Why are jobs so strict on the calling in policies?

Question

I just feel like it's dumb. I called in an hour before my shift today because I was throwing up all morning and almost up all night. I wasn't about to call in when my stomach couldn't keep anything down for more than 20 minutes. So I waited until I was a little better and called. They say you should call in 2 hours before your shift and got angry. Like ummm I can't help that I'm throwing my guts up. And with some other jobs it's worse like having 24 hours in advance. How are you supposed to know you're sick a day before it happens?

Ron Akia · Answer

As a former employer, my stores had to be open during their open hours. If an employee was sick I expected them to call me in order to find a replacement prior to the store being open. Likewise, when the day shift was relieved by the night shift, the night employee was required to be on time or provide sufficient notice. The same situation would exist in industry as the assembly line must remain in production.

Elaine M · Answer

They are running a business,  they need full staff to do it.  This isn't a friends gathering.

n2mama · Answer

As soon as you vomited the first time you should have known you weren’t going in to work. So you had all night to call in. Jobs have call in policies because they have to try and cover when people don’t come in, and an hour is pretty inadequate to find someone to cover or to scramble the existing schedule to fill the gap. If you don’t like it, you are free to find a different job. Note that professional level jobs don’t have the same type of requirements for being sick.

A Hunch · Answer

You call in when you have made the decision that you aren't going to go to work.
This allows them more time to find them a substitute.
You just said that you had "20 minutes" that you weren't throwing up and calling in takes just a couple of minutes.

? · Answer

Just do the best you can with this. In fairness to your job, I'll bet there are lots of people who call in at the last moment and fake being sick, just because they didn't feel like going in today.

Sandy · Answer

if you threw up all night, just call in then, so you can have the rest of the day off to deal with it. put yourself in the place of your co-workers, who have to rearrange their stations and schedules when someone calls in. it's just very inconvenient and inconsiderate. those rules are there so the supervisors can rearrange things in time for the least disruption for the whole staff. if you don't want people angry at you, just follow the rules. or are you one of those passive/aggressive people desperate for attention, even negative attention? GROW UP!!

? · Answer

Many places are strict simply because its so hard to find replacements for last-minute call-outs.  It can disrupt operations.

Why are jobs so strict on the calling in policies?

7 Answers