bondipom

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...5E1702,00.html

With the traditional scientific methodology of the Expats poll I am out to find if us poms chuck more sickies than the Aussies.

Sandra

Hubby got an award from work for not being sick for a year - very nice framed certificate - obviously something to be proud of.

Cause the low number of sick days handed out here, I do see them treated as extra holiday sometimes.

BookBear

Wow, first to vote yes, out of total of eight, maybe I'm worse than I thought.

I guess if you count the fact that the sickies were taken because I was hung over then maybe you could say I was sick....?

Florida_03

Does being sick of working for morons count as being sick???

paulf

LOL, I,m on one NOW

HiddenPaw

You're joking aren't you!! With only 5 days paid sick leave a year I couldn't afford to take fake sickies!!

My Aussie colleagues did seem to have a terrible sick leave record (my boss used to make me collect sick froms from everyone when they were off. I don't know why this job fell on me - perhaps cos I was the only female on the team (actually I'd always get nominated for the admin jobs which I found really irritating.....another story)

Amazulu

No. I'm freelance, so no work , no pay. I'd come in on a stretcher if I could.

tiredwithtwins

have done in the past, but I only get a couple of paid sick days a year now the nhs has tightened up!!! I have to time being ill to coincide with the kids school hols - I work term time only...

Actually that was something I was going to post about....
Are Aus employers as equal opps and flexible as uk ones now have to be? since I think october 2000 (?) uk employers Have to offer flexible working contracts, which is great as Im a nurse and have been able to say how long and when I work (obvioulsy within reason!). Just started doing set days and 9am starts, which has dramatically improved my and my families life. I can be there to get them ready in the morning and there to put them to bed.
are the Aus health service providers likely to be as flexible? Any nurses out there had any experience of this or know someone who has??

cheers!!!!

sue

GetMeOutOfHere

Reminds me of when I worked for a Assurance Co some years back. Young lad in the office bragging how he always has 2 weeks sick every year and counted them as part of his holiday. Was bloody hilarious when manager came around corner and said, "Oh you do, do you!", timing was brilliant and rest of us cracked up. Needless to say he was given the name "Sicknote" from then on.

I reckon its just as bad in UK, especially public sector , with no fear of losing your job that the private sector employees have.

chippy

Having been self employed for most of my working life I've never really understood the concept of a 'sickie'.

The way I see it, it's no work, no pay. Simple.

Vegemite Kids

Ah ha,

you obviously havent experienced the "joys" of working for a large inefficient multi-national company then !!

loose

Didn't I hear that some firms were thinking of introducing duvet days? For those morning when a quick mid-week pint got well out of hand, and you wake up with an eye brow missing and the cast of Riverdance rehearsing in your head!

Sickies - everyone does 'em I reckon! As long as you dont take the michael I reckon they're ok.

bondipom

Todays surf report from Aquabumps

Swell has declined overnight producing waves of 2 - 3 ft this morning. It is still surfable at Bondi but very fat, bumpy and crowded. Great for the beginners in the middle or north Bondi. Hope you got waves yesterday as there was plenty around. Wind is currently blowing from the SE and is going to howl this arvo before backing off. My advice, call in sick on Friday and go surfing. There is definitely something stirring at the end of this week. Wot? 2 swells in one week - now that’s more than we've had all summer. moooowhwhahaha! Looks like its hanging around for the weekend too. Yeha! Today's tides Low 14:21, High 20:17

BookBear

From today's Tiser:

AUSTRALIAN workers take an average of six sick days a year and they fake illness for three of those days.

However, the Hallis 2003 Absenteeism Report released yesterday shows union members and call centre employees take an average eight days sick leave annually - two more days than employees in other industries.

Women take slightly more sickies than men and people with primary school-aged children use more sick leave than any other demographic group, a reflection of the role of women in raising children.

The report found that Australians take a sick day off every few months to cope with the demands of their life, particularly balancing work/family responsibilities, but they also do it to pay bills.

A visit by The Advertiser to Glenelg beach yesterday had little trouble in locating beach-goers who openly admitted they were taking a sickie.

The first in-depth work absenteeism survey, which involved 120 companies Australia-wide, found sick days cost Australia $7 billion each year, or 2 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product.

Conducted by human resource consultants Hallis, it found absenteeism skyrockets 20 per cent in school holiday time, exposing the difficulties of caring for primary school-aged children.

"I would say comfortably that three days a year are fake sick days," said Hallis's chief psychologist Stephen Walton who compiled and analysed the data.

"A fair proportion of that figure ($7 billion) is related to non-genuine sick leave.

"We are encouraging employers to try to change the mix of leave entitlements." Meanwhile, workers said they would use less sick leave if they could cash in any unused sick leave.

Mr Walton said two-thirds of families with dependants had both parents in the workforce.

"The changing face of work means parents aren't available to provide for their families in times of sickness and stress," Mr Walton said.

Happiness reduced sickies with the report finding that happy employees who get on well with their boss and feel competent use much less sick leave than their unhappy co-workers.

Sixty per cent of 2500 employees surveyed said they would accept a smaller sick leave entitlement for more paid leave to achieve greater work/life balance.

The report calls for a better mix of leave to solve the problem. It also found:

YOUNGER people, some under 20, take more than 150 per cent of their sick leave entitlement.

SHIFT workers use 20 per cent more - or two days more - of sick leave than non-shift-workers.

EMPLOYEES with dependent children or invalids use an average two days more sick leave a year than employees without dependants.

In an interesting twist, employees with multiple dependants use less sick leave than employees with one child.

"It's the total opposite of what I was expecting."

Meanwhile, stoic employees, the "troopers", were least likely to take sickies.

Mr Walton said less than 10 per cent of companies involved had family-friendly workplaces.