using sick/vacation days

how do we feel about using/abusing them?

if you work at a job that gives you a set # of sick and vacation days per year, do you use them even when you are not sick or on vacation - with the mindset that if your job gives you the days they are yours to use when you want?

or do you save your days and try to come in every day, and only use your time when you are actually sick or on vacation?

Re: using sick/vacation days

I don't abuse them, but if I'm sick, or the weather is really bad, I don't hesitate to use them.

Re: using sick/vacation days

I rarely get sick so I like to save them until I actually need them.

Re: using sick/vacation days

I'm rarely sick, and even then I have to be talked into using a sick day. As for personal and vacation days, I use them when I need them and schedule them ahead of time. I never just wake up in the morning and call-in.

Re: using sick/vacation days

I work insane hours at a very high-stress job. I take all 4 weeks of my vacation and both personal days every year, unless something seriously major comes up. I can carry over some days, but only until February or March...

We have unlimited sick days. I rarely take a sick day, but if I am really sick, I stay home. I can usually work from home, but if I'm really that sick, then I don't hesitate to take a sick day.

ETA - I don't use my vacation days or sick days to take time off for the heck of it (bad weather, etc.) I use sick days if I am actually sick and I use vacation and personal days for planned time off.

Message edited 3/23/2009 3:18:22 PM.

Re: using sick/vacation days

My company now has a use it or lose it policy so I use them. I earned the vacation days - no way I am giving them back. I use sick days for when I am sick or for mental health days. Some times I just need to step back and clear my head so I can do my job better. I dont consider that abuse. We don't get personal days.

Re: using sick/vacation days

Depending what projects I have going on, I can't always take a full week off, but I try to take a day or two here and there. I try to use all of my vacation days, but sometimes carry a couple of days over. I get 2 weeks (and then we're also closed the week between Christmas and New Years).

We don't have an official sick policy, but when I'm sick I have no problem calling in. Sometimes if one of my kids are sick, I'll work from home for most of the day.

Re: using sick/vacation days

I have always based "my policy" on what my employer's policy was. If I had the option of carrying my time over, I was a lot more frugal with the time I used...if my employer had a use it or lose it policy I made sure that every single day that my employer was willing to pay me for, I used (without guilt). When it came to an employer who offered unlimited sick time, I found that once in a blue moon I would take a "mental health" day but never abused the priviledge.

Re: using sick/vacation days

I only take sick days when sick.

I try to use all my personal / vacation days because they don't roll over into the following year. I work too hard not to take time off when I can!

Re: using sick/vacation days

We have one giant pool of sick/ personal/ vaction time- 5 weeks a year.

I use it when I feel like it. I rarely call in sick, but I work in a hospital and know I would be screwing over my coworkers if I did and I have guilt.

But I take time off whenever I feel like it- sometimes i take a day to sit in my empty house while my DH is at work to just enjoy the quiet.

I dont use them all as they roll over, but I use a decent bit.

I'll admit to already having used 1.5 weeks on 2009, but I have close to 2.5 weeks banked still, so I have plenty of time.

Re: using sick/vacation days

I like to save up my days so I can take a few week-long absences a year (remember though that I live in CA now, so just going home to NY to visit my family twice a year is a week-long event each time - it's not like I'm going on elaborate vacations, and my employers know that... not sure if that makes a difference or not, but I feel like it does). Anyway, since I basically plan on needing my days for those trips, I try to not take off otherwise unless I really really need to.

Re: using sick/vacation days

If I call in sick in the morning I really screw the doctor I work for so I never do that. I do however use all of my personal time & sick time every year. I schedule it in advance & I get someone to work my hours so the doctor isn't alone.
If the weather is really terrible, I don't go in but my boss knows this & its not a problem.