[Off Topic] I just received this from my HR manager (not a wind up)

[British Bulldog]

But there again I'm a civil servant and it's well known that we take hundreds of sickies a year anyway so what the hell do I know ?

There's no point having sick leave if you dont take advantage of it from time to time.

 

[Nibble]

There's no point having sick leave if you dont take advantage of it from time to time.

I think it all depends on how well the company treats it's employees. If you have no regard for their personal lives or outside problems etc and don't recognise that they are individuals who have varying expectations of life and instead seeing them as money making units (the name Human RESOURCES is a horrible phrase, RESOURCES?) then you will get plenty of staff pulling plenty of sickies.

If however you treat them with the respect they deserve then you are more likely to get happy, motivated, reliable staff. If a bos is not prepared to plaster on a fake smile every now and then to acheive this then they are in the wrong position.

 

[British Bulldog]

I think it all depends on how well the company treats it's employees. If you have no regard for their personal lives or outside problems etc and don't recognise that they are individuals who have varying expectations of life and instead seeing them as money making units (the name Human RESOURCES is a horrible phrase, RESOURCES?) then you will get plenty of staff pulling plenty of sickies.

If however you treat them with the respect they deserve then you are more likely to get happy, motivated, reliable staff. If a bos is not prepared to plaster on a fake smile every now and then to acheive this then they are in the wrong position.

Our human resources are total shit Nibble and they could'nt give a flying f*** about any of us, In fact they did'nt get the nick name "Human Remains" for nothing.

I dont know about you nibble but I can tolerate a manger who's got a bit of attitude if he/she knows the job inside out and could step into my shoes at any time and do my job, Unfortunatly i hav'nt got any managers like that these days so if the current crop try the attitude stuff they get it back. It does get me into conflict but as long as I cover my arse by doing my job correctly and i dont get abusive to my manager ( well not too often anyway ) then there's nothing they can do about it.

 

[Nibble]

Our human resources are total shit Nibble and they could'nt give a flying f*** about any of us, In fact they did'nt get the nick name "Human Remains" for nothing.

I dont know about you nibble but I can tolerate a manger who's got a bit of attitude if he/she knows the job inside out and could step into my shoes at any time and do my job, Unfortunatly i hav'nt got any managers like that these days so if the current crop try the attitude stuff they get it back. It does get me into conflict but as long as I cover my arse by doing my job correctly and i dont get abusive to my manager ( well not too often anyway ) then there's nothing they can do about it.

Agreed

 

[Scoffers]

I think it all depends on how well the company treats it's employees. If you have no regard for their personal lives or outside problems etc and don't recognise that they are individuals who have varying expectations of life and instead seeing them as money making units (the name Human RESOURCES is a horrible phrase, RESOURCES?) then you will get plenty of staff pulling plenty of sickies.

If however you treat them with the respect they deserve then you are more likely to get happy, motivated, reliable staff. If a bos is not prepared to plaster on a fake smile every now and then to acheive this then they are in the wrong position.

 

[sammy]

I'm no expert but I do not think there is any requirement for a company to pay you anything other than stat sick pay, which is refundable anyway from the government via ni contributions iirc. Any company that pays you your standard salary for any period of time is doing so because they want to, not because they have to. SSP is about 90 per week I think, it may be a bit more in modern times.

Sorry you got that wrong its only £72.55 per week and only for 28 weeks,after that you have to go to DHSS to fill out more forms,to claim about £2 more per week thats modern times

 

[sammy]

After reading all your replies to this thread I almost feel guilty,because where I work,my job has been taken over by a few companys and have had my contract taken over by TUPE,and my contract is on sick pay its 12 weeks full pay (gulp ),28 days a year holidays,plus I get £30 per month lolaty pay because I have been with them 10 years plus,and due to have that increased to £40 per month next year,and to top it all if I have a death in my family,they let me have 3 days off on full pay,mind you most of my other work mates do not get sick pay for the first 3 days which is norm,but because of my old contract I get paid from day 1 on full pay.I used to think this was norm for many workers but it appears not to be so,christ what a sheltered life I had,soryy folks not rubbing it in,just a shock to see how quite a few of you have had to work under

 

[The Large One]

Thankfully, it was nothing like that when my mum died eight years ago. The company gave me all the time off I needed. However, the studio manager was a complete nightmare of a pillock. When I phoned in on the Monday morning (Mum had died on the Sunday evening), I spoke to another colleague who sent his deepest sympathies, but asked that I call back to speak to the studio manager to run through where I was with my part in a particular job, so she could allocate my work out. No problem.

So I called back at 10.45am (her time-keeping was shocking), and let her know where I was with my project. 'Oh, I'm so sorry this has happened. This is terrible, and I always say the wrong things at times like this. I just can't believe this has happened. Anyway, it must have done, because I know you wouldn't pull a stunt like this just to get a day off...'

As an addition to this story, a few days' into my bereavement leave (the boss let me have about eight or nine days in total), I had to go into the office to collect my pay cheque (the boss never did sort out BACS). It was good talking to people at the office who were very kind, considerate and sympathetic.

Except the studio manager. I was talking to one colleague, and she just bawled out at the top of her voice across the studio 'I expect you're going to buy a suit seeing as it's your mother's funeral.' I just muttered something about 'yeah, probably ' (after all, YOU try answering a dumb-ass question like that without swearing or shouting or crying or spontaneously combusting). 'Good.' she said. 'You can wear it into work from now on, you're such a scruff and wearing a suit would do you good...'

No, really.

 

[Scoffers]

As an addition to this story, a few days' into my bereavement leave (the boss let me have about eight or nine days in total), I had to go into the office to collect my pay cheque (the boss never did sort out BACS). It was good talking to people at the office who were very kind, considerate and sympathetic.

Except the studio manager. I was talking to one colleague, and she just bawled out at the top of her voice across the studio 'I expect you're going to buy a suit seeing as it's your mother's funeral.' I just muttered something about 'yeah, probably ' (after all, YOU try answering a dumb-ass question like that without swearing or shouting or crying or spontaneously combusting). 'Good.' she said. 'You can wear it into work from now on, you're such a scruff and wearing a suit would do you good...'

No, really.

It's amazing really, you'd think that these people would realise the impact of what they say. Either they are being purposely rude, or they genuinely have no clue.

 

[The Large One]

It's amazing really, you'd think that these people would realise the impact of what they say. Either they are being purposely rude, or they genuinely have no clue.

The latter in this case.

She was fired a few months later, when we lost a big client, and the company needed to cut back a bit. Working on the theory of 'last in, first out', it should have been me that went. Apparently, she screamed this exact same point at the top of her voice for five minutes until she went purple in a manner that everyone could hear her.

I found out later that the boss chose her for the chop principally because she was 'such a f***ing annoying twat that she did my head in...'

Another story...

Bearing in mind she was about 35 then, she came in crying one day - REALLY crying - uncontrolably to the boss. On the floor, double up in agony crying. Can hardly breathe crying. 'He's dead, he's dead, I can't believe it. He's dead.'

- 'Who's died? Calm down and tell me what's happened.'

- 'It's Robert. Robert's dead'. (sounds of snot and sniffles)

- 'Who's Robert? Was there an accident? I mean, what's happened...?'

- 'Robert's dead...' (getting angry now)

- 'OK. Just relax a little. Just relax. Tell me about Robert. Who was he?'

- 'Robert was my pet rabbit...' (throws tea cup across the room) '...AND NOW HE'S DEAD!'

I understand the boss just got up and walked out of the room at that point - one, through incredulity, and two, for mainly his reasons of his own safety.

 

[Nibble]

The latter in this case.

She was fired a few months later, when we lost a big client, and the company needed to cut back a bit. Working on the theory of 'last in, first out', it should have been me that went. Apparently, she screamed this exact same point at the top of her voice for five minutes until she went purple in a manner that everyone could hear her.

I found out later that the boss chose her for the chop principally because she was 'such a f***ing annoying twat that she did my head in...'

Another story...

Bearing in mind she was about 35 then, she came in crying one day - REALLY crying - uncontrolably to the boss. On the floor, double up in agony crying. Can hardly breathe crying. 'He's dead, he's dead, I can't believe it. He's dead.'

'Who's died? Calm down and tell me what's happened.'

'It's Robert. Robert's dead'. (sounds of snot and sniffles)

'Who's Robert? Was there an accident? I mean, what's happened...?'

'Robert's dead...' (getting angry)

'OK. Just relax a little. Just relax. Tell me about Robert. Who was he?'

'Robert was my pet rabbit...' (throws tea cup across the room) '...AND NOW HE'S DEAD!'

That indicates some serious problems I would say!

 

[Cian]

ahh, that sounds like our old accounts clerk pre-merger. We got rid of her by telling her that the accounts was being outsourced - the rest of the entire accounts department agreed to do the whole "we're being laid off too", going away party, EVERYTHING to get rid of her as we were scared she'd set the place on fire if she was fired.

She used to take 2 hours for lunch effectively - would sneak out to the shop mid-morning to get food, eat it at her desk while not working, not doing anything at all to pretend to be working; then would go out for an hour for "lunch", no idea what she was doing.

She used to repeatedly offer people the services of her drug dealing boyfriend if they got stressed/pissed off, yet her response to stress was to threaten to kill people.... most people in the company were mortally afraid of her, hence the massive charade to see rid of her.

 

[crasher]

ahh, that sounds like our old accounts clerk pre-merger. We got rid of her by telling her that the accounts was being outsourced - the rest of the entire accounts department agreed to do the whole "we're being laid off too", going away party, EVERYTHING to get rid of her as we were scared she'd set the place on fire if she was fired.

She used to take 2 hours for lunch effectively - would sneak out to the shop mid-morning to get food, eat it at her desk while not working, not doing anything at all to pretend to be working; then would go out for an hour for "lunch", no idea what she was doing.

She used to repeatedly offer people the services of her drug dealing boyfriend if they got stressed/pissed off, yet her response to stress was to threaten to kill people.... most people in the company were mortally afraid of her, hence the massive charade to see rid of her.

yeah those accountants are pretty scary. Especially if they come at you with a stapler. Or a sharpened paper clip.

 

[Yoda]

Sorry you got that wrong its only £72.55 per week and only for 28 weeks,after that you have to go to DHSS to fill out more forms,to claim about £2 more per week thats modern times

Almost correct.

SSP is £72.55 per week, it's paid for 26 week's (Half a year).

If you're still off sick you have to PHONE the Contact Centre to make a claim. They arrange a time to call you back to make you customer statement. No filling out of forms now (unless the computer system is down).

You will then go onto Incapacity Benefit (Higher Rate) which is £72.55 as well, for another 26 weeks.

If after that, you are still signed off, you move onto IB Long Term and get £81.35 per week.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

All I can say is its amazing how your attitude and work ethic changes when you are self employed and have to rely on your own endeavours and hard work to make an income, I for 8 years have come in countless times with colds and viruses when I would have stayed at home with my feet up if I was employed.

 

[Bad Ash]

All I can say is its amazing how your attitude and work ethic changes when you are self employed and have to rely on your own endeavours and hard work to make an income, I for 8 years have come in countless times with colds and viruses when I would have stayed at home with my feet up if I was employed.

It's not really amazing thoughis it. Every moment you aren't working is potentially lost profit/income. To be honest, I'm suprised you have time to eat, drink, sleep or watch the Albion you lazy sod!

 

[e77]

The problem is that a few people in most workplaces spoil it for the majority by always being off sick.

My personal favourite HR ruling is when they count bouts of sickness up to three days as one sickness, hence the cynical amongst us might have the full three days even if they are better after one as it counts as the same!

 

[Yorkie]

Hold on "GET a sick allowance"
So the company are basically saying that after you've been here two years you're "entitled" to extra annual leave in the form of sick leave then are they not. Well that's how I read it

You are reading it incorrectly then because that isn't what I meant. Sick allowance - sick pay.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I used to work in job a few years ago where I confronted violence on a regular basis. During one particularly nasty incident I was stabbed in the knee cap with a screwdriver. .

Were you a recruitment consultant?