I was working 4 day weeks for about 3 years. I never called in sick over that time. Mostly bc between part-time working from home and one day off a week, it seemed like I was limited in face time so I felt guilty as it was.
Now I'm on a 5-day week and I really want to take a mental health day. We can accrue sick time indefinitely and vacation up to 8 weeks. I just totaled my current sick time. I have 15 weeks of sick time! I think I need a mental health day. Lol
i use them more for sick days for my kids when THEY are sick (this is allowed by my company)... so i always end up using them all between the kids + me being sick. If I had any left over I probably wouldn't care... but it's never happened in the past 5 years, lol.
At my last job, yes. But they were really considered part of our total leave (PTO). Here, no, we have to call out what the "Absence for Compelling Reason" is used for and gives reason like employee illness, illness in immediate family, and funeral. In our company culture, I think it's too much of a stretch to use mental health. Vacation is for mental health.
I get 7/yr with rollover up to a max of 20. I was told by my boss that it's okay to use to doctor appt, dentist, etc, even vet appts for dog. I use hours, not days, for that and the occassional mental health day, maybe twice a year. People are often sick in my group though.
I am rarely able to take a sick day when I am actually sick because of deadlines. I usually preplan my sick days based on good times at work to take off.
Ditto this. I usually get sick at super inconvenient times, so if I have a headache on a day with nothing on my calendar, I'll call in sick.
I currently have 12+ weeks of sick leave accrued. I HAVE to use it during my maternity leave, which we'd financially planned to go unpaid. So, I've been taking a mental health day here and there while I can enjoy being home alone in the silence.
Yes. When I have a light day that wouldn't kill me to miss, I will use a sick day, as an unplanned day off. I don't have to be deathly ill to do it. "I'm not feeling well, so I am taking a sick day" is a perfectly acceptable message to leave my boss.
HINT: If you typicially don't do this, avoid explaining and giving fake symptoms or fking 'sounding' sick. it gets really awkward fro eveyone.
My sick days are not separate from my vacation days and they accrue up to a certain amount so I don't use them just because they're there. At my previous job where we had separate sick days from vacation, I'd use it for a mental health day about once a year.
Post by rosiedozie on Aug 22, 2012 10:09:22 GMT -5
I get pretty generous vacation time so besides Dr. appts I haven't used any sick time. I also work from home, so its hard to call out sick unless you're in really rough shape.
I haven't had a review yet. So no. I had planned to ask for it during my review, then found out that the discussion about raises had already happened with higher ups.
I'm both furious with the organization and with myself for not stopping that train in time. Honestly IDK if it would have made a difference anyway, though. I guess I need to stop looking at my "new" job as a continuation of my employment here and start looking at it as though I started the clock over when I switched jobs. Obviously past work and growth are not a consideration.
I'm careful with them now that I have C and never know how much daycare illnesses are going to creep in there (DH can't take off easily with his job). And if the gods ever smile on us and we are in a position to have a second child I will need as many as possible (ETA for maternity leave, we don't have any other form of paid leave and per our union contract it doesn't qualify as disability for state disability pay). My employer also pays them at 50% at retirement, so they do accumulate. But mental health days are very important--I try to make sure it's a decent day for the office and myself with workload, not always the same day of the week, etc. But there are days I conveniently have sinus issues.
Post by CallingAllAngels on Aug 22, 2012 12:57:15 GMT -5
Since I'm usually the one who has the call off if one of the kids is sick, I don't use a sick day if I'm not sick. I do take vacation days (or more often half days) to get stuff done around the house. Also, with a vacation day I can plan for it and not leave either my co-workers or my students in a lurch. We have very generous vacation and sick leave policies, and I'm planning to work for my employer for a long, long time, so I'm not worried about running out of vacation time.
Post by hbomdiggity on Aug 22, 2012 13:33:18 GMT -5
When I had a job with this policy I would take a full day for a gyno appt - it meant driving home to my parents house but since I had the time I figured no need to find one closer.
Also, when I did get even mildly sick, which was hardly ever, I stayed home.
I never used all 10 days, because you never knew if something will hit you at anytime. But I did still take some liberties with it.
Oh yeah I did play hooky once and spent the day with dh very early on in our relationship.
I definitely wouldn't use all 10 days, especially not at this point in the year (they go by calendar year) since that would look either worrisome or just really bad. But I'm considering burning a couple. I've been stressed lately anyway with being super busy so it would be nice to take a day to decompress without feeling like I'm wasting vacation time.
I also don't have kids, so I never have to take time off except for my own sickness. I've been really healthy in the last couple of years though so I haven't taken many at all!
We get 6 a year and they roll over to a max of 10. But we also have a policy for too many call ins. At 3 in a rolling 12 months you get a verbal warning, 4 is written, and 5 is recommendation for termination. sick days are not designed for employees to call off. They are there for planned sick days (doctors appts, dental work, out patient procedures) and the occasional call off.
I hardly ever get sick but I always use a few days a year like maybe 3 at the most. I used one this year when my nanny was on vacay and I didn't want to use my own vacation time.