How much notice?

a couple of hours is better than a half hour... look at it optimistically! Alot of places require atleast 30 min prior to the start of your shift! So be thankful you had a couple of hours!

When I was working I tried to call as soon as I knew for sure I wouldn't be in, which was usually the night before. Generally if I was sick, I'd know if I'd be better or not by morning. Maybe he really is sick, but I'd kinda wonder if something else didn't just come up since it is a weekend? Has this has happened before with this person? I always felt bad for calling in, knowing it would leave them scrambling for help or be undermanned for the shift.

In both of my jobs it is important not to spread germs with others. As soon as I know I am more than slightly sick, I call, to give a chance to replace me for my hours. I get better quicker if I take the time to rest, and I do not share it with as many people. If I can work at all, I do it.

I think people should give as much notice as possible, however I have been in the position where I thought I was ok to work and waited and waited and then I realized I wasn't going to be ok and had to call out. And at my old work, it opens at 630am and there is no answering machine or voice mail, so you have to wait til 630 to call and talk to anyone. If there was a machine or something that would be different, then the employee should call as soon as possible.

As staff, I used to get time and a half back on any unused sick days, so I rarely called in sick. As management, all hell could, and likely would break loose if I wasn't there, so again, I did not often call in sick. Holidays were booked well in advance, and that was just company policy. Short notice sick days could be that morning, you turn up and a message light would be blinking, or the phone would ring as you enter the building. I was fine with that, people get sick, their kids get sick. It was only a problem if there were several on the same day, then things would get logistically interesting and we would have to get very creative!

i really think the respectful thing to do is to call as soon as possible. say you have to be at work at 3pm...most people, if they're sick, they WAKE UP sick. so if i woke up sick, and knew the office or where ever opened at 8am, i would call at 8am. or would call as soon as i woke up and leave a message on my boss' voicemail. you never never should wait til the last minute. it's rude, and disrespectful.

i try to give as much notice as possible but most of the time, i wait until the last minute because i try to give myself time to really see if i can get myself to the point where i feel well enough to come to work, then i will. sometimes when you call in sick way in advance, it'll just seem like it was something you planned all along and htat you're not really sick (but on vacation maybe?)

I wouldn't go to work sick. Sometimes I have waited longer, hoping that I will feel better. Usually I just call as soon as I know that i am sick. I don't think it is a very good idea to go to work sick. It just gets others sick, and in these days of superviruses, it's really not good to get other people sick.

I dont wait till the last minute before I call in sick for work. I mean, I already know that I'm not feeling well by the time I wake up, so why do I have to wait till the last minute to inform my bosses? Unless it's an emergency that no one can really foretell. But if it's just like fever, headache, or colds, nothing life threatening, then have the initiative to inform work early so that they can prepare also.

I think you should give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he really is sick and he was trying to see if he actually felt better by the time his shift comes. It's really hard to predict if we're going to come down with something. I know that I usually wake up in the morning feeling under the weather and I wake up around 6 and have to come to work around 8, so I only have 2 hours notice to my boss that I won't be coming in.

I always called as soon as I knew I wouldn't be able to make it in. If I had to be at work at 2 in the afternoon and I woke up that morning sick to my stomach then I would call my boss to let them know that I wouldn't be there. I think that is disrespectful to my employer as well as my co-workers to wait until the last minute to call off. I certainly wouldn't want someone to do this to me so I wouldn't do it to them.

Well i think there are two kind of people. Those who just calls in last minute because they are lazy and then there are those who are so responsible to their work that they hope to the last minute that they can make it to work. I'm the last kind. But really one should call as soon as one know that one is ill, and let them know that one might not beable to get to work later that day.

I feel your frustration. The best advice I can give as an employer is take one step at a time. Things happen in life that are uncontrollable and this may have been one. The job will still be there when you come in. We took our positions knowing that we are responsible for coverage and if they don't come in we can 1) go in and cover the shift or 2)deal with it in the morning. I'm not for sure what type of job you have -- but life is to short to stress about whether the employee is giving you a two hour or six hour notice -

It depends what is wrong with him. If he suddenly got ill then maybe he did call right when he knew. Sorry that you have to find someone to cover for him though. It stinks being a supervisor sometimes.

I call our HRD that i won't be able to come to work that morning since my work is not that complicated. But with the shifting schedule i think the employee should give out the warning way before the shift starts, your 4 hours notice is reasonable but in other circumstances like meeting an accident on the way to work i think you should be flexible enought with the situations.

It honestly depends on the situation. I've thought I was going to make it to work and started vomiting and feeling horrible on the way to the car to go. To wait when you already know you're too sick to go isn't very thoughtful though. You should call as early as you can and let your employer know so they can find another person to do the job.

Is it even possible that he could hav ebeen waiting to see how he felt in the later part of day? Hey may have not felt good in the morning but decided to wait to call until he was really sure he wasn't going to be able to make it. There have been times when i don't really feel good in the morning and will wait before i decide if its something i should really call in about. After all i wouldn't want to waste my bosses time calling around trying to find a replacement if i was able to go in. I think the other thing to think about is if this is his first time calling about being sick. if so then give a little slack if not well then he should have known better.