Perhaps this belongs in the UO, but I think separating out sick and vacation time is ridiculous for companies to do. At DH's company, they just get paid time off, and on the honor system nonetheless. You use it or lose it. No rolling over days, no cashing out unused time. You take a day to go to the zoo - fine. You have the flu - whatever. No micromanaging why you are taking time off or feeling guilty for it (hypothetically speaking). You get your work done and don't slack off, you're good.
I like what DH's co does - specific amount of vacation days but then unlimited sick/personal time barring abuse. B/c they are generous with vacation time and holidays, most people don't abuse it. But there's no worry about making up "missed hours" for appointments or leaving early, etc. Anything from sickness, kid school stuff, closing on a house, doctor's appointments and occasionally that "mental health" day to go somewhere w/ the family or do an odd job at home, etc. are all covered under that umbrella. No rollover. Not sure about pay out, I think they get paid out for vacation days.
If it's use it or lose it, why wouldn't you use it?
My thoughts exactly.
Because sick days are not given with the intention that you use all of them every year like vacation days. Sick days are a if-needed benefit. I don't really care what y'all do, but I don't think it's right so I won't/don't do it, and if I had co-workers who habitually called in sick and came back talking about their day at the zoo with the kids, I'd get annoyed with that co0worker.
My opinion is probably colored by the fact that in my job, if you're out, someone has to cover your classes, you can't just be gone and leave your work to the next day.
Because sick days are not given with the intention that you use all of them every year like vacation days. Sick days are a if-needed benefit. I don't really care what y'all do, but I don't think it's right so I won't/don't do it, and if I had co-workers who habitually called in sick and came back talking about their day at the zoo with the kids, I'd get annoyed with that co0worker.
Sure they are. They're an employee benefit of an extra 3-5 days a year so a person doesn't have to use vacation time for personal days for sick/doctors appointments. As a hr director I always made an effort to tell employees when their time was coming up. As long as an employee wasn't using say 4 sick days in a row the occasional personal day for something besides lying in bed or going to the doctors was fine by me. The employee would coordinate with their manager accordingly and we would code it to sick time.
Really employers aren't giving an abundance of sick days on top of the 2-3 vacation weeks a year that an employee would be regularly bragging about their trip to the zoo when they were supposed to be at work. Dh is in grad school 2-3 nights a week so he tends to use them the week after finals as a mental health day. He coordinates it so he's not burdening anyone else with projects (and he's a one person accounting department so no one ever covers his stuff). I don't see what's so judge-worthy. I agree it's archaic compared to pto but it is what it is.
My opinion is probably colored by the fact that in my job, if you're out, someone has to cover your classes, you can't just be gone and leave your work to the next day.
I think given your line of work, this is true. For plenty of jobs, it wouldn't be a big deal to miss a day last minute.