the rest of the office could get sick and a sick person's quality and quantity of work is rarely as good as when they are well.
At my job we have PTO and Holiday time hours. We can use those anytime we want. I save up my PTO because I rarely miss work, and I cash in 80 hours every year. The Holiday hours, I use for my yearly vacation.
If we do need to call in sick, we can elect to have them use 8 hours of our PTO or Holiday time so we do not lose a day's pay.
Mondays and Fridays are the most common days for vacation or flex days to be used (for the 3-day weekend benefit). But they are also the most common days for an employee to call in stick (Monday is the worst). Most good managers and/or HR departments will notice this pattern if it happens repeatedly and that's not a good thing.
On the flip side, I've had employees report to work on a Monday despite being obviously sick. They were either super-dedicated to their job or they knew that calling in on Monday was usually frowned upon by upper management. I've had to send more than a few back home in those cases. A sick person isn't going to get better as quickly working as they do resting, if the illness is contagious (flu, virus, etc.), the rest of the office could get sick and a sick person's quality and quantity of work is rarely as good as when they are well.
Yup that;s whenever use a sick day it;s a tuesday, wednesday, or Thursday. I definitely don't have the balls to call out on a pay friday.
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