My Frustration

One of the things I find the most difficult in my job is dealing with employees... I know it's part of the job and I like to think I have become a lot better at it, but sometimes I cannot believe people can make life so complicated.

Lately we have been suffering a lot of sickness. Each week at least 1 person is sick and mostly it's more than 1. Consequence is an immense pressure on the rest of the staff, especially now we aren't there as much. We have a great group and when everybody is fine, it's a lot of fun! Personal problems just seem to arise more and more.

I really detest the Dutch system. Why should employers pay for sick staff, when the illness has nothing to do with the job? And if someone is unable to work, you can pay for 2 years... This is really tough on the small companies. These regulations are supposed to protect employees, but IMO it backfires, because who wants to hire someone if you have to pay for 2 years when they get sick? Or when you get into a conflict and the employee stays home faking a burn-out? Consequence is, we are forced to offer more and more min/max contracts (0 hours) and that is not profitable for the employees at all. Ugh. Can you tell I'm frustrated? I would like to offer our staff steady employement, but with all the regulations, we just can't afford it.