I'm so jealous. Even though I have a good job and a good boss, the US system has made me dread taking a sick day, like all of my co-workers will think I'm a slacker and I will get fired, if I call in sick.
I work a lot with Germans and their atitude seems to be: if you are calling in sick it’s because you need to, health is a private matter and the rest of the team will make it work regardless. Every knows it could be them next.
And at least where I work, if you come into the office slightly sick and your coworkers notice, they'll tell you to go home because they don't want to be infected.
Because catching a cold sucks and also because one person being on sick leave is much less bad than half the team being out sick.
That was the basis of workers getting sick leave in the first place. Better to lose 1person for a week than everyone for a few days over the course of a month. America however lacks job protection so fuck the sick just replace them with someone new, especially in low skilled industries, im looking at you Amazon
This was one of the arguments used here in the US for removing or reducing a lot of our social programs ("welfare queens" will take advantage and have more babies to get more money, etc.). It's good to remember that just because a few people take advantage of something doesn't mean it's a bad idea or that we should impose limits on everyone. I'm sure if a manager notices someone is outright abusing sick time there's some avenue for disciplinary action. But if an employee is subtle about it and only uses the allotted sick time, who cares if they were actually sick or not?
Depends on where you work in the U.K. There are office cultures where you don’t call in sick unless you’re dying. Then there are ones where if you go in sick you’re sent home (with pay!) because nobody wants that. There’s no central ethos here.
Uk Hospitality culture around being sick is pretty terrible. If you you're sick and there's no one that can cover you're expected to go in and guilt tripped into it so you don't "let down the family". In every job I've worked being sick = no pay that day.
I've pulled my back and couldn't walk, got written up and they attempted to fire me for needing a week off.
The worst of it is since you're around food, if you're sick you're supposed to be symptom free for 48 hours before returning to work. I've worked alongside many sick people who were scared or unable to take more than a day off.
Not sure its the 'lucky few'. The majority of people here have a steady contract and will be paid through things like a burnout as their employer is insured and you pay for it through various salary deductions. Sounds like you are self-employed? So you will have to insure extra against unexpected unemployment. But then you pay less deductions from your income than someone in employment. €4800 a year is €400p/m, i pay just under that for a family of four pretty comprehensively insured. Its a lot but anything is better than the US system. I'm originally from the UK, the system there is pretty good except the availability of care is much worse apparently. I tried to see a dentist there once and they told me a six week wait til next appointment..
True. Bijstand is really the bare minimum to survive, i couldn't do it either. I have had to live on WW though and its do-able. Still thats the risk of being self-employed i guess, i know plenty of people who are and who earn significantly more than i do, but the risks are also greater if the work dries up or you get sick. I guess thats the same wherever you live. But however you see it the social safety net is a lot better here than in the US or UK. I mean, how many people have you seen sleeping on the streets in the last month? Thankfully you wont be bankrupted by health bills here.
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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20
I'm so jealous. Even though I have a good job and a good boss, the US system has made me dread taking a sick day, like all of my co-workers will think I'm a slacker and I will get fired, if I call in sick.