Advice needed on vacation days

[via]

The OP stated they have no set number of sick days per year. As PDLM said, good employers dropped that approach years ago.

Well then I must have work under some not so good employers. I remember in one incident I asked about sick day issue and they told me they do not have an upper limit, but on the day I sign the contract they told me at most is 24 days per year.

Not that I take a lot of sick days or telling people to take more sick days, but not all employers are good and one really need to read the fine prints of one's contract.

[hullexile]

Well then I must have work under some not so good employers. I remember in one incident I asked about sick day issue and they told me they do not have an upper limit, but on the day I sign the contract they told me at most is 24 days per year.

Not that I take a lot of sick days or telling people to take more sick days, but not all employers are good and one really need to read the fine prints of one's contract.

We are going off topic here but...

The problems with giving people a limit of so many days off sick is that (i) they then think of that as an entitlement whether they are sick or not and (ii) if I break my leg and need 15 days off work, does that make me a bad employee compared to someone who takes 12 individual days say always on a Monday. There are much cleverer ways of handling sick absence.

[via]

We are going off topic here but...

The problems with giving people a limit of so many days off sick is that (i) they then think of that as an entitlement whether they are sick or not and (ii) if I break my leg and need 15 days off work, does that make me a bad employee compared to someone who takes 12 individual days say always on a Monday. There are much cleverer ways of handling sick absence.

I know we are going off topic but…

For (i) Even if you don't give them a limit they will still think they are entitle to sick leave whether they are sick or not. In HK especially among the younger ones, if they don’t feel like going to work and they had the chance of calling in sick, they will do it.

Hey, I am for the no limit version, but limited or unlimited, entitled or not entitle, people still abuse sick leaves. All I am saying is be-careful when signing the contract and look at the fine prints; companies are like people: Not all are trust-worthy.

(ii) As a matter of fact; Yes. I once had a wisdom tooth extraction and took 3 days off (face swollen up and cannot eat or talk), my ex-company used to have a spreadsheet in document database posting the number of sick leaves one took each month for the whole department to see (just number of days you took reasons not included). I was the top of the list for 3 weeks and yeah it made me look bad.

I admit there are ways to hand the sick day issues, but some companies are just not dealing with it well enough.

[Lammarite]

I would also look at whether they are working days and whether weekends are included if they fall into the time off.
If you start your holiday on a Monday and come back the following Wednesday, some companies will see that as 10 days off whereas other will see it as 8.
I negotiated 21 working days without weekends or public holidays included regardless of where they fall.

[Lammarite]

(ii) As a matter of fact; Yes. I once had a wisdom tooth extraction and took 3 days off (face swollen up and cannot eat or talk), my ex-company used to have a spreadsheet in document database posting the number of sick leaves one took each month for the whole department to see (just number of days you took reasons not included). I was the top of the list for 3 weeks and yeah it made me look bad.

My wife's company used to post who was off sick and how many days they had had on a noticeboard until someone pointed out that it is illegal and they would inform the labour department!

[pin]

My wife's company used to post who was off sick and how many days they had had on a noticeboard until someone pointed out that it is illegal and they would inform the labour department!

Is this illegal?

We have this, but on a spreadsheet which everyone can access.

For us its a good way of working out holiday and also to see when someone is off work, etc.

[MovingIn07]

Is this illegal?

We have this, but on a spreadsheet which everyone can access.

For us its a good way of working out holiday and also to see when someone is off work, etc.

Isn't this interesting. We do much the same, informally, and it would never have occurred to anyone to see it as a way of "showing up" those who were sick! Perhaps this is some sort of cultural difference? Or perhaps due to different company cultures? It would never occur to me either that my colleagues were not sick if they look sick leave! We are just not that kind of place!