Sick days - Why are we so sick / lazy

[sauntersplash]

I'd imagine this situation is more a result of the public sectors fair treatment of long term illness sufferers. There is more than likely a high proportion of these on the books skewing the average statistics of all other employees. Where as a lot of staff suffering from such things may not last very long in a blessed private sector company. Of course long term sick-leave is also abused from time to time.

There is a strange, masochistic, "arbeit macht frei" tone to many of the posts in this thread. I've never considered work of any kind to be of worth as an end in itself. And I find the notion that if I work extra hard in my own job it will somehow benefit the "country" as a whole far too abstract to take seriously.

So much for easygoing Ireland, it's no wonder nobody wants to come here on holidays anymore.

[Baron von Biffo]

sorry I’m not going to say which one. It is a town council though. Fair dews to the Town Clerk.

Anybody know of any other instances where uncooperative have been put back in their box?

Usually Public Sector managers just roll over.

That's ok, I hadn't great hopes of being told. Let me guess, you don't have direct proof yourself because you heard it from a friend who was told by his cousins brother-in-law that it happened to his next door neighbours daughter?

[Harmonica]

One reason Ireland has a lot of sick leave is definitely connected to our penchant for bullying, manipulation, gossip and harassment at work, resulting in higher sick leave for victims due to depression. This cant be ignored or swept under the carpet. Like it or not, the Irish are not known for their management skills or forward planning. A content workplace on the otherhand has nearly nil sick leave problems.

I agree a content workplace means less sick leave but the rest of that post is speculative at best. As others mentioned above some people will abuse the system if allowed to do so which seems more prevalent in the PS.

[Baron von Biffo]

Remove this ridiculous anomaly. Not statutory therefore we don't pay.

Would you favour ending social welfare benefit for private sector workers who are off work sick?

[sauntersplash]

As others mentioned above some people will abuse the system if allowed to do so which seems more prevalent in the PS.

Why do you suppose it "seems" this way?

[agora]

The reality in Ireland is that like many North European countries we have a cold & wet climate which is conducive to people getting coughs and colds so it is natural that a certain amount of employees will get sick at some point and need to take time off. Whether that is abused or not will depend on the employer, if you treat people with respect and create a pleasant work atmosphere most of them will play fair & only take sick leave when absolutely necessary and will do their best to avoid inconveniencing colleagues.

Another point is that if someone has the flu or a bad cough it may not be a bad illness but the absolute best place for them is at home (generally those ailments clear in 2 days or less of rest). If they stay in work it will take them longer to get better and their productivity will probably drop to the extent that they'll not get much more done than if they stayed at home.

More importantly they'll be spreading their germs around the office at the same time meaning that other workers will be affected, with the end result that general productivity may well drop further than if the first employee had simply taken 24 hours off & came back in top condition.

[The Underdog]

I agree a content workplace means less sick leave but the rest of that post is speculative at best. As others mentioned above some people will abuse the system if allowed to do so which seems more prevalent in the PS.

No its not speculative, its based on experienced on what I've observed over many years. I was talking about public and private sector. What evidence have you that ONLY PS employees are abusing the system ? If that is the case, then the balanced thing to say would be that Private Sector employers also equally adept at abusing the system. So overall it could be said to balance itself out. Then, the only looser are Private Sector employees, and they need to stand up for themselves instead of cowardly blaming some employees in the Public Sector for their own woes.

[jimbo99]

Would you favour ending social welfare benefit for private sector workers who are off work sick?

Sick leave pay is not statutory. Social welfare benefit is statutory.
If someone deserves social welfare benefit they should get it.

[sparkey321]

Would you favour ending social welfare benefit for private sector workers who are off work sick?

Why?

Did he advocate ending social welfare benefit for private sector workers who are off work sick?

Did he actually specify any sector.
He made a blanket statement to cover all sectors.

[The_Big_Fellow]

Property registration body tops sick leave 'league' - The Irish Times - Fri, Feb 05, 2010


Why do people working in Ireland find it ok to defraud their employers ?

Repositioning Ireland competitively - No chance

Holidays need to be shortened to 20 days a year maximum

The Seanad was talking earlier this week about having another Bank holiday in February

Isn't it funny that their are many countries that have significantly longer holidays than we do that are doing ok, while Ireland, Britain and the U.S., who have short holidays are completely ********************ed.