Poll-sick leave at work

[Guest taylorsquare]

I have several asian students renting beds from me in my flat.

Two are from Korea and the other young guy 19yo Japanese boy.

I would appreciate if some of you could give some statitistics if you are older than 45yo.

Anyway the Japanese boy is studying Sociology at College and takes his homework seriously.

Currently he is studying work sick leave/sick days and trying to do a essay for it.

 

He is continually asking me questions on culture etc ,working culture.

 

Australia apparently has a very lax approach to work with every employee especially civil servants taking 20 or more days in sick leave each year.

Japanese apparently are scared to take sick days and it seems holidays/vacations.

Primarily he is interested mostly in people over 45yo who as he put it were a different generation and took less sick leave than the current generation.?

 

Just to assist him,and i know lot of you are retired or in your senior years,

1/

how many sick days did you average per year when you were working AND 2/what was the longest length of time that you went without taking sick leave/sick day.

3/Did you always take one when you were genuinly sick or to do other things? such as?

4/Did you always provide a Doctors Certificate for your time off?

5/If you could name the country you worked in or its continent it would be appreciated.

6/And do you think the current generation of employees have a lax approach to sick leave say to those workers in the 1970s/1980s?

7/,Did you feel guilty taking a sick days/days?

8/was there pressure from your employers/company not to take sick leave and to make you feel gulity?

9/Did you ever go to work feeling sick but felt guilty taking a sick day?

Thankyou to all

[Guest fountainhall]

I worked in Japan for a couple of years and so have first-hand knowledge of the work ethic, the frequent desire not to take the few holidays workers are due ("because the company needs me") and the reluctance to even appear sick. I have worked in Hong Kong for most of my career. Like Japan, the work ethic is strong and the desire to make money even stronger. When I was an employee and later as a manager, I was never aware of people shirking off work on the pretext of being ill. On the other hand with things like Asian 'flus being a common occurrence, most people did take some sick leave. Let me try and answer your questions (even though I cannot recall exactly).

 

1. About 3 or 4 per year on average.

2. Probably about 2 years.

3. Only took sick leave when actually sick.

4. Depended on the regulations of the company I was working for. Usually, I did not need a certificate for the first one or two days, but definitely one was required for longer periods.

5. Asia - mostly Hong Kong

6. Not that I am aware of personally (but my business is somewhat specialised and attracts people with a great deal on passion and self-motivation - most of whom have no desire to shirk their responsibilities).

7. No - because I was sick!

8. None

9. (I assume you mean "feel guilty about NOT taking a sick day). Yes, there were times when I went to work feeling I'd be better off at home in bed. I did not feel any guilty about it.

 

Hope this helps.

[Guest taylorsquare]

Thankyou FountainHall ,Kai,my Japanese student flatmate has read and copied your report.

 

He finds it interesting regarding Hong Kong.

 

If theres any others please post,you dont have to be a regular poster .

 

Kai s parents are presently in Australia from Japan.

They have come here for.......wait for it........3 days !!!!!!

The father is apparently a top manager executive who is scared he will lose respect if he took too long off work.

Apparently hasnt had a sick day in 28 years !

[Guest fountainhall]

Kai s parents are presently in Australia from Japan.

They have come here for.......wait for it........3 days !!!!!!

The father is apparently a top manager executive who is scared he will lose respect if he took too long off work.

Apparently hasnt had a sick day in 28 years !

 

The father is far from unusual. I know or have met many Japanese over the years who think nothing of flying to, say, Bali for all of 2 days - i.e. 7 hours of flying each way just for 48 hours break!