Do you go to work when your sick

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

and it took me 5 years to get 2 weeks of vacation.

That's sad Unfortunately I haven't had a vacation in a while, However I've switched places of employment, but I may be switching again, (since I went on sick leave my boss had to hire someone to fill in, then things slowed down, now if I go back I won't be getting enough hours, but my old work has told me I can come back anytime I want, and they've done some nice things for me since I left (at X-mas time they brought by over 800$ and some other stuff)) so If I go back I'll be negotiating my vac time (I want it for this year) Also getting some other stuff sorted out (they service all of Ontario) with travel time and being on call, I was on call 24/7 365 days of the year previously

I don't think anyone should have to work for 5 years and not have a vaction (paid) Life is far too stressful for that.

[Skywalker[TSG]]

Originally posted by cowboybooter
I was sick once, but as above, I work in hospitals,...............

If I go sick, operating lists get cancelled, so I take pills/potions/crutches/painkillers, and go to work,.....

C'est la vie...........


CBB

Makes note not to have surgery in Cowboybooters hospital

[Epidemic]

I have oft wondered what would the statistics of a liberally applied sick policy.

take case one where a company forces employees to work while ill in a productin facility. Now the infection hits most all of the employees and productivity goes down.

Now take that same facility and I wonder what would happen if they let you go home at the first sign of illness. Now you have people often missing from the plant but productivity of the other employees is better as the infection does not spread as much.

So the question is What percentage of inefficiency with a good old fashioned hitting 50% of the employees with flu VS losing 3 or 4 people for a week.

Anyone have stats like this.


AS for working in the medical industry. Something strikes me wrong about the logic of showing up while sick.

Take people who are weak due to another illness and then you decide to give them the flu.

I may never enter a hospital again with foolish logic like that

[cowboybooter]

LOL

Most of my patients are physically fit and well, having hernia / gynae exam etc, no signs of weakness due to illness or I would not be contemplating giving an anasthetic !

Whilst I personally, would love to throw a sickie at the first sign of a sniff, there unfortunately aren't enough of me or my colleagues to go round, if I call in sick lists get cancelled, people who have arranged child minders, cat feeders etc get cancelled !
Personally, I don't think that is fair, the risk of catching cold from someone who is wearing a mask anyway is negligible !

Mick, I hear the rant , but what's the solution ?

[Edit: SkyWalker, I work in so many hospitals, you would never know..........................] LOL






CBB

[shawshank62]

I feel like crap, maybe a touch of the flu, but its getting a little better. I'd love to stay home from school and recooperate, but missing 1 day where i go, is like missing 2 days in a normal school, so i think im going in unless i am throwing up

As for just a regular cold, i always go.

Epi, I don't have stats at hand, but quite a few big corps have started giving flu shots to employees as a way of reducing sick leave during flu season. According to the studies it works pretty well.

I think a liberal sick leave policy would help relieve absenteeism markedly, but this would be dependant on the kind of workforce (age, gender, co-morbidities) and the kind of contact workers have with each other and clients.

CBB, I don't know the full answer, but what I try to do is get those with the most contact with the at risk pts (ICO, oncology) to seriously think about the potential for them to harm their pts. Unfortunately, ICU nurses are a scarce resource here at present, so the pressure is on them to come to work sick. It's a kinda Catch-22: do they come to work sick and risk infecting the pts, or risk unsafe care by letting less well-trained staff look after them? I dunno the answer to that one...

Cheers
Mick

[Mntsnow]

If it's just sniffs and drips I work...If it's worse than that I burn my sick time. When I was younger I would work when I was death warmed over...what did it get me? Nothing. so I now burn sick time. Thats what it is for. If I have something really pressing I will go in just long enough to do it or if it's something that can be done from home I do it from home and then back to bed and meds

[jerrygarcia]

Originally posted by jerrygarcia
I have a cap on vacation hours but not on sick leave. I have 1400 hours of sick leave but can only bank up to 276 hours of vacation. What you have to remember is that when I take a day off, it's 24 hours, not 8 hours.

Actually we do have a cap on sick leave banked. 3000 hours. I figure it will take me another 11 years to reach that cap. I really don't get sick for the most part....knock on wood. In the end that will give me another 6 days of vacation time/year. Is it right to burn sick leave for personal days? Heck yeah if their going to strike them from the books anyway if you've already reached the cap.

200 hours v-time/year
143 hours sick time/year

343 hours /24 hour shifts = 14.29 24 hour vacation days/year once I reach that cap. Since I work every third day with every ninth day being a Kelly day, equals about a month and a half of per year.

[Tomteriffic]

I'm on a straight commission basis, no paid vacation (just permission to take it, that's all), no sick days, no paid holidays.

I only call in dead.

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

I only call in dead.

hehe, my old work said I had to give 3 months notice before I could take a day off dead. Even then they had to approve it.