I took a sickie two weeks ago, was close to work but had a panic attack and couldn't cope so I ended up at my doctors . But being a casual worker I don't get paid

Might have to give yourself a written warning for that one.

Continuing the tradition tomorrow by using a sick day to watch the Socceroos.

I am my work, so yes.

problem staff member I assume.

does work know you then spend your entire day off sick on here sprouting your self righteous bs?

Full time salary = 10 a year yeah boi.

Took a couple last year when surgery was going down.

-PB

I've had one sick day in the last 2 years. When you work hospo you either work or don't get paid.

This year I've had around 13 sick days, but it's been an extraordinarily shitty year for me.

I often take time off as sick when my wife or kids need me. It is my right as a full Time employee to use sick leave when caring for my self or other family members. though I haven't taken a sickie CBF2WT since I was pre marriage and kids. I guess I just don't have the number available to think I better use them or lose them

People have no balls to ring up their boss and say “hey I don’t feel well today”. Too many softies is the real problem.

it think the large number of days per person is more due to a smaller group of people taking/using all their leave, that inflates the figures. There's no way the real number is 8 days per person, not where I work anyway. It's people who are really sick (or problem staff) who average those kind of numbers.

Last sickie I had and my only one ever was the morning after my farewell in Vancouver. It was my second last day of work, and I woke up an hour after I was supposed to be at work, and didn't even have a voice... Other than that I was okay.

Needless to say I was still in terrible condition.

i will have to look i got the info from one of our NECA journals, also the casual arte has increased as a way of small business avoiding the ALP work place unlawfull dismissal laws.....when your casual your easy to axe......just another example of there creative legislation.....

I treat others like I would expect to be treated. If someone else at work is coughing and sneezing all day, I feel offended they've come into work because they're probably making me and everyone else sick (and it happens, and has happened, a lot). So if I'm sick enough that I think it could spread to other people, I offer them the decency to not go into work.

I usually do what I can from home, and my project managers always have my phone number on hand. So it's not like I disappear or anything like that. I live within 5 mins of work, and my managers know where I live, and are the type of people to drive by my house to check up on me. So I can't really chuck a sickie to paint the outside of my house or go holidaying or anything

well i am an employer and have been employing people for my own business for 25 years, i find it always more stable and consistent work flow under a LNP government, business confidence is generally much higher and we tend to run more permanent staff and reduce our casual levels.....

Statistics to back up that claim?

And +1 to what paladisious said.

-PB

Why the assumption I support the current government?

Are you inferring it'll get better under Abbott?

Edited by paladisious: 18/7/2013 08:41:39 AM

[-x Don't let the truth get in the way of a good Abbott bashing.

funny casual positions have increased under this government

so much so that they have even changed to criteria for what is classified "employed" down to 2 hours a week so the unemployment figures look better than they are......

And yes the fact that I'm awake at 04:00 to post this is very much not coincidental.

Casualisation, it's a worrying thing. And if Australia is stupid enough to vote in Abbott it'll just get worse.

Death of the great Australian sickie

July 17, 2013

Like many, I worked through a nasty cold this winter (cue violins). No surprise there: no work means no pay and sadly, a day in bed to fight off a cold feels like an extravagance.

What does surprise is full-time workers foregoing sick-leave entitlements to “solider on” at work through a heavy cold, or work from home. As a friend quipped last week: “It’s impossible to take all my sick days – there’s simply no backup. The best I can hope for is a day working at home.”

Such anecdotes are at odds with surveys showing Australians still take most of their 10 paid sick leave days allowed under the National Employment Standards.

A widely quoted survey of 112 companies by Direct Health Solutions, an absence-management company, last year found the national average absence level per worker was 8.75 days – about 30 per cent higher than UK sick-leave rates. If one believes the hype, the Great Australian Sickie is alive and well – flourishing, in fact, compared with rates in other developed nations.

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I don’t buy it. For one thing, up to 40 per cent of the workforce these days is casual, contractors or employed through agencies. A growing chunk of the workforce has no paid leave entitlements, meaning sick leave is no option for those who need to work to get paid, or worry about losing shifts if they take time off. What happens when they get sick?

What’s your view?

Is it harder to take sick days than in years past?
Do you go to work sick at least once a year?
Is there back-up for you if you take a week or two of sick leave?
Can you easily take sick leave to care for an unwell family member?
Do you work from home if you are sick?
Does work still call you, or email, if you are sick?
The Australian Council of Trade Union’s 2011 Working Australian Census presents a different perspective on the state of the sickie. Half of the sample (about 40,000 workers) attend work while sick or while someone they care for is sick, because they have too much work to do.

Over a quarter of survey respondents feel pressured by their boss to attend work while sick. About a quarter of younger workers go to work while sick because they worry they will not be offered a shift or other casual work if they do not show up to work because of illness. Sound familiar?

But consultancies always talk up the problem of sickies for Australian business – presumably to win work through solving the problem. And the union movement highlights the plight of many in the workforce who have no sick leave, or feel pressured if they take their full quota of days.

For once I’ll side with the unions. I don’t know many people who still tack on a sick day around a long weekend, regularly take “mental health” or “doona days”, or “chuck a sickie” to go skiing. I’m sure such people exist, but their numbers must be falling rapidly in a weakening labour market. I doubt any of these surveys reflect today’s marketplace.

My hunch is more people, concerned about job security, are reluctant to take their full quota of sick leave for themselves or to care for loved ones. When they do, it is for fewer days or includes working from home. With less back-up at work, they know that taking a sick day inevitably means more work for somebody else, or extra work for them when they return.

Businesses, too, are often run so lean these days there is no back-up if somebody takes extended, unexpected sick leave. Under-pressure, managers expect staff to come to work – they might even subtly pressure workers to do so – because there are no replacements if several people go off sick.

Perhaps I am overstating the decline of the great Australian sickie, and underestimating that most of us still take at least a week or two sick leave each year – regardless of our true health.

My sense is many more people go to work sick these days, delay their recovery through lack of rest, infect fellow workers and customers, do a poor job because of illness, expose employers to lawsuits, and threaten their long-term health. Or they work from home over a laptop – pot of tea and chicken soup at hand – because there is nobody else to do their work.

What’s your view: has the great Australian sickie finally had its day?



Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/small-business/managing/blogs/the-venture/death-of-the-great-australian-sickie-20130716-2q0xo.html#ixzz2ZIosN37A