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Sickness and applications

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MR_P

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How many days sick in the last 12 months do you think a recruitment team will allow before throwing out an application.

Obviously zero is ideal but not many people will be that low.

Thoughts.
 
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GB

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Probably depends on the company you are applying for and the type of sickness.

I was off for about 4 weeks with my previous employer due to bereavement which didn't affect my application for my current job. Those that should be worried are those that habitually take time off, are off for months on end or have a pattern to their sickness.

A couple of days here or there is nothing.
 

gswindale

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To be honest I don't know, however I would expect them to look at the reasons for sickness rather than just the number of days.

Thus somebody who is off sick for a major illness isn't treated like somebody who has every other Friday off with a headache.
 

MR_P

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I agree that they should look at the reasons, however if they have hundreds of applications for each job they will want to filter out alot reasonably quickly.

If personnel and had two applications that were very similar but one had 4 days sick and the other 15 they would most likely just drop the one with 15. (Assuming that both were for odd days off like headache colds etc.)


(I'm not including compassionate leave)
 

Woolsty

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Average sickness outside the public sector is around 6 days, so i would try and keep it under that.
I know that with my last employer when you applied internally sickness was the first port of call to reduce the number of applicants.
 

Gareth43

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In my last tax year I am proud to say I had zero days off sick, mainly due to me being self employed therefore if I don't work I don't get paid.
 

GB

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In my last tax year I am proud to say I had zero days off sick, mainly due to me being self employed therefore if I don't work I don't get paid.

It does happen, I myself have not had a day off sick since 2009...of course that is not to say I haven't felt sick at all during that time.
 

RJ

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I've had 3 days off sick in my 5 year working life. Think the sickness policies are probably far too lax in some workplaces, no attendance = no pay is a better disincentive for people to throw a sickie every now and then. The railway industry certainly seems to have a very low tolerance for that sort of thing.
 

GB

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Trouble is that no attendance = no pay penalises those that are honestly sick.
 

Gareth43

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I know some company's reward its staff for a good attendant record and it seems to work quite well.
 

Beveridges

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Some companies have no rewards for having 0 sickness.
There are those who have months off every year and due to full pay on the sick they are on more money than the people who are working because they are not paying petrol to get into work and they are not causing wear to their car by commuting (yes its all counts).
I really think it should not be 100% pay for being on the sick anywhere.
 

Gareth43

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Some companies have no rewards for having 0 sickness.
There are those who have months off every year and due to full pay on the sick they are on more money than the people who are working because they are not paying petrol to get into work and they are not causing wear to their car by commuting (yes its all counts).
I really think it should not be 100% pay for being on the sick anywhere.

In an ideal world it should be the same as if you were self employed "no work no pay"
 

MR_P

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Kinda a different topic but same theme :

Normally you are asked how many points you have on your car driving licence.
Wonder what the criteria for rejecting an application on this is?
 

GB

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Some companies have no rewards for having 0 sickness.
There are those who have months off every year and due to full pay on the sick they are on more money than the people who are working because they are not paying petrol to get into work and they are not causing wear to their car by commuting (yes its all counts).
I really think it should not be 100% pay for being on the sick anywhere.

Me, me, me??? I really hope you don't have the misfortune of having to use statutory sick pay or company sick pay in the future.
 

driver9000

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Kinda a different topic but same theme :

Normally you are asked how many points you have on your car driving licence.
Wonder what the criteria for rejecting an application on this is?

Judging by your other posts you are applying for a drivers job. When I applied to be a driver this was never asked at any stage during the recruitment stages nor has it ever been asked about during my career. A road licence is irrelevant to train driving although the freight operators tend to require you to hold a road licence because there is a requirement to drive company vehicles.
 

MR_P

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Judging by your other posts you are applying for a drivers job. When I applied to be a driver this was never asked at any stage during the recruitment stages nor has it ever been asked about during my career. A road licence is irrelevant to train driving although the freight operators tend to require you to hold a road licence because there is a requirement to drive company vehicles.

Yep - On the last two applications I have filled in they have asked for this information.(Not freight). Perhaps it may be to do with how close you are to a depot and how you are going to get to work. If you say car but are on the verge of losing your licence that may put them off.

Im not referring to me :) Im clean as they say!
 

AntoniC

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In my Civil Service job, since Xmas 2009 I have had 140 days sick in 2 batches.

First batch was for breaking my left wrist @ Nuneaton station running to catch a Virgin train home to Liverpool - that was approx 70 days and then :

Second batch Easter 2011 about another 70 days for corrective surgery (and recovery time) on said broken wrist.

Had no problem with my employer over the sick leave, but the second time round I was desperate to get back to work as I was so bored !).

(Also after the original injury (caused by me tripping over my big feet), I got so annoyed with people telling me to try & get compensation for the accident - I didnt - that seriously cheesed me off !).
 

mac

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Now alot of people work for agencies and don't get sick pay if they have time of they could put no days of sick,it wouldn't be wrong they never got paid.
 

RPM

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In an ideal world it should be the same as if you were self employed "no work no pay"

Really? So you want a situation where safety critical staff are struggling into work when unfit for duty because they can't afford to take time off sick? You'd be happy to entrust the safety of you and your loved ones to a driver who is suffering a blinding migraine, or regularly collapsing into fits of coughing? Sick pay exists for very good reasons and the fact that a small minority choose to abuse is not a good enough reason so suggest it should be discontinued.
 

TDK

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The Company I worked for did take sickness into account it only becomes applicable to be honest when you have to decide between 2 or maybe 3 equal candidates, to be honest if someone was off sick because of a car accident or serious illness/injury this would be allowable, what is not good is if you are asked if you have had time off sick and you say yeas and then you are asked on the nature of the sickness and the occasions and you cannot remember this does certainly go against your chances.
 

Gareth43

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Really? So you want a situation where safety critical staff are struggling into work when unfit for duty because they can't afford to take time off sick? You'd be happy to entrust the safety of you and your loved ones to a driver who is suffering a blinding migraine, or regularly collapsing into fits of coughing? Sick pay exists for very good reasons and the fact that a small minority choose to abuse is not a good enough reason so suggest it should be discontinued.

Listen, all I was saying is that in the case of the sick pay system where it is abused, a good deterrent would be no work no pay policy, this would stop the repeat offenders from taking advantage as they do.

There are alternatives ie, in my partners work place if she has a day or a week off work she has to sit down with the head of HR and discuss with them the reason for her absence and in great detail, if they determined that the time off was unjustified then they are reprimanded for it.

A great many individuals out there are self employed and do not have the luxury of sick pay yet they have to make the choice of either having time off without pay of go to work to earn some money, also a lot of these individuals are in a role that requires a high level of safety awareness and procedures in their workplace and are responsible for themselves and those around them.

I am surprised that a post like this has caused such offence to you it is an opinion that is all and we as individuals are all entitled to our own opinions, therefore I apologise to you for causing such outrage it was not my intention.
 
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RPM

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Your post caused neither offence nor outrage. I simply found it ill thought out and absurd.
 

Gareth43

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Your post caused neither offence nor outrage. I simply found it ill thought out and absurd.

It was neither "ill thought out or absurd" it is normal for many of the UK's workforce, Now seeing as I am not and have no intention of being a policy maker for the powers that be lets just agree to disagree.
 

SS4

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Heaven forbid one's employer be expected to pay you for being sick! It's not like there is any control over it and not paying merely means people work when they're not fit to. I need not say what will happen in the case of contagious disease.

I've no doubt that it's used by people who are not sick to get a day off - even if one were to pull a sickie you'd have to stay indoors lest you run into a colleague (unless your colleague is equally bent of course). Even so why should the abuse by a minority cause the whole system to be stopped.

Sick leave is a thorny issue because it's not fair to financially disadvantage someone for being sick (whether docking pay or giving healthy workers a bonus) yet it's equally unfair for those who come in every day to not gain and could lead to disillusionment.

However, I seem to have gone off topic. Back on the subject pretty much all employers would consider sickness absence against you regardless of legitimacy. Whether they admit it is a different matter!
 

Beveridges

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Whether sick pay should continue or not, it should never be at 100% pay! Before I moved to Blackpool, I was paying £40 a week on fuel alone commuting to work and it made me sick to think that some people who were abusing the sick were on more money than me in real terms, when they wre not driving to work, and not working nights
 

Woolsty

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Whether sick pay should continue or not, it should never be at 100% pay! Before I moved to Blackpool, I was paying £40 a week on fuel alone commuting to work and it made me sick to think that some people who were abusing the sick were on more money than me in real terms, when they wre not driving to work, and not working nights

Thats life mate, you have to get on with it.
I think we all know who the shirkers are in our workplace that go off sick when they so desire, and they are the most annoying.
But you cant tar everyone with the same brush.
The Police introduced a policy which excluded you from applying for other positions if you had more than X number of days off per year. Allowances were made for those that were off long term. They also prevented you from doing overtime.Then an allowance/bonus was paid each Xmas and again sickness was monitored before payment. They made regular contact with staff off sick and also made home visits, it certainly improved attendance.
 

reapz

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Listen, all I was saying is that in the case of the sick pay system where it is abused, a good deterrent would be no work no pay policy, this would stop the repeat offenders from taking advantage as they do.

There are alternatives ie, in my partners work place if she has a day or a week off work she has to sit down with the head of HR and discuss with them the reason for her absence and in great detail, if they determined that the time off was unjustified then they are reprimanded for it.

A great many individuals out there are self employed and do not have the luxury of sick pay yet they have to make the choice of either having time off without pay of go to work to earn some money, also a lot of these individuals are in a role that requires a high level of safety awareness and procedures in their workplace and are responsible for themselves and those around them.

I am surprised that a post like this has caused such offence to you it is an opinion that is all and we as individuals are all entitled to our own opinions, therefore I apologise to you for causing such outrage it was not my intention.


.

Its not your job to fix the world
 

GB

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Whether sick pay should continue or not, it should never be at 100% pay! Before I moved to Blackpool, I was paying £40 a week on fuel alone commuting to work and it made me sick to think that some people who were abusing the sick were on more money than me in real terms, when they wre not driving to work, and not working nights

That's a pretty selfish attitude to take imo. Life is not all about how much more money you get then the next person and as I said, I seriously hope you don't come to need sick pay (100% or not) in the future.

If people are abusing sickness where you are then that is a failing of your management.
 

185

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I don't think sick days count for anything nowadays to be fair.

Ten years as a guard without a day sick or late, and companies still **** all over you.
 
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