for context: i’m a supervisor at a small company. the company is divided into 5 separate offices that each have their own 2-4 person teams but have one shared remote manager. i previously worked with only one other employee who called out 1-2 times per week for 3 months straight. my manager did nothing about this because the employee always said it was because her kid was sick, which i also have sympathy for, but at the same time it was wearing on me because in our line of work calling out means the other person has to cover everything for you (nothing can just sit for a day) so it’s double the workload.
my manager eventually hired a new employee to help balance the workload because our company grew a bit so there was more to do, and because the original employee was continuing to call out so much. the new person has only been here 5 weeks and today is her 3rd time calling out due to being sick.
no other office at our company has this issue and my manager isn’t doing anything to address it, all the extra work just keeps landing on me. i’m trying to be understanding but i really just want a reliable coworker to carry their own workload on a consistent basis.
maybe i’m sensitive to it because its been an ongoing issue with the other employee, but is 3 call outs in 5 weeks a lot? would there be repercussions for this behavior in any other company?