[cgrealy]

It’s not just about “asking someone to be less sick”, you need to ascertain if there are other factors: are they over worked? is there a serious condition that you might need to support? Or conversely, is the sick leave legitimate? Some employees do abuse sick leave.

Either way, a good manager can work with the employee to get a good outcome for both parties.

[makeitdouble]

I completely agree with you on the overworked part, though it's a delicate situation if you're their direct manager and have to rely on them to report how much work they are doing. It happens (a lot more than we're willing to accept I think), and it becomes more a discussion on management than on the employee per se.

On the other parts, it might be a cultural difference: I'd expect all of those to be handled by HR.

For instance, specific work time adjustments, additional rest time due to a physical or psychological condition, family issues etc. are delicate and potentially private matter that go beyond the manager's supervision. The manager needs to be notified of the resulting discussions, but I wouldn't expect them to get all the details directly from the employee for instance.

That's also where the abuse of sick leave becomes a delicate issue to address at the manager level: companies have policies on how you justify the sick leave (doctor notes, medical bills etc.) or they let it open to the employee's judgement call. The former is clear cut, and abusing it means faking papers, so it's straight in HR territory. The later is more tricky, but I'd hate to be in a position where I have to hear the employee's story and decide if it's fake or not, potentially putting a the target on my back if the employee gets punished for actual issues I underestimated. It feels like a real shitty position to be in, I'd probably not bother confronting the employee except if they have literally dozens of sick leave days available.

[cgrealy]

> it might be a cultural difference: I'd expect all of those to be handled by HR.

Possibly. Generally, I'd only involve HR as a last resort. Go to them for guidance, certainly, but in terms of dealing with an employee, I prefer to talk to them directly.

> [abuse of sick leave]

Completely agree that it's a delicate situation and you need to be very careful, or (in some countries depending on employment law) you could be open to a claim of wrongful dismissal.

All of which is why I don't expect an AI to take over people management roles any time soon.