4 ms·

This is staggering to me if I’m reading this right - only around a third of people are taking even one sick day per year, and it was substantially less in prior

This is staggering to me if I’m reading this right - only around a third of people are taking even one sick day per year, and it was substantially less in prior years. I suppose in some industries you can work from home if you’re ill. Do these stats include people who take PTO? I’d love to see some comparable stats from other countries as well.

BugsJustFindMe 3y ago
> only around a third of people are taking even one sick day per year That's just people with access to paid time off, too. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that in the US hourly workers are the majority, which means a large percentage of them simply don't get paid if they don't work, and they often can't afford to not get paid.
- rascul 3y ago
  Many hourly employees get paid time off.
  - BugsJustFindMe 3y ago
    Not most though, and the lowest earners (possibly obviously) get the least. But thanks, I've updated my previous comment.
  - synergy20 3y ago
    Many companies have both PTO and Sick-day in parallel, each is about 2 weeks to start with.
    - fkyoureadthedoc 3y ago
      In my previous career before I worked for Big Enterprise who doesn't track sick days, my job had (for employees under 5 years) a separate pool of 2 weeks "vacation", 5 days "sick", and 2 days "personal" time off. In a very controversial move they changed policy to pool them together in just "PTO" of two weeks. Probably a pretty common story. Lot of people were mad at losing the dedicated sick time because they would cash out their unused vacation at the end of the year.
  - shkkmo 3y ago
    US federal laws do not require employers to offer paid sick leave. In my experience, paid time off is pretty rare on the lower end of the hourly pay scale.
    - greenyoda 3y ago
      But some states, like NY, have laws mandating paid sick leave for most workers: https://www.ny.gov/new-york-paid-sick-leave/new-york-paid-sick-leave https://www.ny.gov/new-york-paid-sick-leave/new-york-paid-si... The only exception is for employers with 4 or fewer employees and net income less than $1 million (but they must still provide 40 hours of unpaid sick leave).
synergy20 3y ago
I actually chatted this with our HR lady, and her advise is: You do not need be sick, you can just take a break when you feel like it, so sick day really should be called "wellness day" instead. If we rename 'sick day' to 'wellness day', I'm sure more people will take it.
- happytoexplain 3y ago
  There are forces acting against both: People don't want to take a "sick day" if they don't feel debilitatingly sick because they might feel like they're cheating. People don't want to take a "wellness day" because their work environment makes them feel pressured to not throw a whole work day away just because they "feel like it". I.e. they feel that one should consolidate those into longer planned-well-ahead vacations, otherwise they may feel some judgement from employers/coworkers whose work is affected by their absence. It is of course a sign of our great cultural sickness that either of these psychological problems are even prevalent (and from my experience, they are prevalent - majority even).
axus 3y ago
That was surprising, I was surprised so many people are not at least going to the dentist... but maybe a lot are going on the weekend?
- logifail 3y ago
  > going to the dentist... but maybe a lot are going on the weekend? Q: Where in the world are (non-emergency) dentists open at weekends?
  - jameshart 3y ago
    Lot of healthcare services have extended hours because they are aware that their customers can’t take time out during the workday. Why would that be a surprise?
    - logifail 3y ago
      > Lot of healthcare services have extended hours [..] Umm, OK. Not everywhere, apparently, hence my question. > Why would that be a surprise? For reference: My dentist works a four day week (Monday-Thursday). My local doctor's practice is open a whopping 23 hours per week - four mornings plus a handful of late afternoon sessions. Less than handy if you or your relatives are taken ill between noon on Friday and Monday morning.
- ghaff 3y ago
  I'm sure workplaces differ but, over decades, I've never felt it was the norm to formally take time off for a 2-3 hour appointment/errand for a dentist or anything else.
- fkyoureadthedoc 3y ago
  A lot of people just straight up don't go. If you even get dental insurance, and you need more than a routine cleaning, it barely covers it. Especially if you don't get a good plan. Tons of hourly jobs make you work a weekend shift as well so you end up with a weekday off that you have to use for that kind of thing.
ghaff 3y ago
For a lot of salaried workers in the US these days, there's a single pool of time that covers for vacation time/personal days/sick days. And for people who do have some flexibility about coming into an office, it seems very common in my experience that they may do a little work and maybe drag themselves to dial into a meeting that would be hard to reschedule, but generally take the day easy if they're not feeling well. Aside from maybe one or two medical things that really did take up a full day, I haven't formally taken a sick day/PTO because I was sick in years.
ejb999 3y ago
I haven't needed to take a single sick day in 35 years, just good genes I guess - my father never did either in 50 years.
- FFP999 3y ago
  [dead]
- 2023throwawayy 3y ago
  This is not something to be proud of. We all need rest. You absolutely went into work when you shouldn’t have.
  - ejb999 3y ago
    really, I shouldn't be proud of being and staying healthy? what a bizarre comment. so glad to know that you know the health status of everyone on the internet, and what is best for them - must be nice to be omnipotent.
noirscape 3y ago
(Not US) A lot of it is mentalities fed to people from universities too. Back when I was still in uni we had a group project, and one person was having personal issues - didn't pry which but they couldn't attend for a few weeks due to what was officially listed as being sick. In exchange, other teammates picked up the slack in the meantime because y'know, trying to be a good human being to teammates is worth it on its own + mentioning this and still getting a good mark usually nets you bonus points for good teamwork (persist under challenge/pressure is a word that gets you basically free passing grades on feedback essays). She eventually returned and was able to compensate the missed work twice over for the time left in the project. We did that in spite of the fact that one of the two guiding teachers more or less started haranguing us to put pressure on that teammate to "get back to the group work", with such charming questions being asked to the non-sick teammates (ie. Me and three others) as "how many sick days do you think are acceptable" and repeated anecdotes from the guiding teacher about how "he had taken exactly one sick day in five years". (He didn't mention that he'd also been working as a freelancer for five years so "a sick day" meant absolutely nothing to him). In our case, the team as a whole decided that as long as we could get the work done, the teammates absence wasn't too big of a deal. This didn't make the guiding teacher happy to say the least, and I could totally have seen another team break under that kinda pressure/not have the spirit to stick up for their own beliefs in that thing. We did end up passing the project because the result was more than acceptable at least, but it's something worth mentioning in terms of how early it starts.

BugsJustFindMe 3y ago

> only around a third of people are taking even one sick day per year That's just people with access to paid time off, too. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that in the US hourly workers are the majority, which means a large percentage of them simply don't get paid if they don't work, and they often can't afford to not get paid.

rascul 3y ago
Many hourly employees get paid time off.
- BugsJustFindMe 3y ago
  Not most though, and the lowest earners (possibly obviously) get the least. But thanks, I've updated my previous comment.
- synergy20 3y ago
  Many companies have both PTO and Sick-day in parallel, each is about 2 weeks to start with.
  - fkyoureadthedoc 3y ago
    In my previous career before I worked for Big Enterprise who doesn't track sick days, my job had (for employees under 5 years) a separate pool of 2 weeks "vacation", 5 days "sick", and 2 days "personal" time off. In a very controversial move they changed policy to pool them together in just "PTO" of two weeks. Probably a pretty common story. Lot of people were mad at losing the dedicated sick time because they would cash out their unused vacation at the end of the year.
- shkkmo 3y ago
  US federal laws do not require employers to offer paid sick leave. In my experience, paid time off is pretty rare on the lower end of the hourly pay scale.
  - greenyoda 3y ago
    But some states, like NY, have laws mandating paid sick leave for most workers: https://www.ny.gov/new-york-paid-sick-leave/new-york-paid-sick-leave https://www.ny.gov/new-york-paid-sick-leave/new-york-paid-si... The only exception is for employers with 4 or fewer employees and net income less than $1 million (but they must still provide 40 hours of unpaid sick leave).

synergy20 3y ago

I actually chatted this with our HR lady, and her advise is: You do not need be sick, you can just take a break when you feel like it, so sick day really should be called "wellness day" instead. If we rename 'sick day' to 'wellness day', I'm sure more people will take it.

happytoexplain 3y ago
There are forces acting against both: People don't want to take a "sick day" if they don't feel debilitatingly sick because they might feel like they're cheating. People don't want to take a "wellness day" because their work environment makes them feel pressured to not throw a whole work day away just because they "feel like it". I.e. they feel that one should consolidate those into longer planned-well-ahead vacations, otherwise they may feel some judgement from employers/coworkers whose work is affected by their absence. It is of course a sign of our great cultural sickness that either of these psychological problems are even prevalent (and from my experience, they are prevalent - majority even).

axus 3y ago

That was surprising, I was surprised so many people are not at least going to the dentist... but maybe a lot are going on the weekend?

logifail 3y ago
> going to the dentist... but maybe a lot are going on the weekend? Q: Where in the world are (non-emergency) dentists open at weekends?
- jameshart 3y ago
  Lot of healthcare services have extended hours because they are aware that their customers can’t take time out during the workday. Why would that be a surprise?
  - logifail 3y ago
    > Lot of healthcare services have extended hours [..] Umm, OK. Not everywhere, apparently, hence my question. > Why would that be a surprise? For reference: My dentist works a four day week (Monday-Thursday). My local doctor's practice is open a whopping 23 hours per week - four mornings plus a handful of late afternoon sessions. Less than handy if you or your relatives are taken ill between noon on Friday and Monday morning.
ghaff 3y ago
I'm sure workplaces differ but, over decades, I've never felt it was the norm to formally take time off for a 2-3 hour appointment/errand for a dentist or anything else.
fkyoureadthedoc 3y ago
A lot of people just straight up don't go. If you even get dental insurance, and you need more than a routine cleaning, it barely covers it. Especially if you don't get a good plan. Tons of hourly jobs make you work a weekend shift as well so you end up with a weekday off that you have to use for that kind of thing.

ghaff 3y ago

For a lot of salaried workers in the US these days, there's a single pool of time that covers for vacation time/personal days/sick days. And for people who do have some flexibility about coming into an office, it seems very common in my experience that they may do a little work and maybe drag themselves to dial into a meeting that would be hard to reschedule, but generally take the day easy if they're not feeling well. Aside from maybe one or two medical things that really did take up a full day, I haven't formally taken a sick day/PTO because I was sick in years.

ejb999 3y ago

I haven't needed to take a single sick day in 35 years, just good genes I guess - my father never did either in 50 years.

FFP999 3y ago
[dead]
2023throwawayy 3y ago
This is not something to be proud of. We all need rest. You absolutely went into work when you shouldn’t have.
- ejb999 3y ago
  really, I shouldn't be proud of being and staying healthy? what a bizarre comment. so glad to know that you know the health status of everyone on the internet, and what is best for them - must be nice to be omnipotent.

noirscape 3y ago

(Not US) A lot of it is mentalities fed to people from universities too. Back when I was still in uni we had a group project, and one person was having personal issues - didn't pry which but they couldn't attend for a few weeks due to what was officially listed as being sick. In exchange, other teammates picked up the slack in the meantime because y'know, trying to be a good human being to teammates is worth it on its own + mentioning this and still getting a good mark usually nets you bonus points for good teamwork (persist under challenge/pressure is a word that gets you basically free passing grades on feedback essays). She eventually returned and was able to compensate the missed work twice over for the time left in the project. We did that in spite of the fact that one of the two guiding teachers more or less started haranguing us to put pressure on that teammate to "get back to the group work", with such charming questions being asked to the non-sick teammates (ie. Me and three others) as "how many sick days do you think are acceptable" and repeated anecdotes from the guiding teacher about how "he had taken exactly one sick day in five years". (He didn't mention that he'd also been working as a freelancer for five years so "a sick day" meant absolutely nothing to him). In our case, the team as a whole decided that as long as we could get the work done, the teammates absence wasn't too big of a deal. This didn't make the guiding teacher happy to say the least, and I could totally have seen another team break under that kinda pressure/not have the spirit to stick up for their own beliefs in that thing. We did end up passing the project because the result was more than acceptable at least, but it's something worth mentioning in terms of how early it starts.