How to Call in Sick to Work

How to Call in Sick to WorkHow to Call in Sick to WorkWe all have days when we feel too ill to come to work. We also sometimes have days when we just want (or need) a day off, and decide to take a sick day. Whether or not you are actually sick, the process of calling in sick to work is the same. You want to let your boss know as soon as possible, and keep the explanation of your illness (or fake illness) very brief. Tips for Calling in Sick to Work Choose the right method for contacting your boss. While people use the stichwort call in sick, you might not actually need to call your boss on the phone. Instead, you might send an email, a letter, or even a text. Make aya you know what your bosss preferred method of contact is. Check out some sample sickness absence excuse letters and emails to help you write your own. Call as soon as possible. Let your boss know about your illness as soon as possible. If you are feeling very ill the night before and know you wont make it in to work, you can send your boss a message that evening. Otherwise, tell your boss first thing in the morning. Keep it brief. Dont go into great detail about your illness. No one wants to hear the details of your flu or stomach virus. Keep your message short and to the point. Let your gruppe know. Consider sending another message to your department or team letting them know that you will be absent. This is especially important if you are working on a team project, or have a deadline coming up. Make sure they know you will not be available that day. Explain your availability. Let your employer (and perhaps your team members) know if you will be able to respond to email or do any other work while you are home sick. If you are too sick to check your email, say so. Mention any important information. Similarly, let your boss and your team know if there is any information they will need to know that day. For example, you might tell your boss, I am sorry I am missing the staff-wide meeting at 2 p.m ., but Ellen should have all of the data from our department. This kind of information will keep others from struggling in your absence. Follow up. Make sure you know whether your company requires you to complete any sort of follow-up documentation. For example, some companies require employees to bring a doctors note. Tips for Calling in Sick When You Just Need a Day Off What if you dont feel sick, but you simply need a day to relax and recharge? Your best option is to take a personal day. However, not all employers offer these. For example, many jobs in retail and other hourly jobs do not offer personal days. In this case, one option is to call in sick. In this case, you still want to follow all the same steps. However, there are a few more things you will want to keep in mind. Think about your timing. It is easier to convince your boss you are really sick when you pick a random workday. However, if you pick a Monday or Friday (or a day right before or after a holiday), your b oss might be suspicious that you are simply trying to extend your weekend. If you dont care which day you take off, you might try a day between Tuesday and Thursday. Avoid a phone call. Unless you are confident you can lie to your boss over the phone, you might want to avoid a direct conversation with him or her. Instead, send an email or text (whatever is preferable to your employer). If your boss would prefer a phone call, try calling early in the morningit will increase your chance of being able to leave a voicemail instead of speaking to your boss directly. Keep it very brief. You always want to keep a call about your absence brief, but in this case, keep it very brief. The more you talk, the more you will be lying, and the better your chances of getting caught. Simply say you are calling in sick. If your boss asks more questions, answer them, but keep your answers short. There are some excuses that work better than others when you need a day off from work. Dont tell anyone you lied. Dont tell any of your coworkers that you were not really sick. Even if they are your friends, you run the risk that one of them might tell your boss (on purpose or even on accident). Be careful with social media. A lot of employees have gotten caught faking an illness due to social media. They say they are sick, then they post a picture of their day at the beach, and then their boss finds out. Avoid posting anything about your fun day off on social media. This will prevent any information from getting back to your boss. Work hard afterwards. After taking a day off work, you always want to work hard to catch up on any projects. This is especially the case if you took a secret personal day. Show your boss that you are still a committed team member who can work hard and get the job done.

These are the top reasons why people quit their jobs

These are the top reasons why people quit their jobsThese are the top reasons why people quit their jobsThat coworker of yours who just handed in his resignation and is striding towards the exit with his belongings in an old printer-paper box could be leaving the building for any number of reasons. Especially in this economic climate a tight labor market makes people bolder, and more willing to take risks to get the job they really want. Compensation software company Payscale presented new research in a white paper about the top reasons employees leave.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreThe top reasons people leave their jobs25% want more pay15% are unhappy at their current organization14% want to work at an organization more aligned with their values11% are relocating10% are unhappy their current position is not full-time7% want a promotion2% want a more flexible schedule15% oth erWhats better about the new job?Payscale then asked people who quit and found a new job what attracted them to that organization. The hands-down winner? Meaningful work.27% said the opportunity to do more meaningful work17% said increased responsibilities16% said increased pay for this position11% said workplace culture6% said nothing in particular, it was just a job6% said better benefits and perks5% said they wanted to work for a larger organization10% otherPeople generally find a new job that offers them what the last one couldntIt was found that the reason people leave is along the same lines with the reason that they take a new job. For example, with those who quit because they wanted higher pay, 38% of those respondents chose a new job that paid them more.And 46% of those who quit because they didnt have value alignment at their previous job chose a new organization because they would get to do more meaningful and engaged work.And for the group that quit because they wanted a promotion, 46% of respondents ended up with a job in a new organization that offered them more responsibilities.For those who quit with go-getting in mind, its a happy ending.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will ersatzdarsteller your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

At the intersection of food, influence, and leadership

At the intersection of food, influence, and leadershipAt the intersection of food, influence, and leadershipStill new to the art of deciding when to do what otzu sichs ask, children endearingly learn their usual way they play games.Simon says touch yur toes. Simon says do a jumping jack. Look at the sky. Laughter erupts as the pig-tailed girl eagerly looks up, then dissolves in giggles, realizing she goofed.For many of us, it was a rude awakening to become the boss. And we were elend giggling. We had imagined our new title would make us a grown-up version of Simon. So we started issuing requests. And learned fast that true power the ability to get things done through others - doesnt come on a silver platter along with the new business cards and office nameplates.The leader as hostageAs Harvard Business School professor Linda Hill puts it in her wonderful article, Becoming the BossNew managers soon learn that when direct reports are told to do something, they dont necessarily respo nd. In fact, the more talented the subordinate, the less likely she is to simply follow orders. (Some new managers, when pressed, admit that they didnt always listen to their bosses either.) After a few painful experiences, new managers come to the unsettling realization that the source of their power is, according to one, everything but formal authority.Or as one disillusioned manager put it in Hills article Becoming a manager is not about becoming a boss. Its about becoming a hostage.Todays need for complex corporate collaboration is rough on those comfortable with old-style command-and-control leadership. Colleagues juggle requests not just from their boss, but from other departments, leaders, suppliers, prospects, and clients. And they frequently have great discretion in how they handle those requests. They can tackle a task today - or next Tuesday. They can dive into an assignment with great creative gusto, or just cross the ts and dot the is in a perfunctory way.Factors incre asing that other IQ (influencing quotient)Odds are highest that people will do what a leader requests if she meets one or more the worlds most obvious power criteria if shes their boss if she has strong credentials if they know her rolleally and/or if she can inflict consequences for non-compliance.But there are far less blatant characteristics at work when it comes to weaving influence. If we scrutinize leaders who meet none of the above power criteria, yet who manage to change how we behave today, we stand to unearth powerful lessons on moving others in the directions wed like.Take one of my favorite behavior-changers Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivores Dilemma plus three other New York Times bestsellers. In 2010 he was the only food/ nutrition leader named to the magazines list of the worlds 100 most influential people. But his top influence credential is more personal he has changed what many of us put on our forks each day.Yet Pollan is not our boss. By his own admission, h is formal credentials are sketchy (hes got no nutrition degrees or research experience). We dont know him personally, and if we dont follow the food tenets in his books, there are no negative consequences.So why is Pollans influence in the food world so strong?In How Michael Pollan Actually Gets us to Listen to Him, Christine Champagne lays out five reasons people follow Pollans advice. Three of them offer leadership lessons to those of us who scramble hard on a daily basis to enlist others to do our bidding.1 SIMPLICITY In a world of shifting, often contradictory nutritional advice, Pollan is a breath of fresh uncomplicated air. Dont eat anything incapable of rotting. Or Dont eat anything your great-grandmother wouldnt recognize as food. Think Ronald Reagan and small government. Or Steve Jobs and great product design.2 HUMILITY Pollan is clear that hes out to learn, get his hands dirty, and succeed alongside us, not to lecture us or pose as the person with all the answers. To learn firsthand where our meat comes from, Pollan famously bought a 6-month old black steer in January 2002, then followed steer 534s life all the way to the slaughterhouse in June. As he puts it I dont think we like the voice of the omniscient I think we like much bettersomebody who is on a quest, and we want to know how it turns out. Leaders who highlight and celebrate how they and their teams are constantly learning create a great result more learning.3 DIRECT ENGAGEMENT Like many authors, Pollen admits to loving the solitude of writing. Yet like other successful leaders he pushes himself out the door (on a real and virtual basis) so others can get to know him wherever they are via Tv, magazines, at talks in lecture halls, on Twitter or Facebook, or on the street basically anywhere outside the book-writing ivory tower.Can these factors work for me?Can these 3 factors - which amplify Michael Pollans influence - make a difference for you and other leaders?Lets look at another highly influential voice in todays world of food drink that of Jim Koch, brewer of Sam Adams beer. Jim founded Boston Beer with his secretary in 1984 the company is now worth over $2 billion.Jim provides a living, breathing example of how leadership gains steam (or should we say, a rich head of foam?) when the three influencing factors described above are present. In a recent INC Video interview, simplicity, humility, and direct engagement are evident in spades in Jims responses.Simplicity We have a very simple rule about hiring that I think has enabled us to maintain a world-class group of people at Boston Beer Company. We never hire somebody unless they raise the average. If the answer is no, were not improving the company.Humility I never sold anything in my life until I had to put cold beer in my briefcase 31 years ago and go cold call on bars in Boston. I was scared to death. I didnt want to get out of bed the first day.Direct engagement On a new employees first day, I spend two h ours with them first thing in the morning talking about the companys mission, cultures, and values. Then at the end of the day, Ill spend another three hours with them tasting and discussing 30 different Samuel Adams beers. After about 20 beers, people feel really comfortable asking me any question they want.Yes, one way to a man (or womans) heart is still through his or her stomach, as evidenced by the number of Dunkin Donut boxes that find their way daily into corporate conference rooms.But when it comes to influence, simplicity, humility, and engagement beat donuts and even beer hands down. (Methinks Jim Koch credits the wrong substances for building loyalty and trust in him, including the courage to ask the Chairman crazy questions on ones first day of work. )So be sure youre dishing up generous servings of simplicity, humility, and direct engagement if youd like to get more done through others.And who doesnt?