Unlimited sick leave

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frankv

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#2899677 11-Apr-2022 08:41

Geektastic:
Loismustdye:

Healthcare workers “generally speaking” take the piss. in my department I have 2-3 colleagues that routinely have at least 2 days sick a fortnight (one of these only works 4 days/week and has at least 1 or 2 days a week-

My wife worked for DHBs on a big project for two years and left in frustration entirely due to the sort of staff issues you mention!

You have to wonder about a work environment where people would rather take unpaid sick leave than go to work.

invisibleman18

1362 posts

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#2899734 11-Apr-2022 09:55

Loismustdye:

I work in the public Health system for a hospital that has reasonably amusing sick leave situations

The health workforce generally has a limited amount of sick leave each year, whereas when my wife worked in the business/contract support area of the same they all had unlimited sick leave.

Healthcare workers “generally speaking” take the piss. in my department I have 2-3 colleagues that routinely have at least 2 days sick a fortnight (one of these only works 4 days/week and has at least 1 or 2 days a week- let’s just say that very little has been done by the employer over the years this has been ongoing, said individuals always wind up getting the union involved and things get shelved). Anecdotally I know that prior to covid the absenteeism amongst health workers was very high, it’s not unheard of to know of staff that have zero SL balances and wind up on unpaid sick leave numerous times a year. However I also have colleagues who might take 1-2 sick leave days a year and over the years have rather large SL balances.

My wife is a health worker at a major hospital, and it's sad seeing how exhausted and burnt out she gets from being so understaffed that she essentially has to do the job of 3 people and regularly work extra hours for no extra pay etc. Then when she tries to take some annual leave to have a break, even when asked well in advance, it either gets declined or she gets told she can only have half the time applied for because any time off "puts too much pressure on others."

She certainly doesn't do as you describe but it's unsurprising to me that some people feel they have to take sick leave when working like this and knowing that if they ask for annual leave they more often than not won't be allowed to have it.

Geektastic

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#2899760 11-Apr-2022 11:11

frankv:

You have to wonder about a work environment where people would rather take unpaid sick leave than go to work.

Who would go to work if they did not need the money?!

frankv

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#2899789 11-Apr-2022 11:52

People go to work for a lot of things other than money. For example, many people volunteer to do unpaid work in clubs & societies, and for charities.

If the only thing a job gives you is money, you're in the wrong job. Of course, if a job doesn't give you enough money, then you're also in the wrong job.

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