I took a day or two off for a really bad cold maybe 3 or 4 times in 31 years. In addition, I was once out for six weeks for something serious.
I chose the every 4 months option - I seem quite prone to colds/flu symptoms, although I generally try to “sniff on” in the workplace, sometimes they wipe me out and I have a couple of days in bed to get rid of them.
I am very lucky in that I get up to 3 months on full sick pay, dropping to half pay for an additional 3 months - subject to being signed off by a Doctor. There is a rule in that if I have more than 4 separate occasions of sickness (these could be 4 separate days, or a week here, and two days there etc) in a year, then my employers could begin disciplinary procedures which could lose me my job or the sickness benefits so I don’t feel temptation for calling in sick when I’m healthy.
My employer occasionally does sick leave audits. It’s only done on employees with performance issues. Someone that’s not meeting project deadlines.
The audits look for patterns. Jack calls in sick every third Monday. Jane calls in sick every other Friday. Mon & Fri are often abused because it gives a 3 day weekend.
Once in awhile I frivolously use a sick day too. Never more than 3 times a year. That’s about once every four months.
I picked once every six months. It’s been well over a year since I’ve called in sick, but I have been known to get a bug so I tried to go with my average.
Overall though, I’m a god damned tank. Part of it is working in a kitchen so understaffed that if I do take a day off sick, things will be messed up all to hell and back.
That said, I do call in sick if my fever crosses 100 and I am required to call in sick if I’m vomiting. Thankfully it has been a while since either of those has happened. I can’t think of the last time I threw up.
Once a year if that, and I pretty much have to be near death before I’ll do it.
I picked the 4 months option. It’s probably less than that, but I’m still feeling guilty about taking two whole weeks off last year for a snapped Achilles tendon.
I’ve had time off four other times, twice my boss sent me home because I was so obviously not well, and the other was when my kid was ill and I made up the time later in the week. Usually, if the kid is ill she goes to stay with her grandparents while I’m working, that time my dad was in hospital. There’s only been once where I actually rang in sick like a normal person. Even with the Achilles, I was limping into work when the boss drove past, picked me up and took a detour to the doctor’s surgery.
I work a lot of extra time and usually have a week or more time in lieu - mental health days are scheduled in advance and come out of that time owed.
In my old life, which was a government job, you got a ridiculous amount of off time. In the new one, now in the corporate world, there is far less of that nonsense. 
I get about 10 days a year, I think.
I chose once a year on the poll. If I call in, I’m sick, mostly because I’m usually good once a year for an utterly-miserable bout of sick with a temperature of about 103 for 24 hours - the ‘you gotta die to feel better’ kind of sick. I got hammered with it like clockwork in 2009 and 2010. Don’t expect to miss out on it this year, either. :rolleyes:
On the plus side, if I wanted to, I could be working from home full-time. Eventually it will be all virtual office all the time, so being sick won’t nearly be the hassle it would be if I had to go into the office every day.
Being a project manager means you can literally work all hours of the day or night. My boss is often on her ‘top at 2 in the morning and there are times I’m working at 10 in the evening myself.
I said “once a year” which is about how often I’m actually ill enough to not want to go to work.
2 jobs ago, I took each and every sick day, whether I was sick or not- we had 5 “personal days” that were use or lose each year, and they were for illness, jury duty, etc… separate from scheduled vacation time.
3 jobs ago, I took 1 sick day in 3 years- they had honor system sick days and personal days, so being the upright, honest sort that I am, I only took them when necessary.
At my current job it’s not really distinct between sick & vacation, we have “personal time off” which is basically all our vacation days, sick days, jury duty days, etc… all thrown into one big pot. What kills me, is that TPTB missed the unintended consequence of people coming in to work sick unless they’re at death’s door, because they feel like they’re losing vacation time if they stay home. The really bizarre part is that they argued with me when I pointed it out. “That would be selfish! Nobody does that!” to which I argued “Why are you bitching about people showing up sick all the time then?” :dubious:
I use every day per year that I can’t carry to the next year, sick or not. I figure it’s worth having a reserve of days, in case I get sick, or someone in the family gets sick.
I went back to my “normal” job a few months ago and was sick for three months straight, thanks to my immune system resetting itself. I missed about four weeks of work during that three months. Now, I’m probably down to calling in only about once every four months or so… I love my job, and actually don’t mind being there, usually.
Calling in sick screws all of my partners on a global scale, and my immediate partner on a smaller scale, usually, so I try not to do it. Just the same, being really sick and at work can put me in physical danger, so I try not to do that, too.
My partner and I work in a room about the size of your standard cubicle, and we can’t leave that room for the better part of 12 hours. Anything I bring in he will catch and take home to his wife and two little ones, and anything he brings in, I take home to my little one. Because of what we do and where we work, both of us have pretty great immune systems, so we can usually fend off crap, but may take stuff home to our families, even if we don’t get sick, though.
I call in sick once every 2-3 months probably. We get 4 sick days a year, otherwise we have to use vacation time to cover it. If I’m not sick and I need a day, I’ll arrange to have a day off for no good reason and take vacation time, but I won’t call in.
I’m always sick when I call in, but sometimes not utterly completely too sick to work. If I’m getting a cold or something and getting a little sick, I find that a day in bed sleeping as much as possible and drinking lots of liquids (generally resting and taking care of myself) mostly keeps me from getting really sick or getting one of those nasty hanger-on things that leaves me hacking for a month. Therefore, if I haven’t called in for quite a while I’ll go ahead and take a day to try and stave off the illness. If I feel like I’ve had too much time off lately I won’t do it though.
I have about 300 hours of time off banked, this thread is a good reminder that I should use some of it. I think I’ll take a blow off day soon.
I picked once a year; we have no paid sick days but can call in for (unpaid) days off as needed. I can’t remember the last time I was sick on a “sick day,” though. Most of the time it’s been because of car trouble or needing to bring a parent to/from an out-patient surgical procedure. I tend to keep colds at bay…just long enough to let them destroy a weekend or other time off.
Variable.
It used to be that I’d call in “sick” if I wasn’t particularly motivated. (Mainly when I was in my twenties and knew when it was time to go to bed because I’d dropped from exhaustion.)
Now I only stay home if I’m actually incapable of getting any work done. If I’m germy sick, I stay in my office with the door closed, only coming out if I absolutely have to, and then only after doing the OCD thing with hand sanitizer and whatnot.
A couple years back, I had ball surgery and took only two days off (including the day of the surgery.) I think I’ve nearly made amends for being such a slacker in my youth.
I’ve worked for my current employer for 15 years. In those 15 years, I think I have taken 2 days of sick time. And I was really sick.
I picked “once every three months,” but it varies depending on the season. Sometimes I’ll go nearly six months without calling in sick, then the next month I’ll call in twice.
I get sick quite often, because I work with the public. The little kids sneeze and cough everywhere without covering their mouths, and then one of my coworkers will pick it up and spread it to the rest of us. Never fails–if a coworker has it, I’ll likely catch it sooner or later. As a matter of fact, I’m ill right now, very likely because of some snot-nosed little kid.
As for how often I’m not really sick, I do admit that there are days when I’ll feel super crappy in the morning, but by noon I’ll be just fine, despite having called in. I don’t think these absences are terribly unjustified, though–often the misery comes from not having been able to sleep the night before due to some ailment (massive stomachaches or relentless coughing fits), and the couple extra hours of rest are often a real benefit. It’s likely the case that if I HAD gone in, I’d probably have just been miserable and exhausted the entire day. So when I do call in, I am, in fact, suffering in some way, and genuinely feel the need to rest and recuperate, not just goof off.
I also decided a while back to stop going into work when I’ve lost my voice. Like I said, I work with the public. I HAVE to be able to talk to them. If I can’t talk, I can’t do my job, and there’s really no point in being there. It also has the added benefit of being blatantly obvious to the folks I have to call just WHY I won’t be coming in today. “Ah, I see you sound like you’ve swallowed a wad of cotton. Very good then, take care of yourself.”
Not often. I rarely get colds or stomach bugs. I missed a few days last year due to a flareup with a chronic disease that I have. Usually it’s in remission, but occasionally it rears its ugly head. If it weren’t for this stupid disease, I would rarely have to take a sick day.
The gap between “once a year” and “never” is exceedingly large. My experience falls in between. I have called in sick, but less than a handful of times in 35 years of working. I really was too sick or too injured work every time.
Never. Well, just that one time, during the zombie attack, I got a bit queasy.
Hungover counts as sick in my book.
The dutch have a different system. We don’t have sick days. We have much more vacation days, though. And if your circumstances alliw, you can take those when you want. But if you’re sick, you had better be sick.