Sickness

[Merlin28]

I have had four instances of sick this year on all of them I have turned upto work but gone home halfway through the day because I couldn't cope. My company are talking about a written warning now and have asked if I would be willing to let occupational health get involved which I said was fine. Apparently Occupational health only look at your records though which is no good to me as I haven't been to the doctor since I was about 16 so i am not sure what that will achieve. Am I worried about nothing here and the company can't do a lot or could I lose my job? It's not like I didn't make the effort to turn upto work.

[wiggy001]

Merlin28 said:

I have had four instances of sick this year on all of them I have turned upto work but gone home halfway through the day because I couldn't cope. My company are talking about a written warning now and have asked if I would be willing to let occupational health get involved which I said was fine. Apparently Occupational health only look at your records though which is no good to me as I haven't been to the doctor since I was about 16 so i am not sure what that will achieve. Am I worried about nothing here and the company can't do a lot or could I lose my job? It's not like I didn't make the effort to turn upto work.

Sounds like standard procedure given the high number of instances of sickness you've experienced this year (4 in 4 months is public-sector levels of sickness!), so I wouldn't worry too much. They'll probably just want to know if it's related to an ongoing illness and whether there is anything they can do to assist.

[TotalControl]

Just wait till they start talking about the bradfords factor.

[Firefoot]

Occupational Health will do more than just look at your records (or lack thereof), they will ask you about your illnesses and see if there is anything linking them or if you have just been unlucky in picking up everything going for the last couple of months.

They also give advice and guidance on healthy lifestyle to prevent further illness.

Four periods of sickness in such a short period of time would get most companies taking a look at you. It's not necessarily anything to worry about at this stage.

[Merlin28]

Two were teeth related and the other two were flu and food poisening

[Magic919]

Occupational Health won't have the right to look at any of your records without permission from you. Check out the policy of Occ Health and see what it says. I have the right to complete privacy meaning they won't report back a single thing unless I permit it. The policy will vary from company to company.

[rog007]

Merlin28 said:

Two were teeth related and the other two were flu and food poisening

You'll be forgiven for having had a bout of debilitating man-flu; but 3 out of 4 are self-inflicted (floss more, and keep off the kebabs!)...seriously, see it as an opportunity to make contact with your OH advisor and take any advice they give in the spirit it is intended. If you're anxious at all. have a quick chat with your boss first. Good luck!

[matchmaker]

Merlin28 said:

Two were teeth related and the other two were flu and food poisening

Man up! I've had 2 days off sick in the past 12 years. The first one was to get a cyst cut out of my bks under general anaesthetic (a Thursday), the second was the day after.

Back at my desk on Monday

[Johnnytheboy]

Merlin28 said:

Two were teeth related

How bad can teeth get to need time off for more than a trip to the dentist?

[egor110]

matchmaker said:

Man up! I've had 2 days off sick in the past 12 years. The first one was to get a cyst cut out of my bks under general anaesthetic (a Thursday), the second was the day after.

Back at my desk on Monday

Not everyone sits behind a desk though. some of us have active jobs.

[Johnnytheboy]

egor110 said:

matchmaker said:

Man up! I've had 2 days off sick in the past 12 years. The first one was to get a cyst cut out of my bks under general anaesthetic (a Thursday), the second was the day after.

Back at my desk on Monday

Not everyone sits behind a desk though. some of us have active jobs.

That's irrelevant - my colleagues have a physical job and an excellent sickness record.

With the exception of one bad apple (who's had days for tooth problems, amusingly), most staff have no more than 2 days a year. Some have had less than five days in a decade.

As far as I can deduce, company culture is the most significant factor. If you had an obvious sickie here, your co-workers would lose any respect for you.

[egor110]

There's a big difference between somebody working on a building site or cutting trees down and somebody who once at work just has to sit on there backside behind a desk.
I agree with you about letting your colleagues down , i work with 4 others, if somebody goes sick it makes a massive difference.

[Merlin28]

Johnnytheboy said:

Merlin28 said:

Two were teeth related

How bad can teeth get to need time off for more than a trip to the dentist?

You will find out one day I thought I knew what pain was but clearly not. Just wait until a nerve in the tooth plays up. The teeth days were more like afternoons to go to the dentist and sort them out but by the time he had finished the work day was over.

[mph999]

Johnnytheboy said:

How bad can teeth get to need time off for more than a trip to the dentist?

Very - try having an infected wisdom tooth (or the empty space where is was) - Probably the most pain I have had - couldn't swallow due to the pain, and therefore almost ended up in hospital.

Signed off for a week (and I very rarely have time off) ...

Food poisoning again, hardly the fault of the OP - if you're (probably) stuck in the bathroom , you can't exactly go to work ...

M

Edited by mph999 on Monday 30th April 12:17

[Kermit power]

I've had a couple of days off through tooth-related problems. In both cases, infected roots on teeth which already had post crowns on them, so they had to go in and clean it out from underneath rather than through the tooth. Both of those were done in hospital under General Anesthetic.

The only over time I've had off in recent years was for my vasectomy. "The op is on Tuesday, and the doctor reckons I should be back in the office by Thursday", I told my boss. The doctor in question was a lying weasel!!!! By the Thursday morning, I still felt as though there wouldn't be a carriage on the train large enough to accommodate my poor, swollen plums!

[jagracer]

matchmaker said:

Man up! I've had 2 days off sick in the past 12 years. The first one was to get a cyst cut out of my bks under general anaesthetic (a Thursday), the second was the day after.

Back at my desk on Monday

Yeah be careful what you say. A couple of weeks ago I was complaining about people's sickness where I work and letting other people down and boasting about how I don't do sick days. A week later I get up one morning feeling awful, go into work and start having dizzy spells so have to go home and end up off work for two days

[Silver]

I know people on here like to pretend that they've never taken a single minute off sick in their lives and anyone who does is a hateful slacker, but back in real life, people actually get ill.

Earlier this year, I had four days off for a severe cold. Went back to work on the Monday, on the Tuesday night woke up at 1am and spent the rest of the night vomiting. Took the next three days off work as I was barely able to get downstairs, let alone into work. Went back to work and two weeks later got another severe cold which led to another four days off work.

Did I get sacked? No. Reprimanded? No. Do I work in the public sector? No. In fact, when I told my manager I could check my emails from home, he specifically told me not to and said I should just recover.

I'm sure there are plenty of people who would happily dose themselves up with Day Nurse and go into the office, spend the day infecting everyone around them while feeling st and being ineffectual just so they can say they haven't had a sick day for the last 105 years. I'm not one of them. If I am sick enough not to go to work then I take the day off sick. If I'm just feeling a bit 'meh', I go in. If I have a hangover, I go in.

This culture of people refusing to take time off sick unless they actually have a limb falling off is stupid and counter-productive.

[aizvara]

Silver said:

This culture of people refusing to take time off sick unless they actually have a limb falling off is stupid and counter-productive.

100% agreed. If you are coming into work and spend the time coughing/sneezing/worse all over the place, then you are likely to infect others. Some of those others are going to be affected more severely than you, some less. Its going to cost the company money in hours lost and lower standard of work.

Four days sick could easily be accounted for by one bout of norovirus or flu. Perhaps four separate instances is worse, but it seems pretty harsh to me that a company would give a written warning for that. I'd be thinking about changing employer, personally.

[New POD]

They might ask for you to sign a form, agreeing to access to your private medical records.

[Kermit power]

Silver said:

This culture of people refusing to take time off sick unless they actually have a limb falling off is stupid and counter-productive.

I don't know about anyone else, but in my case I'm just lucky that I don't get that ill. My commute to work is a 32 mile round trip cycle ride. I reckon if I feel up to that, then I'm fine to go in to the office. I can't remember the last time I didn't feel up to cycling in, other than because my legs were knackered from too much cycling!