Like goddamn, it was just a minor cold, nothing serious, I just needed to stay at home and rest, not trek out to a doctor and infect other people on public transit on my way to the doctor. There wasn't anything the doctor could do anyway other than just tell me to take some Panadol for the low grade fever, which I was doing anyway.
If it had happened again I would probably have just gone to work sick because of the silly system. I should decide if and when I need to see a doctor, not my employer. Considering how well-educated people were at the company I was at, there's no reason to not trust people when they say they need rest.
In Singapore we have the MC requirement but I’ve been with the company 9 years so I just tell my boss when I’m sick. Don’t bother seeing doctor. Unless I’m sick for a few days with no feeling of getting better than I go and take time off work at that point.
I generally didn't understand at all the bureaucratic trust issues in such a well-educated place where most people were trustworthy to start with.
Why not just give them enough PTO so they can get a few long weekends here and there, and they won't need to lie.
The problem is that people will have a huge party weekend then be hungover on Monday, or want to spend Friday getting the party started. And they decide this at the last minute, so they take a sickie instead of planning in advance. Often you cannot take AL ~1-2 weeks, you need to plan it out in advance.
Why? Do they at least allow unpaid negative sick leave? Some surgeries and heart operations and things need a month to recover.
Pooling it IMO isn't always the best result. The problem is that the people who get sick a lot are the ones who also get a lot of work stress, the work stress compounds into more sickness due to lost sleep / lost vitamin D / etc., and they are actually the ones who need the holiday time the most. People who have zero health issues probably have good work life balance already, at least enough to get exercise, eat healthy, and sleep well, and although they too deserve holiday, they need it less than the people who are already exhibiting the symptoms of overworking (lots of body issues).
Especially in the US where many only have 2 weeks of paid leave, or in many cases, 0 weeks.
Most jobs have at least: 4 weeks paid leave (annual) 2 weeks sick leave (which may require a note depending on company policy) 12 months parental leave for new/adoptive parents 6 weeks of Long service leave after 7 years, growing at the rate of roughly one week per year thereafter In addition to this we have 13 days of public holiday
Source: Australian employment lawyer
Lots of things that in London would be buy online, same/next day delivery were, in Singapore, have an in person, shake some hands, sign a bunch of contracts and then wait two months for delivery. On the other hand, they have things like Sim Lim Square, which initially seemed like an anachronism to me (like Tottenham Court Road in the 90s), but then when contrasted to ecommerce situation there, I kind of understood it.
Paying for things was confusing, most shops had 3 or so readers for different payment systems, and sometimes things that were supposed to work didn't (e.g. Google Pay or NFC). The details are long and confusing and involve lots of acronyms like NETS, ENETS, EFTPOS, etc. but overall I wasn't impressed.
In fintech specifically (my area), their regulators have a bunch of rules that basically force you to do things the old fashioned way.
But then I learned that they passed the electronic signature act in 2010 and it only applies to some signatures - purchase orders, but not property leases, letters of intent but not company founding documents. Everything else needs to be on paper and often needs a company stamp.
The US, which I wouldn’t have considered that cutting edge, passed an electronic signature act 10 years earlier and it applies to pretty much everything.
It’s just one example, and yes, many Asian countries can’t let go of their paper copies and wet signatures, but still leave the US in the dust in other ways, but I thought it was fascinating where countries have challenges moving to more efficient processes.