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Treefrog Handbook

Sick

Five (5) sick days is an acceptable industry norm. If you need more than this, we need to talk about why.

All full-time Frogs who have successfully completed their three (3) month probationary period will be entitled to five (5) paid sick days per calendar year. In cases where the Frog takes three (3) or more days continuous sick leave, a doctor’s note must be given to his or her pod leader. Treefrog reserves the right to request medical documentation in support of a Frog’s absence at any time.

Should a Frog require or take more than five days per year without written documentation and/or Treefrog’s approval, the time taken will be unpaid.

Part-time and temporary Frogs will not be paid for sick time.

Frogs cannot carry over unused sick leave days or trade them for vacation time.

If you take a sick day, you need to log it at http://holidays.treefrog.ca or contact Tina so she can update it for you.

Get Better, For Goodness’ Sake

Especially during winter, we need to ensure that we minimize the issues of chronic team collapse due to sickness usually around flus and colds. As we are a high-production, high-energy team in close quarters and regular contact, sickness can decimate our productivity. There are several critical things to consider:

  • If you are sick, you need to get better and allow your body the time to overcome the problem.
  • If you are sick, you need to not pass it on to other Frogs.
  • If your child is sick, you should look after them.

There are several types of being sick;

  • Really Sick - Oh my God I am dying kill me now.
  • Kinda Sick Coldie Fluie - sniffle I feel terrible but can still work because I do not want to use a sick day sniffle. (>75% sick)
  • Broken/Busted - My foot/hand/body is broken, but my mind works so I can do mental things when the painkillers calm down.
  • Bummed I’m bummed out. I’m gonna push email around at home.

Different types of sicknesses have different policies:

Really Sick
  • If you are bed-ridden, ride the bed. Do not force yourself to work. The world will continue, and we will survive.
  • Get better and we will talk about it when you get back to work if you are over you sick-day allotment. If possible, let your Pod Leader know what to expect ASAP so they can work around you.
Kinda Sick Coldie Fluie
  • If you have a communicable illness, if there is any chance you can pass it on, please do not come to work. But, if you can work at 75% capacity or above, we still need you to work so work from home.
  • We have arranged for practically everyone to be capable of doing work at home. If you do not have a mechanism to work effectively from home, please let me know and we will solve it for you. Working from home means at least 75% productive, a definition you choose for yourself. When you are working from home, communicate regularly and effectively to the team. Otherwise, your work may be in vain.
  • If you are getting sick, rest. If you are in the final stages of getting better, work.
Broken/Busted

We will work with you, within reason, to get you well and back to work as soon as possible. Ideally, you work as much as you can while getting better.

Bummed Out

See workfromhome

Children/Parents and Sickness

We love our kids and sometimes having a sick child really sucks. It happens to parents as well. The Treefrog Family includes extended family under the umbrella of Frog Love. We will have wasted our lives in vain if we do not look after our kids when they are sick so it is understandable that you may need to stay home to look after sick kids.

If you are capable of being at least 75% productive while your child is sick, great - you can work from home. If you cannot get work done because your child is that sick, then take a sick day. Make sure you communicate effectively to the rest of the team what you are doing and do not let it cripple your productivity. Problem solved.

Of course, if your child is sick, chances are you might get sick and that may mean the whole team is going to get sick as a result. Therefore, think hard about what you are doing for the next week, and ensure that you are prepared for the inevitable.

Partial Days

No, we do not want an administrative nightmare of trying to count partial days. But I also do not want to get into a situation where someone feels like working, then drops out because they start to feel sick again, etc. You should work when you can, and not work when you cannot. The stupid 8-hour-day, as defined in 1810 by Robert Owen, is a complete metaphysical, meaningless construct anyway.

For the most part, we do not want to become a crazy hell-hole of bureaucratic paperwork. But if you wish, we will split up days into half-sick-days if that would help. Ergo, you can work a half-sick day if you want, just let Tina know.

Even easier, if you want to work a half-day because you are looking after a loved one, then just make it up at another time. It is not worth the administrative hours to fuss with, and we have a great system, Frogweb, to lean on.

“Frog Blog Day”

If you are sick but are still able to work from home, you may request a “Frog blog day” and blog from home. You must track your time on “Frog web” if you are blogging.

  • Be sensitive to the fact that you have a brain-related job and sickness prevents you from doing your job properly. Do not, for example, lick the walls, or kiss random sick people. Tina needs to be emailed or copied directly if you are sick. She is responsible for updating sick time in the holiday system and Frogweb. Tina needs to know if you take a full sick day or partial so she can update your hours accurately in Frogweb. Remember, you may be required to provide a doctor’s note. Also, if you are going to be off sick for a week or two, we may want to have a discussion about EI. We pay into it so we should take advantage of it.