Are you Really Sick?
Elaine Varelas offers insight on using sick days as vacation days.
Q: I found out that one of my employees planned in advance to use two sick days for a vacation because her actual vacation and personal time was used up. Our company does not have any kind of formal “bring in a doctor’s note” policy, but this still feels wrong. I confronted her about it, threatening repercussions in the future. Should I have just let it slide? How do I prevent this from happening more?A:
It’s always disappointing to find out that an employee lied to you. Unfortunately, it does happen and happens for many reasons, mostly to do with the fact that people have lives. This, of course, doesn’t excuse the behavior, but it is important to keep in mind.
How you found out about this is the first issue. Was it from another employee? If so, what’s going on in that situation to make one employee disclose information about another? You also need to consider the individual herself: Is this an employee who habitually takes advantage of situations, lies on a regular basis, or has used an inordinate amount of sick time? You might also take a look at your own assumptions here: Are you sure she wasn’t genuinely sick?
Company policies play a role in employee behavior and actions too. Many employees will try to use all “their” time if you have a “use it or lose it” policy. Part of the challenge for management and Human Resources is to look at policies to see what the benefit is compared to the bad behavior it might motivate. Threatening employees with repercussions for prohibited behavior is not a good management tool, especially if you do not know what those repercussions might look like. A better tool would be to explain the consequences on the individual’s colleagues and the hardship she created for them, in addition to the lost confidence you have.
How to prevent this in the future is the interesting question. Determine if this just an issue with a single employee or with many employees. Are you making a big deal about the whole doctor’s note concept for just one employee or is it a bigger issue that needs action? You could also discuss and consider implementing alternatives that the individual could have pursued instead of lying about being sick; perhaps she could have opted to take those two days without pay or worked an alternate schedule to make up the difference. The ultimate goal is to have an honest relationship with your employees where they can come to you and talk about options and the two of you can work together to find a workable solution. If your employees believe you have no flexibility, they will take the path of least resistance; not letting you know anything.
Prevention is the big issue here and open and honest communication with your employees is the solution. It is important to be an open and flexible manager. This doesn’t mean that you have to let things like this slide, or change your expectations for honesty and a commitment to the job – it just means that you have to be willing to work out solutions with your team.
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