This thread is full of a bunch of people complaining about not getting sick...listen to yourselves
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Vacation time should be combined with sick time
- Thread starter Deleted member 19844
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OP
OP
Haha it's mainly because I was exposed to (and benefited from) having a combined pool of "paid time off" for years:
28 days of paid time off
4 days of unpaid time off
10 observed holidays
2 floating holidays (extra holiday days to be used randomly as you saw fit)
Now I'm in a new job and it's:
15 days of paid time off
15 paid sick days (of which I use maybe 1 every couple of years)
10 observed holidays
Going from 44 days off to 25 feels like such a downgrade.
BUT someone mentioned "mental health" days, which I didn't think of before as a valid sick day reason... so if i can use those from time to time that'd be great.
OP
OP
Haha teeeechnically it's complaining about not having access to those sweet sick days that the sick people use. :-)
I can see it both ways. My wife used to get more off time because it was combined but she lost it at the end of the year.
I would like to be able to use sick time as vacation but my boss is good about letting us use sick time for non-sickness related emergencies so it's mostly fine. And in addition to that whenever I retire I can either cash out my sick days or use it as worktime credit so my pension is a little bigger.
I would like to be able to use sick time as vacation but my boss is good about letting us use sick time for non-sickness related emergencies so it's mostly fine. And in addition to that whenever I retire I can either cash out my sick days or use it as worktime credit so my pension is a little bigger.
OP
OP
The part about cashing out sick days would change my opinion. Then it's fair.
None that I can remember, I like my job and don't feel stressed because I'm overworked that I have to fool my employer to get some time off. I'm taking Friday the 21st off as a vacation day though. Gonna travel up to visit family for the holidays and I don't want to go late in the evening or on Saturday. My boss or manager has never declined a vacation day in the eight years I've worked there.
But they weren't having a day off, they were sick. Whereas people complaining didn't get sick...amuse yourselves I guess lol
OP
OP
I mean, you're not wrong. :-)
Edit: Wait, the people complaining didn't get sick, true, but instead they had to work. When my wife gets sick and she takes a sick day because she has a fever, she manages the symptoms and has a nice relaxing day of rest. :-P
The last company I worked for combined them as a slow strategy to whittle down our benefits.
First they combined sick time and vacation into generic PTO, then they eliminated rollover hours and made PTO "use it or lose it", then they took away something like 5 PTO days worth of hours from all employees and replaced them with some bullshit "fixed holidays" that essentially force everyone to take off stuff like Flag Day etc, then they severely limited the max number of unspent PTO you could cash in on at the end of the year.
Shortly after that I got caught in layoffs. I've been working at my new company as a contractor for 2.5 years though, and they don't provide ANY VACATION OR SICK TIME AT ALL, so if you get sick or need time off you lose the pay.
Luckily I start a new full-time job on Monday that will provide me with sick days, vacation, awesome insurance, and flexible hours. They're on the small side so hopefully they don't pull the same stuff as the last company.
First they combined sick time and vacation into generic PTO, then they eliminated rollover hours and made PTO "use it or lose it", then they took away something like 5 PTO days worth of hours from all employees and replaced them with some bullshit "fixed holidays" that essentially force everyone to take off stuff like Flag Day etc, then they severely limited the max number of unspent PTO you could cash in on at the end of the year.
Shortly after that I got caught in layoffs. I've been working at my new company as a contractor for 2.5 years though, and they don't provide ANY VACATION OR SICK TIME AT ALL, so if you get sick or need time off you lose the pay.
Luckily I start a new full-time job on Monday that will provide me with sick days, vacation, awesome insurance, and flexible hours. They're on the small side so hopefully they don't pull the same stuff as the last company.
Some of it also depends on your situation. My wife gets 50% more vacation time than I do but because she works for a corporation and I work for municipal government I get a lot of holidays off that she doesn't. So my relatively paltry 12 days a year aren't ultimately that bad (for America at least).
And again, I will get an actual pension and could potentially get my sick days cashed out AND I have partially subsidized short-term disability through the city so I'm doing well.
And again, I will get an actual pension and could potentially get my sick days cashed out AND I have partially subsidized short-term disability through the city so I'm doing well.
This is my thought. If they're combined then there's just an expectation that you use vacation time for sick leave if something particularly bad happens.
Having worked at multiple places with both approaches (combined and separate), in my experience this is exactly what happens.
When my wife's employer combined theirs, this is exactly what happened.
Although she was already getting so much she barely noticed the difference.
The entire US does not have combined sick and vacation time. Unless you mean, "some places in the United States have combined"
some Americans get paid sick
She's still ill enough to not be at work though. I'd rather be at work than ill enough to warrant missing work
I get 20 days a year sick + personal combined. I feel like it's pretty dope.
I usually have so much PTO I don't know what to do with it.
I usually have so much PTO I don't know what to do with it.
I don't think combining them makes much sense as you'll have people still going to work when they are sickish. But then again having sick days at all sounds weird (although at my company there informally is something sort of similar).
I've taken one sick day in the past two and a half years and I think it was a Wednesday.
So...0.
I've taken one sick day in the past two and a half years and I think it was a Wednesday.
So...0.
Why does that deserve a wtf? Even in companies with generous policies, most people don't bother taking more than two weeks off a year. Vacationing is expensive.
As someone who has both combined and once had them separate....I vote separate. Of course before they combined them, we got paid for any remaining sick days at the end of the year. Since I used vacation time for any time I took off, I got a nice 2 week pay check at the end of the year. But my company got cheap, combined them both and now we don't get paid for left overs.
Never have.
Simply resting and relaxing at home is not that expensive.
I take sick days all the time. Whenever I feel sick of work, bam! call out. It has done wonders for my personal mental health. I banked all my sick days my first year at my job like a fucking chump. No reason to do it, no one gives a shit except for the dorks who pride themselves on perfect attendance. I don't think I have actually gotten legitimately sick all year.
I usually call out once a month, usually on a Friday or Monday. Everyone knows what the game is but no one really cares.
I usually call out once a month, usually on a Friday or Monday. Everyone knows what the game is but no one really cares.
Feels like I get the worst. My sick time eats into my vacation time. If I call in sick, my vacation time is subtracted. It takes weeks to generate a day of vacation so it really sucks.
It was my first proper job when I hit 18, which is now 12 years ago.
I was the group after the government jobs started getting reduced to fixed term contracts and the like, my parents generation got civil service jobs they lasted for life!
We just have one PTO bank. There can still be consequences for unscheduled PTO though if a pattern/trend is observed (which usually relates to calling in sick).
Combining them makes sense because all sick time did was ensure you got paid for that day. It didn't impact whether or not you could face reprimand for calling in all of the time. Plus if you are like me I never used those sick days so the time just sat/was wasted.
At least being combined with PTO I have better option/higher chance of using it.
Combining them makes sense because all sick time did was ensure you got paid for that day. It didn't impact whether or not you could face reprimand for calling in all of the time. Plus if you are like me I never used those sick days so the time just sat/was wasted.
At least being combined with PTO I have better option/higher chance of using it.
Definitely, I spend at least half of my 30 vacation days just relaxing at home.
I envy your good health. If you want the sick days to stay out of work, then lie and enjoy them. I won't rat you out.
At my job, sick days are unlimited. We still work, we just do it from bed. Thank god for computers and the internet.
I have unlimited sick days* (*stipulation: any more than two days in a row will require a doctor's visit and evidence of visit, not evidence of you being "chronically ill" but that you're taking medication to hasten the recovery process). On top of that, I get 32 days of vacation per year (cannot take more than 10 days in a row - two business weeks, however). Nothing carries over; on Jan 1st - everything gets reset to the default.
I'm going to miss this, as I'm changing jobs in March. :/
I'm going to miss this, as I'm changing jobs in March. :/
Best places have no "sick" time nor do you have to use vacation. You just stay home sick. Admittedly it only works with salary jobs, but that's how our office is. I don't have to burn vacation when I'm sick.
Yes, it's weird as fuck.
But the pros are what OP is describing, basically extra vacation days if you lie about being sick, lol.
OP
OP
Hehe thanks for keeping it on the downlow.
The limitation with the "lie and enjoy approach" is that you can't pre-schedule or take an extended amount.
16 of those kinds of days isn't enough? Your jobs are so stressful that you have to take more than a day off a month?
Separate, at one time i had 800 hours of sick time accumulated. Then they rolled it into this bullshit PTO nonsense.
My company combines them.. I get sick maybe 1-2 days a year so I like it. Though it sucks having to use pto for snow days and stuff like that.
Started out with 15 days of PTO per year but it goes up every year so now I get 19 and have 3 weeks saved up currently. Also 2 floating holidays per year.
Started out with 15 days of PTO per year but it goes up every year so now I get 19 and have 3 weeks saved up currently. Also 2 floating holidays per year.
Haha...yeah it is sometimes
Also you're missing the idea of taking a Friday or Monday and getting yourself a long weekend
I get 25 annual leave days and as many sick days as I need... Because you know if you're sick you're sick and if you're not you're not. I have taken about 3 or 4 sick days in the past 3 years I think.
I love my job, it's a great 8-4 job with breakfast and lunch included (both the time and the meals) and it's not that stressful but for a few weeks every year. But my job is not my life. I take as many sick days as I need (if you're sick, you're sick), yet I think I've only taken 1 in the last three years. I take 22 work days off (paid) a year in any way I see fit and there are 14 national/regional/local paid days off a year.
If I could get more, I would. If I could triple them, I would.
I would just jog, or read more books, or ride my bike, or spend the day at the beach if the weather is nice, or have a drink or a nice meal with friends. I would enjoy life that way, but I understand if you have a different way of life or priorities. It's all good.
OP
OP
Many corporate jobs in the US already give you three day weekends throughout the year without touching your PTO (the best years are when July 4th and Christmas are right next to the weekend). Public service gives you even more.
See that's where you're wrong my friend.
You buy the plane tickets, book the hotel for two weeks, pack your bags, then on friday night you come down with pneumonia and you're bedridden for two weeks.
Just don't post any pics to your social media, or tell any coworkers about your vacation, and you're golden!
Like the spaniards say: Con dos cojones!