Business Tips - Sick Days vs Personal Days

Keeping in Mind Employees' Needs Can Make Them More Productive

By
Relationship Advice Expert April Masini

I opened a small business last year and now we have grown to 15 employees. I'm excited about our growth but I'm now moving from dealing with employee issues on a "one at a time" basis to developing official policies. Last year, I gave my employees time off when they needed it and scheduled around them, but it's not possible to do that anymore with the size of the company and level of service I need to provide.

I've noticed that some employees have started to use sick days to do what I presume to be personal business, but I'm not certain what to do about it. The last-minute loss of staff is killing me, and I would prefer to just give extra vacation days where I would at least have warning. But I don't want to be a "sucker" either.

What's a fair vacation and sick day policy? I'm not really sure where to start, and I certainly don't want to lose employees over a policy he or she feels is unfair.

Sincerely,

The Boss

Dear The Boss,

The flu season may just be beginning, but many employees are not calling in sick because of the sniffles. Instead, they’re using sick days to handle holiday-related stress like shopping, being with family, or taking mental health days. If you're noticing this in your business, then it's time to start thinking about your sick, personal and vacation day policy.

How do absences — legitimate or due to personal needs — impact employers and businesses, and what can employers do about it?

It’s not realistic to expect employees at 9 to 5 jobs to be able to do everything that needs to be done to maintain a healthy home, care for their children, etc. without taking “personal” days — days off from work that are used for personal matters rather than sick time off from work.

If employers understood that by taking care of their employees by granting a certain number of personal days a year, employees will be more productive. The personal days fill the gap left between last-minute sick days and fair-warning vacation days.

In addition, employees will not lie when they take sick days for personal business because they just don’t have enough time to do everything. The lying creates a mistrust in the workplace because not only are the employers lied to, but employees may consider that they are not the only ones lying and that other people around them are lying, too. It’s not a great atmosphere for being productive and creative.

April Masini -- nicknamed "the new millennium's Dear Abby" by the media, is author of the best-selling books Date Out Of Your League and Think & Date Like A Man, the two (just released) step-by-step dating and relationship manuals, Ideas for a Fun Date and Romantic Date Ideas, and the critically acclaimed dating and relationship online magazine www.AskApril.com.

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