re: attendance - are we getting the real picture?

[postslippete]

Something I've noticed recently and I'm curious whether it's unique to our office or happening elsewhere.

We've had plenty of people leave recently with both legacy staff retiring and new entrants deciding the job isn't for them. But I've also noticed occasions where new starters have gone off sick and instead of management immediately moving into attendance procedures or stage warnings, there seems to be flexibility around using annual leave instead. Obviously, there may be perfectly valid reasons for that not knowing the full circumstances. But if this sort of thing is happening more widely it does raise questions.

We constantly hear about retention issues, attendance figures, workload pressures and why people leave. But if absences are being managed or absorbed in different ways, are we always getting a completely accurate picture of what is happening across offices? I'm not suggesting some grand conspiracy. But when offices are under pressure around attendance and targets, behaviours can change around how numbers are managed.

Genuinely interested whether anyone else has seen similar or whether our office is just an outlier?

[A2B]

Been happening for a few years in our office

[teesdale]

Love to convert my sickness to annual leave. On a stage at the moment. Of course I dont have to put in any effort for 12 months until its gone as compensation. Must go slower so I dont get ill at all times. I may start caring again in 2027. Pay is £480 if go slow or £480 if go fast.

[roadrunner bill]

It's simple, royal mail is killing its work force in delivery..

[postslippete]

Obviously, I can't give any hard evidence but there's no consistency in the business. Because if one person decides that they need a few days off and suggest they take it from their A/L, while others go on sick and immediately get a stage warning - people inevitable start asking whether the attendance policies are being applied consistently. Especially, if they also then decide to take their A/L later on as well! If sickness is sometimes being converted into A/L, does that also affect the attendance picture the business reports?

If retention, absence and workload are all major issues then surely everyone benefits from having the clearest possible picture of whats actually happening. If offices are having to become more flexible just to retain staff, then that is a cost too, even if it doesn't appear on a spreadsheet somewhere.

[postmanplod2026]

weve had new starts be off will more than 3 stages but nothing said still here not sure how it would work if legacy staff would be off 3 stages, hope its not one rule for new starts and one for others or is it because no one wants to do the job maybe they will keep us all on i dont know

[SpacePhoenix]

RM need to start applying the SAME PROCESS for sick for both legacy and newer staff. Both getting stages and not being able to take it as annual leave.

[yellowbelly]

Took several months to get rid of one of our new starts. As well as being generally not very good, wouldn't turn up and no contact, would turn up and then come back after an hour outdoor. No end of chances given by management til they finally bit the bullet.

[norris9]

our manager doesn't follow any rules with anything, makes it up as he goes along, gets away with it.

[JustALowlyManager]

Using annual leave whilst sick is usually reserved for long-term cases. The official policy is;

If the employee is on long term sickness absence, they may, with appropriate notice, take
any outstanding annual leave entitlement and receive normal basic pay and assigned
allowances for these days. Contractual annual leave stops being accrued once full and halfrate sick pay has been exhausted; this is then replaced with statutory annual leave entitlements.

[SpacePhoenix]

Using annual leave whilst sick is usually reserved for long-term cases. The official policy is;

If the employee is on long term sickness absence, they may, with appropriate notice, take
any outstanding annual leave entitlement and receive normal basic pay and assigned
allowances for these days. Contractual annual leave stops being accrued once full and halfrate sick pay has been exhausted; this is then replaced with statutory annual leave entitlements.

I would have thought that would just cause them to trigger another stage.

[ted_e_bear]

Using annual leave whilst sick is usually reserved for long-term cases. The official policy is;

If the employee is on long term sickness absence, they may, with appropriate notice, take
any outstanding annual leave entitlement and receive normal basic pay and assigned
allowances for these days. Contractual annual leave stops being accrued once full and halfrate sick pay has been exhausted; this is then replaced with statutory annual leave entitlements.

I would have thought that would just cause them to trigger another stage.

No it doesn't it's not marked as simply back at work it's done differently so someone can be paid owed paid holiday leave, for example whilst on long term sick with either reduced or no pay
(I don't know how it works exactly but that doesn't matter)