Everyone’s Off, and I’m On My Own

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We had a big install booked, new client, decent money on the line. One of the team was already signed off on holiday, but I’d checked the rota and figured we still had enough cover. So, I’m out on site early, ready to go. 

Then my phone started pinging. One after another: 
“Feeling rough, can’t come in.”
“Tried to get up, no chance.” 

Within half an hour, I’d lost half the crew. 

We didn’t have a proper sickness process. No formal return-to-work notes. No way to track how many sick days someone had already taken. No central place to flag last-minute gaps. I spent the day juggling calls, trying to move people around, apologising to the client. But we still missed the deadline. All that prep and planning undone before breakfast. 

Looking back, it wasn’t anyone’s fault. People get sick, that’s life. But without a system in place, one bad morning turned into a full-blown nightmare. 

SafeHR could’ve made it different. Sick days tracked in real time, last-minute absences flagged, and patterns highlighted before they became bigger problems. No more scrambling to cover shifts. 

With a proper absence policy built in, everyone would’ve known the drill from day one, how many paid sick days they had, how to report an absence, and what happened when they came back. No guesswork, just instant updates and a system that kept things running smoothly. 

Instead of firefighting on the day, SafeHR would’ve ensured absence management was proactive, not reactive.