Managing younger staff
A friend, also a 40something manager is dealing with a team that is primarily made up of 20 and early 30somethings. She is struggling with the staff using ALL of their allotted time off and then some unpaid which is putting her production deadlines in jeopardy. Staff calling out last minute for a single sick day is allowed under company policy, and she works for a large national corporation so changing a handbook is not an option. The staff view sick time as theirs to use for any reason and the company only requires a doctor's note for 3 sick days in a row. As the years winds down, more and more Monday morning and Friday morning sick calls are rolling in.
Her employees are good when they are working but tell her they want more time off, they get 3 weeks vacation plus 5 days sick and as we approach the end of the year, they will have all used their entire allotment. One employee had already gone to HR and gotten approval to take the last 2 weeks of the year off unpaid so that they can take an overseas trip.
I feel like this is generational, her babyboomer boss is horrified they would admit to using sick time for "mental health" my friend doesn't care she just wishes they would plan it and the employees see nothing wrong since they are technically owed that time. The employee taking the last two weeks means other employees cannot use their time as they wish or the office will be without coverage, but he asked early in the year to HR and it was approved as unpaid.
Todd Phillips
11
12/19/19 at 9:40AM UTC
I am sorry, I wanted to chime in because this is article is too good not too. I believe the procedures need to be reviewed. Why not offer remote work in the workplace. I believe this would solve a lot of the issue. Teleworking is something that is enjoyable to me and I find it that I am even more productive working from home some days. I think this would curve the lack of productivity.
Anonymous
12/27/19 at 5:14PM UTC
In this case, the work must be done in a workplace, the job involves meeting with clients and showing them samples, handling material selections etc... so it can’t be done remotely.
Anonymous
02/21/20 at 2:29PM UTC
We have about the same benefits and experienced the same thing. We had to put rules around taking time off. We required a 24 hour notices on sick time and 48 hour notices on PTO. If you call in sick without a 24 hour noticed (morning of), we count it as an occurrence. If you have 3 occurrences, you have a verbal warning. If you have 5, then you have a written warning. Anything over 8 is termination. Now if someone has the flu and needs 5 days consecutively, that counts as 1 occurrence. This really helped our area.
Robin DavidsonTechnical Writer / Documentation Specialist
116
11/21/19 at 3:23PM UTC
Sometimes at the company my husband works for they'll send out notices that certain days are not available for taking time off. Maybe certain days can be blocked off in this way so deadlines aren't affected.
Robyn WickHiEd Professional/PT Fitness Inst
747
12/10/19 at 3:25PM UTC
Time off has to be approved by the manager in my organization. If there is a deadline or special event, my team knows that time off will not be approved. It is hard to manage unplanned "sick" days that seem to coincide with these blocks. This definitely seems like an HR issue. I would think that if they aren't meeting their job duties, this could be addressed at performance review time.
Patti Working in tech in Colorado
466
11/10/19 at 4:30PM UTC
It sounds like HR needs to clarify the rules on time off. Time off is there to use, but employees are hired to do a job. They aren’t doing the job if they aren’t there and need to balance personal time with the needs of the business. I have no problem with “mental health” days. Heck I have taken my share. But it sounds like they are abusing the time off policy.
