You Know What Really Grinds My Gears? Now with 3x more gears...

[calgarygeologist]

Everything about air travel is so painful recently. I try to show patience and be flexible but the lines everywhere and the speed of operations are killing me. I'm happy to be on flight home as the early 9am flight from Vegas to Calgary still doesn't have an aircraft and it is unknown when those unfortunate folks will make it home today.

[BrolyTheUnholy]

Originally Posted by Muta

If you're not sick, should you still use them though? What if you lie about being sick to use them? I would think most people would have enough integrity not to use them if they're not sick - is that wrong to expect?

Just a hypothetical question, curious about any discussion on this.

Yes, I think you should still them.

For how much time in our lives we spend working, I'm a firm believer in everyone taking the days offered to them however they can. If a company has given you two weeks of sick days, and you need a mental health day now and then or had a really rough weekend and need a day to just pull yourself together, take the day. Jobs take us away from our kids, families, passions, etc. Use allll the time they'll give you to enjoy those if you can.
It blows my mind when I hear people don't use their vacation days to the point that they have 4 or 5 months worth accrued. If people love work that much that they never want to be away from it, that's their prerogative. That'll never be me.

[Mr.Coffee]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Everything about air travel is so painful recently. I try to show patience and be flexible but the lines everywhere and the speed of operations are killing me. I'm happy to be on flight home as the early 9am flight from Vegas to Calgary still doesn't have an aircraft and it is unknown when those unfortunate folks will make it home today.

The airline industry in Canada could not be more of a disaster. All of it.

Sunwing randomly cancelling flights. Air Canada pulling out of western Canada. Insane line ups and airports cant handle snow. WestJet is apparently hemorrhaging money. Taxes at airports are obscene and jet fuel costs have risen enormously.

Just an all around all out disaster. Lots of groups and people to blame, nobody seemingly willing to do anything to fix it. That last sentence is basically Canada in a nutshell over the last 10 years and foreseeable future.

[OutOfTheCube]

My favorite at an old employer was when the government mandated that everyone had to get three "personal leave days" available. We already have five paid "sick days" available to us -- but instead of adding on the additional three "personal leave" days (so 8 days total) they dropped down the sick days to just two instead of five. And even sent out an email like they were so wonderful for doing so.

Another thing they did was you got kind of an escalating amount of paid time off based on tenure. So from 0-5 years it was 2 weeks holiday per year, 5-10 years it was 3 weeks, 10-15 it was 4 weeks, etc. Well of course with my luck, just a couple months after I got my 5 years they changed their policy to you only needing to work 2 years to get the 3 weeks holiday. So I brought it up with management... uhh, guys, you kind of just screwed everyone who has been here for more than 2 years, shouldn't we be compensated or have extra weeks added to our available holiday time? Got laughed at.

Just a cheap outfit, glad to be out of there.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Sliver

haha yeah I find it hilarious when people don't take sick days and #### on people who do, but as soon as you just change the word to "flex" days from "sick" days people will take every last one.

I did away with "sick" days at my work and just call them "flex" days so I don't have to hear from busy-bodies who have suspicions that so-and-so wasn't actually sick when they didn't come in yesterday. Like, I don't fataing care. People need a day off sometimes. I also just pay out all unused flex days at year-end. It just seems so much more fair.

But not using your sick days through the year? Good job, hero. lol.

Originally Posted by ZedMan

If your employer is going to be ridiculous enough to mandate a specific number of paid sick days then yes, yes you should.

I just find that when you treat employees like adults and not try to mandate how many days they can have for sick days, they act like adults and don't try to "beat the system" or whatever. It's just archaic to me. Maybe it's more necessary in some jobs or occupations, but I think that most people actually like their work. If they hate it so much that they're calling in sick, not only should they be leaving, but as the employer you should be thinking about why that is.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by Slava

I just find that when you treat employees like adults and not try to mandate how many days they can have for sick days, they act like adults and don't try to "beat the system" or whatever. It's just archaic to me. Maybe it's more necessary in some jobs or occupations, but I think that most people actually like their work. If they hate it so much that they're calling in sick, not only should they be leaving, but as the employer you should be thinking about why that is.

100%

At my old job we used to have unlimited sick days. A few people would push it quite a bit, but overall most people were adults about it. Then they changed it so you only get 5 a quarter. The result? Now everyone makes sure they use all 5, and sick time is way up compared to before

[InglewoodFan]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

Another thing they did was you got kind of an escalating amount of paid time off based on tenure. So from 0-5 years it was 2 weeks holiday per year, 5-10 years it was 3 weeks, 10-15 it was 4 weeks, etc. Well of course with my luck, just a couple months after I got my 5 years they changed their policy to you only needing to work 2 years to get the 3 weeks holiday. So I brought it up with management... uhh, guys, you kind of just screwed everyone who has been here for more than 2 years, shouldn't we be compensated or have extra weeks added to our available holiday time? Got laughed at.

Just a cheap outfit, glad to be out of there.

Huh, had the exact same thing happen to me at an EPC company 20 years ago. Got the exact same laughter. I'd forgotten all about that crap show.

[Johnny199r]

Originally Posted by btimbit

100%

At my old job we used to have unlimited sick days. A few people would push it quite a bit, but overall most people were adults about it. Then they changed it so you only get 5 a quarter. The result? Now everyone makes sure they use all 5, and sick time is way up compared to before

Most people will be good about it. There's always one or two that will abuse it.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Sliver

haha yeah I find it hilarious when people don't take sick days and #### on people who do, but as soon as you just change the word to "flex" days from "sick" days people will take every last one.

I did away with "sick" days at my work and just call them "flex" days so I don't have to hear from busy-bodies who have suspicions that so-and-so wasn't actually sick when they didn't come in yesterday. Like, I don't fataing care. People need a day off sometimes. I also just pay out all unused flex days at year-end. It just seems so much more fair.

But not using your sick days through the year? Good job, hero. lol.

I get what you do Sliver, but perhaps not as militant and extreme as the way you describe it. I agree in general to what you do and it's what I do as well. Overall though the company I work at is a family. Everyone is open and honest and behaves as adults.

I've had to chase employees out of the office to take time off (didn't count towards vacation or sick days). It was a death in the family. I then got scolded that offering 3 full days for the request of forgiveness for 3 half days was a moronic move and the boss demanded that I contact the employee to tell them to take 5 days off.

I'm in the process of looking into how to improve processes at the office so that the employees can get extra time off (hoping for an extra week across the board at all levels). There's been some concerns from the upper management about semantics, but the conversion/combination of personal/sick day flex day concept you are suggesting might work exceptionally well. We shall see what is said about that. The boss used to track this #### in his head. Now, we're off loading it, so we have to properly design and implement a documentation system that works in the same way he used to deploy it.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

My favorite at an old employer was when the government mandated that everyone had to get three "personal leave days" available. We already have five paid "sick days" available to us -- but instead of adding on the additional three "personal leave" days (so 8 days total) they dropped down the sick days to just two instead of five. And even sent out an email like they were so wonderful for doing so.

Another thing they did was you got kind of an escalating amount of paid time off based on tenure. So from 0-5 years it was 2 weeks holiday per year, 5-10 years it was 3 weeks, 10-15 it was 4 weeks, etc. Well of course with my luck, just a couple months after I got my 5 years they changed their policy to you only needing to work 2 years to get the 3 weeks holiday. So I brought it up with management... uhh, guys, you kind of just screwed everyone who has been here for more than 2 years, shouldn't we be compensated or have extra weeks added to our available holiday time? Got laughed at.

Just a cheap outfit, glad to be out of there.

I’m not surprised with the policy decision they made regarding the personal leave days. Employers aren’t required to go above what is written in government legislation establishing minimum workplace standards.

I don’t agree with their decision regarding not giving any additional compensation to the longer tenured employees but I can’t say that I’m overly surprised by it either.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Johnny199r

Most people will be good about it. There's always one or two that will abuse it.

And if it’s just one or two people abusing it, it seems unreasonable to change the whole policy based on that.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

I learned fairly quickly in my career that companies don't care about you, you're just a number to them. So I've done my job well enough to make my numbers good but I never worried about putting in extra time or going the extra mile. And whenever I've gained enough experience to expect a pay bump I've always gotten it by switching employers, any internal promotions I've gotten have paled in comparison

Work life becomes much easier when you play the same game that they do

This post should be told to everyone in the world everywhere.

Work hard and get paid. If your current company won’t pay go elsewhere.

I’m starting a new job tomorrow which will be the 3rd in less than 2 years. If you go all the way back it’s a 80% raise in base salary and probably 70 on total comp. I was poached in both jobs.

There is no reason to have someone decide your compensation outside of the market. And your current company is terrible at judging your value.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Weitz

This post should be told to everyone in the world everywhere.

Work hard and get paid. If your current company won’t pay go elsewhere.

I’m starting a new job tomorrow which will be the 3rd in less than 2 years. If you go all the way back it’s a 80% raise in base salary and probably 70 on total comp. I was poached in both jobs.

There is no reason to have someone decide your compensation outside of the market. And your current company is terrible at judging your value.

You should share this with the next TFW you meet working at a fast food restaurant.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

You should share this with the next TFW you meet working at a fast food restaurant.

So tomorrow when he goes to work then?

[Muta]

Originally Posted by Weitz

I’m starting a new job tomorrow which will be the 3rd in less than 2 years. If you go all the way back it’s a 80% raise in base salary and probably 70 on total comp. I was poached in both jobs.

Congrats! That's what happened to me between 2014-2016 too. Doubled my salary in the process across two different offers. Found a company I love working for for the last seven years, got to the top of what I do; may check the market again in 2023 and see if there's another level up out there.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by BrolyTheUnholy

Yes, I think you should still them.

For how much time in our lives we spend working, I'm a firm believer in everyone taking the days offered to them however they can. If a company has given you two weeks of sick days, and you need a mental health day now and then or had a really rough weekend and need a day to just pull yourself together, take the day. Jobs take us away from our kids, families, passions, etc. Use allll the time they'll give you to enjoy those if you can.
It blows my mind when I hear people don't use their vacation days to the point that they have 4 or 5 months worth accrued. If people love work that much that they never want to be away from it, that's their prerogative. That'll never be me.

On the other hand with work from home the way it is I think it’s reasonable to expect some degree of work from people when they are too sick to come into the office but not not sick enough to have work issues. That’s probably at least 50% of illnesses. Especially stomach bugs where you just need to #### regularly.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by GGG

Especially stomach bugs where you just need to #### regularly.

You should have went with a hangover.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

You should share this with the next TFW you meet working at a fast food restaurant.

Why do you think the TFW is working in Canada? He’s doing exactly the same thing.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Weitz

This post should be told to everyone in the world everywhere.

Work hard and get paid. If your current company won’t pay go elsewhere.

I’m starting a new job tomorrow which will be the 3rd in less than 2 years. If you go all the way back it’s a 80% raise in base salary and probably 70 on total comp. I was poached in both jobs.

There is no reason to have someone decide your compensation outside of the market. And your current company is terrible at judging your value.

This is smart stuff. There’s no such thing as a career spent working at one place or doing one thing anymore. I usually spend around two years wherever I’m working and then I do the same thing you do.

[Doctorfever]

Boy. Sounds like some workplaces out there that aren’t very fun.

I’m not a boomer, but maybe I’m old school. I don’t mind putting in some extra effort or extra time - and it has paid off well for me. Now, in my previous job I did the same things, put in the extra time and effort but wasn’t rewarded for it. After about 3 years of overworked / underpaid I went to a different company.

So old company gmg I guess.

New company treats employees well and hard workers / extra effort gets you promoted.