Are workers taking undue advantage of sick leaves? Are they faking sickness to avoid work? Well, what better way to find out than by visiting their homes? Yes, managers of Tesla’s factory in Germany are actually visiting the homes of workers who have called in sick to check the genuineness of their claims.
Germany has a policy that allows employees fully paid leave of six weeks in case of sickness. However, it has been observed that the number of workers taking sick leave on Fridays is about five per cent more than on other days. Also, it has been noticed that more workers working night shifts tend to take sick leave. Moreover, the Tesla factory has been witnessing a lot of absenteeism in recent times, with absenteeism increasing by 17 per cent in August, which is three times the average in the auto sector of Germany. This spike has led Elon Musk, CEO, Tesla to also consider investigating the issue.
The workers’ union maintains that the sick leaves have increased due to poor work conditions and tremendous workload. The managers, however, say that their analysis has led them to believe that these employees are not taking sick leave because of working conditions being unfavourable; the conditions, after all, remain the same throughout the week and across all shifts. Therefore, it is clear that at least some workers are merely taking advantage of the German leave policy.
Some media reports say that Tesla is known to penalise workers who take sick leaves, which has been the major cause of attrition at its factories.
