ozzieeagle

Right, well this being Australia and all, and myself being totally assimilated I've decided that today is a nice day to pull one.

So I'm wondering how many others out there in expat land have taken on this iconic Australian cultural custom and given themselves a long weekend every now and then. The trigger for me today was a bit of a sniffle, having to take my quite Ill daughter to the local quacks and taking advantage of the location and ease of getting a cert.

Two 4 day weeks in a row, nice one.

So what excuses do you use, at our place, you just phone or message in stating "I'm orf sick tonight"

Beoz

You make me sick. Mind the pun

I never take any sickies. I never get sick.

However, I do balance my job well enough to enjoy a long weekend every now and then without dipping into my holiday balance.

If I am up at 6am, on calls with the US, then I do Asia during working hours, then calls again in the evening to Europe, I am going to balance that every now and again.

spouse of scouse

Sickies only when sick.

My last workplace allowed employees to carry over their unused sick leave each year. By only taking a sick day on the rare occasion it was needed, I'd accumulated enough to receive my full pay for 6 months after a motor vehicle accident. Made a difficult time much easier.

On the other side, one of my direct reports took every sick day as soon as it became due. When she had surgery and was unable to work for 6 weeks, she only had 2 weeks annual leave due, having used every single day of her sick and LSL. She then wondered why she 'missed out' on 4 weeks pay, and got behind with her bills. Tough luck princess.

bcworld

I've said it before...everywhere I've worked in Aus has far more restrictive polices on sickies than anywhere I worked in the UK. Medical certificate for two consecutive days, any day adjacent to a weekend or public holiday. That has been the policy...may not always be enforced, but in my experience is when people start to take the p.

Meanwhile, at my last job in the UK we could self certify SEVEN consecutive business days.

I think it's a bit of folklore that Aussies are somehow great at sickies! I was talking to someone at one of my customers the other day and she told me she hasn't had one in seven years.

ozzieeagle

Got people at our place that have years and years worth of sick leave up their sleeves. Those people employed in the 60's and early 70's tended not to take them as easily. We've got one bloke employed by Apost for 54 years, he hardly takes any. 69 years old, won't leave because he figures he'll be dead within a year due to his habit of spending all his spare time in a pub.... sad really.


I know of people in Torquay UK working in personal care who have been sacked for taking genuine sick leave. Everyone that works in caring for Autistic people at a certain facility in Torquay has to report to the manager every time they take sick leave. Not sure of the employer name, but my 63 YO mate works for them. Even with his cancers and early onset glaucoma he has to report to the manager every time he takes genuine sick leave.

Amazulu

I'm a contractor (staff jobs are for the weak and the snowflakes who live under the bizarre idea that it gives them some kind of job security ), so no work no pay so don't take them

Contractors go to work when others would be in hospital - rock f**king hard (double the staffie pay does that)

ozzieeagle

Cheers and Good luck to yah

Amazulu

He's probably a piper (piping designer)

Wankers

Beoz

Depends. Staff jobs are good if they pay you big bonuses based on the amount of money you can make for them.

Or there's contracting.

Or there's starting a government job 30 years ago and hanging out for a further 10 years waiting for that elusive redundancy. Not sure I could hang in there for the 30 years waiting on for a further 10 of unknown. But the pay day is good.

moneypenny20

My husband doesn't do sick leave. Even when he was going through Chemo, he was at work every day. His Oncologist was dumbstruck when it came up in conversation but the husband would only take sick leave if he were strapped to a hospital bed.

Everyone he works with seems to be of the mindset that as soon as they've built up enough hours to take a sick day, they take it. Very weird concept to get our heads around.

DeadVim

Mood based ... I have a mere 2 hours of accumulated personal leave left, got to keep on top of that sucker, it doesn't get refunded.

It helps that my boss is also a Brit who currently couldn't give a monkeys about his current organisation (if it can be so called, stretching the definition a bit).

Together we will take the piss as far as we can before we inevitably move on.

DeadVim

Can't wait to clock over my 7.25 hours and take whatever day I fancy.

This Monday was the first one I've worked in 2 months, the five day week has nigh on killed me.

Might spend my next "sick" day on the coast with ice cream and chips.

Amazulu

Contractors get bonuses too - I got really (and I mean really good) good ones from Rio Tinto and FMG.

Wol

Methinks you are poking a wasps' nest with a stick to see what reaction you get <g>.

Insurance only works when the premiums exceed the claims: sick leave is just like insurance - there are so many days in a company aggregated to give genuinely sick employees days off, not to allow everyone to take their allocation. In most industrialised countries, anyway.

BadgeIsBack

I've never been asked for a certificate and have always been surprised when a staff member gave one to me : like I care: if the work gets done...

I occassionally take a sick day and am stupid enough to not use them or indeed the personal days I could use.