Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

quillette.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 289 posts

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#151

Post by Retric »

MaxBarraclough wrote: post #140
chrsstrm wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We seem to believe that sick always means some type of physical illness that means we can't work, which is completely wrong. Taking a sick day for mental health is totally OK. Taking a sick day to deal with a sick child or spouse or s.o. is totally OK. Leaving sick days on the table at the end of the year is not something that should be valued, whether they are paid or not. I'm sure HR makes every attempt to spend th…

> If you get 10 days, take all 10 days. So you don't agree with vharuck who said If a person's sick, they're sick. If they're faking, they're faking ? Are you really suggesting faking sickness, or am I misreading you?

Taking a sick day and calling on sick are two different things.

I had a job where all unscheduled days off where taken from sick days based on company policy. Vacation days needed or be scheduled ahead of time therefore people valued sick days a little more than vacation days.

Others just put them all into the same pool. It’s more about what the policy actually is than what you call it.

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#152

Post by CPLX »

WalterBright wrote: post #149
lkey wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So he decided he'd figured out her scam without ever bringing it up in yearly or monthly review. He also never asked for proof of the 10 days of sick leave after the first year, which is reasonable to do if he had a suspicion she was flouting a rule. If he wanted to factor sick days into his pay decision, he had a responsibility to make sure he was correct using the proper internal channels. An alternate and equally…

Fair enough, I agree he was being passive aggressive, but on the other hand, if someone is doing something that has the appearance of impropriety, it's a good idea to proactively bring it up with the boss to head off the suspicions.

There’s not a fucking thing that’s even slightly improper about taking your allotted PTO days.

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#153

Post by Retric »

deogeo wrote: post #129
jacquesm wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in NL employees get 2 full consecutive years of paid sick leave before you are allowed to terminate the contract.

I honestly think that's a terrible idea, and that paid sick leave should be paid not by the employer, but from taxes. Which should be raised slightly to cover such a policy. Otherwise, hiring someone presents a gigantic risk for smaller companies. Getting unlucky even once with someone that will use 1-2 years of sick leave (legitimately or not) would be enough to bankrupt them. In general I think making employers pay…

Risks like that are begging for insurance policies.

Net result it may not actually change much in practice.

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#154

Post by fountainofage »

WalterBright wrote: post #146
barrkel wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I reckon results should be rewarded, not presenteeism. I might be more interested in results, who knows.

I'd be the first to agree with you. However, allowing a stellar performer to come and go as they please tends to have a bad effect on morale of the rest and impairs team cohesiveness.

Sounds like they're not a stellar performer then? Unless they're a solo founder with no funding, they don't work in a vacuum.

Edit: changed you's to they

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#155

Post by chrsstrm »

MaxBarraclough wrote: post #140
chrsstrm wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We seem to believe that sick always means some type of physical illness that means we can't work, which is completely wrong. Taking a sick day for mental health is totally OK. Taking a sick day to deal with a sick child or spouse or s.o. is totally OK. Leaving sick days on the table at the end of the year is not something that should be valued, whether they are paid or not. I'm sure HR makes every attempt to spend th…

> If you get 10 days, take all 10 days. So you don't agree with vharuck who said If a person's sick, they're sick. If they're faking, they're faking ? Are you really suggesting faking sickness, or am I misreading you?

You're misreading, I'm not suggesting anyone fake being sick.

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#156

Post by wool_gather »

WalterBright wrote: post #139
jkaplowitz wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not defending that kind of employee misbehaviour, but how to handle that doesn't need to be factored into the sick leave policy beyond making the allowed usage clear and reserving the right to ask for proof when the company has reason to be suspicious. How to handle that, more broadly, is the same as how to handle any other pattern of employee misbehaviour: some appropriate level of employee discipline according…

Asking for a doctor's note is for children. These are professional adults. Often people who behave unethically at work believe they are getting away with it. But then they wonder why they don't get raises, are passed over for promotions, are let go in the first round of layoffs, and don't have the respect of their peers.

I mean, if that's the path we're going down...is telling someone they can only be sick for 10 days in a year treating them like a professional adult person in the first place?

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#157

Post by fountainofage »

WalterBright wrote: post #113
jkaplowitz wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For vacation days, your point makes sense to me. For sick days, people don't get to choose when they get sick. Someone can just as easily get sick on day 1 or 2 of a job as on day 401 or 402.

I once talked to a manager about how he handed out raises. He mentioned one engineer who was sick exactly 10 days out of each year. Coincidentally, the company offered 10 days of paid sick leave a year. He laughed, and said she wasn't fooling anyone, and didn't give her a raise.

Lots of comments, but no one has just come out and said it:

Fuck. That. Manager.

They care about butts in seats more than results, and they've deliberately sought out the metrics to justify it.

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#158

Post by JustSomeNobody »

WalterBright wrote: post #149
lkey wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So he decided he'd figured out her scam without ever bringing it up in yearly or monthly review. He also never asked for proof of the 10 days of sick leave after the first year, which is reasonable to do if he had a suspicion she was flouting a rule. If he wanted to factor sick days into his pay decision, he had a responsibility to make sure he was correct using the proper internal channels. An alternate and equally…

Fair enough, I agree he was being passive aggressive, but on the other hand, if someone is doing something that has the appearance of impropriety, it's a good idea to proactively bring it up with the boss to head off the suspicions.

So she was given 10 days sick per year but she isn’t allowed to take all 10 without being up to no good?

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#159

Post by chrsstrm »

WalterBright wrote: post #149
lkey wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So he decided he'd figured out her scam without ever bringing it up in yearly or monthly review. He also never asked for proof of the 10 days of sick leave after the first year, which is reasonable to do if he had a suspicion she was flouting a rule. If he wanted to factor sick days into his pay decision, he had a responsibility to make sure he was correct using the proper internal channels. An alternate and equally…

Fair enough, I agree he was being passive aggressive, but on the other hand, if someone is doing something that has the appearance of impropriety, it's a good idea to proactively bring it up with the boss to head off the suspicions.

What does "improper" mean and who gets to decide what actions are improper? Paid days are paid days and just because they have a certain name doesn't change a thing. Has anyone ever been accused of faking a vacation? Of course not, because that would be ridiculous. But since sick days are called sick days all of a sudden you need to prove you're bedridden or else face consequences? That's absurd. Treat your employees like adults.

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#160

Post by jacquesm »

deogeo wrote: post #129
jacquesm wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in NL employees get 2 full consecutive years of paid sick leave before you are allowed to terminate the contract.

I honestly think that's a terrible idea, and that paid sick leave should be paid not by the employer, but from taxes. Which should be raised slightly to cover such a policy. Otherwise, hiring someone presents a gigantic risk for smaller companies. Getting unlucky even once with someone that will use 1-2 years of sick leave (legitimately or not) would be enough to bankrupt them. In general I think making employers pay…

You can insure against the risk.
Post reply on HN