Stop the sickies

So today is being dubbed the largest sickie in Australian history. Many workers are expected to enjoy a four day weekend by taking a sickie ahead of tomorrow’s national holiday for Australia Day.

One absentee management firm has estimated in The Australian today that up to half a million people could take today off, leaving their fellow employees to pick up the slack.

Migraines, gastro and the usual sickie excuses will be rolled out as people flock to the beach or prepare for their big Australia Day barbies tomorrow. 

But what can you do? Well, plenty. First of all you can require all staff to present medical certificates or statuary declarations. You should also require in your company policy that they always ring – not text – the boss or their supervisor to explain that they are sick and state when they will be in again.

Workplace lawyer Andrew Douglas says the one thing you cannot do is inquire about the type of illness it is. But you can ask them when they will be back and how you can assist them to get back to work.

Then on the morning they return you call them in and once again ask them how they are and if they right for work. All of this sends a strong message that staff are being observed and sickies are not ok.
 
If staff continually take off the Monday or Friday then you have a different problem. You can offer to send them to an occupational physician, which brings home to them the seriousness of what they are doing. You can talk to them about their job and suggest that maybe their lifestyle practices on the weekend are not conducive to a five day a week job

Of course, the day before the big sickie – that is, last Friday – you should have sent a note to all employees reminding them that Monday is a normal working day and that they either take a leave day or provide a medical certificate or stat dec explaining that they were genuinely sick or providing the reason for their absence.

The big no-no is to let the employee get away with it. If you do, then expect the number of sickies in your organisation to grow.

And when you get a culture where you have staff happily telling each other that they had a mental health day yesterday, then you really have a problem.