Management pressure on employees to 'soldier on' at work when they are unwell is costing the Australian economy almost four times as much as absenteeism, according to a recent survey.
The report commissioned by Medibank Private, claims that 'presenteeism' - the lost of productivity that occurs when employees attend work while not fully functioning -is contributing to a $25 billion dollar black hole in lost productivity every year.
The health insurer estimates the annual cost to the economy of 'soldiering on' is almost four times that of absenteeism, only $7 billion by comparison.
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14 comments:
Yes on almost every occasion you are made to feel guilty when calling in or going home sick. At least on an EA I have some protection about my entitlements. I would hate to be with a manager who didn't like me on an AWA as I think it would be impossible to have a sick day. Even some staff have had their sick leave rejected even though they have a doctors certificate and its still leave without pay.
The other problem is some doctors treat you like you are not sick and should be at work and it hard to get a certificate from them, often it is just easier to go to work when you are sick.
Here at my workplace Melbourne business stars, Telstra management put so much pressure on us to come into work they run competitions were your team is deducted points for every day someone is away and reward points for days when the whole team is in. Also when we call in on a sick day we get a 20 question segment and get made to feel guilty for example a consultant advised me the other day that on a day were he was sick at home a manager contacted him to ask for a commitment for the next day because the centre was going to meet UPA for a month and him being away could jeopardise it, it is disgraceful that Telstra care more about a tick in a box than the welfare of its staff.
Telstra management are a pack of bullies.
Yes on almost every occasion you are made to feel guilty when calling in or going home sick. At least on an EA I have some protection about my entitlements. I would hate to be with a manager who didn't like me on an AWA as I think it would be impossible to have a sick day. Even some staff have had their sick leave rejected even though they have a doctors certificate and its still leave without pay.
The other problem is some doctors treat you like you are not sick and should be at work and it hard to get a certificate from them, often it is just easier to go to work when you are sick.
Thanks
Regards,
Karen
When we are allowed only 5 days a year without a medical certificate - of course we are forced to come to work when we are unwell - who amongst us is going to spend $50 or more to go to a doctor for a certificate for a cold or headache??
I normally have too much work on hand to even think of being sick. I f I do take a day to two off I am on call and when I come back I have to work long hours to clear the backlog.
Joann
I work for Centrelink and if we have more than 3 days off we go on an attendance plan. This makes you feel very inadequate, even if management claim they are just trying to help you. I have had 3 days off work this year and two of the days were due to my son being sick. If you have a day off you are asked to swap days, as I work part-time, or bring your sick child to work. When you are at home on personal leave you get a call from your Team Leader to see how you are. Basically it is a hassle to have a day off if you are sick and therefore people are dragging themselves to work and then staying sick for longer.
Just a short note. I am a civilian in an (otherwise) all military environment. My immediate bosses & colleagues are likely to say, "You're still not looking well. Why did you come back to work?/Why don't you go home?" The problem is that I've burned my don't-need-a-certificate days: so that being unwell becomes a massive rigmarole. I can certainly attest to the fact that the quality of my work is crap when I'm not well. I'm usually shocked to see how bad it is once I'm feeling better!
Erika
in regards to your article on soldering on..
I am a women in my early thirties and have been with the child support agency for approximately two years, in this time I have been ridiculed, harassed and made to feel like a liar every time I have had a sick day. My manager enforces sickness certificates for every single absentee I have, although I'm only required to provide certificates for 10 out of 15 days, which can prove quiet stressful when ill and in bed as the last thing I want to do is get out of bed and find a doctor to go to on such short notice, I also have been told to provide alternative care for my children when they are ill or get sickness certificates for them when they are home and im absent, to prove their sickness is genuine, which is why most of the time i have to intrude on family members to watch them rather them take them out of the house to the doctor when they are ill.
there was one occasion when I left 3 msgs by 8.30am to say I wasn't coming in to work and advised that I am ill and would be staying in bed, I indicated on the msg that I would NOT appreciate a phone back until at least after 2pm. upon my disgust I woke that day at around 3pm with 7 voice mail msgs on my mobile phone and one on my voice mail at home, after I specifically said I was going to bed and staying asleep until then
I was forced to get out of bed go to the doctor and obtain a sickness certificate even though I specified I would be back in the morning, I found this behaviour appalling and disgusting. There was also a time I left work at 1pm due to the fact I was sick at work and again asked to go to the doctor for a sickness certificate, before going home. ??
I have now been put on a sickness plan or unplanned leave plan even though after 2 years of service I still have 7 days of sick leave, unused plus next week receive my yearly top up of another 15 days which is equivalent to 21 days in sick leave
At work every one is coming to work ill which is making all the healthy people ill but we cannot take a day off nor can we try to because of the hard time we get trying to call up and negotiate why we are sick?
I think csa need to seriously evaluate what they are putting their staff through, and start to appreciate the staff that have actually remained in this workplace rather than giving up and leaving, or they might find that there current HUGE number of people leaving here, may be doubled, this time these people are more likely to have law suits up there sleeves for treatment of staff in relation to discrimination, harassment and privacy issues relating to management attempting to demanding medical history from our doctors, ( a request that my doctor found particularly amusing ) on top of the other management issues including unfair treatment of staff, timing tea breaks down to seconds and the accusing of staff members for flex fraud, they really need to count there lucky stars that we remain employed, instead of harassing us to the point of NO return LITERALLY. I think that it is unfortunate that we work under such ridiculous management strategies and only hope, that management start to feel the pressure of winter and the HIGH work loads that we have and experience the absolute bullshit we have to undergo to take a day off.. because they are ill, and I also hope that they will experience the absolute PAIN getting out of bed with the flu and calling up and attending a doctor for a measly sickness certificate to prove thier managements egotistical stance on managing unplanned leave.. I`de like to see that!!
* although I would appreciate this article being published and the response from other staff memebers, published also would apprecicate that this article remain annonomous*
At a previous workplace I was in my supervisors office one day when I nearly fainted. I was taken to the sick room and looked after and then when I felt better I was told I had to go home even though I felt fine. I went to the doctor the next day (I couldn't get in any earlier) to make sure all was okay and got a certificate etc. When it was time for me to put in my sick leave my supervisor made me do the day I was sent home as a flex day because the medical certificate couldn't cover the previous day and I had used up my allocation of sick days without a medical certificate (even though I thought I was fine and didn't actually want to go home that day). As a result I ended up with more than 10 hours negative flex which meant having to either take a day without pay or buy it off with a day of my recreation leave.
Best regards,
Natasha
I was new to the job and had no more sick leave or holiday leave. For some reason I had a really bad run, first this and then that….appendicitis, lung infections etc. not small stuff – I lost 8 kg from not eating. I should have been at home but I chose to go to work because it was black and white – I had no more sick leave! There was not employer pressure as such, there was just no other option.
Cheers
Cath
I work for Centrelink and recently I heard that the unit manager was asking about my sick leave. I was not confornted directly however he was stating that I appeared to become ill on a regular basis. When my team leader pointed out to him that 98% of my leave is taken with a medical certificate this did not seem to matter to the unit manger. I informed my team leader that I am sure my doctor would be interested in knowing that her integrity was being questioned. However so far I have not been approached. If I was I was going to ask them to put all of their accusations in writing and planned to take the matter further.
I have felt pressure from new unplanned leave strategies to attend work while being sick.
On one occasion I had an infected right thumb which had spread into my arm, this of course made typing difficult which encompasses most of my working day. I was told by my Team Leader that they would be able to find me other work…..this I took to mean they didn't want me to affect the unplanned leave percentages. Although I had a doctor's certificate, I was encouraged to attend the doctor's again to enquire whether it would be possible for me to attend work. I was advised by my doctor that I needed rest to help recuperate from the infection. I was then very uneasy about contacting my Team Leader again to advise I wouldn't be attending work.
Another occurrence was when I had an extremely severe case of pharyngitis, I felt I had to return to work earlier than necessary as I had already had 7 days off work. The doctor gave me a doctor's certificate advising I wouldn't be able to do phone shifts and this graduated into being able to participate in longer periods on the phone over approx 4 weeks. Talking was extremely painful for longer than 5 min so my doctor, who doesn't usually suggest that his patients have time off work, was advising me to stay at home in bed. I had to convince him that not doing phone shifts would be enough to help my recuperation as I wanted to atleast be at work because I felt pressured not to have too much unplanned leave. I had doctors certificate advising that I was not to do phone shiftsbut I was still asked at every opportunity to fill in or take some extra calls when the waiting periods were high. I was asked but I felt as though I had to say yes and do the extra phone work, although it was extremely painful.
With Kind Regards
I work for Centrelink and recently I heard that the unit manager was asking about my sick leave. I was not confornted directly however he was stating that I appeared to become ill on a regular basis. When my team leader pointed out to him that 98% of my leave is taken with a medical certificate this did not seem to matter to the unit manger. I informed my team leader that I am sure my doctor would be interested in knowing that her integrity was being questioned. However so far I have not been approached. If I was I was going to ask them to put all of their accusations in writing and planned to take the matter further.
Management must be under considerable pressure under the current Government to reduce sick days. Do they not think they are employing human beings who have bouts of sickness from time to time. No compassion and interested only in reports. Absolutely not possible to put in a productive days work if you're not feeling well and the key to recovery is bed. Rest the body and allow it to heal and recover. I can't think of the number of times I've come back after a couple of days off with dreadful flu and it's lingered on for months and taken ages to go. I would have recovered sooner and have been more productive if I'd had 4-5 days in bed instead and spentt he rest of the time more productively. I don't think they're interested in the wellness of employees just the figures that appear on reports. Counter-productive and yes something should be done about it. Making people feel bad when they're already unwell doesn't add anything to staff morale either.
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