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So this intern calls in sick at least once a month, sending a note in the morning. These were the last three occurrences:

"I woke up feeling unwell so I have to call in sick today" "I am calling in sick today since I do not feel good" "I woke up with a strong headache and won’t be able to work today"

We usually just respond back with "have a speedy recovery"

This is the only intern (from the five we have) exhibiting this characteristic.

How are you handling this?

Important info from the comments:

  • The company policy for interns is that they can call in sick any time. Since they get paid for the hours they log in, the company does not really care about the rest. However, in our team, no other intern calls in sick like this one. In fact, I don't remember other intern calling in sick! He's probably going by the said "Every law has a loophole"

  • This is a paid internship, and interns are paid by the hours they worked. There's no paid sick leave

  • Interns are performing meaningful work and have tasks with deadlines, but they don't perform any critical task. Organization does NOT relies heavily on interns

  • People who are sick are advised to stay at home and not to come to the office

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  • 16
    Please add a country tag. In my country, the average amount of days missed due to sickness was 15.2 in 2023. And those were paid. I can see nothing silly about being slightly below average as an intern. Especially if it is unpaid. Your country is probably very different, but to give you good advice, we need to know which it is. Im pretty sure you wold be left very unsatisfied with the advice I would give for my country.
    – nvoigt ♦
    Commented May 29 at 13:58
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    It's pretty clear that you don't believe these sick days are legitimate. May I ask you why? There is a lot of people who, unfortunately, get sick that often.
    – nicola
    Commented May 29 at 15:09
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    @ashler If you want to get results on time, please hire people instead of relying on interns.
    – nicola
    Commented May 29 at 16:12
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    @ashler It's a frame challenge answer. You need an intern to work reliably and consistently for a critical deliverable. This premise is incorrect. The intern shouldn't be relied on to produce mission critical work, instead you pay more for a qualified staff.
    – Nelson
    Commented May 30 at 2:44
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    @ashler Then they're not necessary and you don't pay them. What's the issue? They don't need to be there. You don't pay for their absence. Are you particularly concerned with this person's work ethics? Ok, why?
    – Nelson
    Commented May 30 at 16:59

7 Answers 7

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You don't need to do anything, there's nothing wrong with it.

He is not being paid for the time he takes off.

So, he is taking those days at his own expense, losing his own money, not the company’s. I fail to see the problem you're trying to "handle".

He may not take the job as "strictly" as he should, but as long as he works normally when he shows up, it's not really your business whether he stays home because he's sick or for another reason.

If you live in a place with laws similar to where I live (where you can't be fired without a justified reason), you are out of luck because being sick a lot is not a valid reason to fire someone.

There are 2 options for you to choose:

  • Just don't hire him (if 1 sick day a month is too much).

  • Find out why that is.

(The advice below might be illegal depending on where you live) Ask him to have a 1:1 meeting with you in a private place, and bluntly explain your problem/concerns, make it clear that if he doesn't provide an explanation he won't be hired, if the intern refuses to elaborate proceed to option 1.

If he does, and it seems like something your company can accommodate for (or he is just that good) hire him.

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  • 4
    This and also the fact that they are an intern, they probably are not very productive for the company anyway ( interns at every company I have ever worked for basically never did any meaningful work ).
    – sf02
    Commented May 29 at 16:18
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    Do note that even asking an employee about their medical conditions might not be legal, depending on where you are. In those places, a lawyer would have a field day if you threatened not to hire somebody if they don't disclose medical conditions. You would be allowed to ask for a note from a doctor (but even then there might be restrictions), but those would also just say they can't work and not why.
    – Dnomyar96
    Commented Jun 11 at 9:19
  • "So, he is taking those days at his own expense, losing his own money, not the company’s." - getting paid by the hour isn't a blanket reason to show up whenever. Sick leave is of course a different thing, and it may very well be justified, but in general not being paid for leave isn't reason enough to take unannounced leave whenever you want.
    – Maciej Stachowski
    Commented Jun 11 at 12:21
  • @MaciejStachowski It might depend on culture, but for interns, I don't even expect them to show up wearing shoes. They cost me 0 and in the worst case scenario produce 0 and move on, I just rate their work. It would be expected interns to also have more manoeuvrability around schedule since they aren't doing anything time critical. Even with that said, he doesn't need a reason, it's his right to do whatever he pleases and take on the consequences, of not being paid for that time, and possibly not hired by that company (that he might not even want).
    – Or4ng3h4t
    Commented Jun 11 at 13:14
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    @Or4ng3h4t in the worst case scenario an intern drains your team's resources on training, and in OP's case the intern is presumably paid (no point arguing over whether sick days are paid or not if you're unpaid in the first place...), so they don't exactly "cost zero". I agree you usually don't expect much from them in terms of immediate productivity, but handling a team member who may or may not show up on any given day is disruptive even if they don't do anything important.
    – Maciej Stachowski
    Commented Jun 11 at 14:18
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Just to recap the facts straight.

  • The intern actually just called sick a bunch of days. Given the "once per month" statement plus the usual length of an internship, a reasonable estimate is about 5-6 sick days in total.
  • OP considers being sick once per month a "silly" "behaviour".
  • OP's organization relies heavily on interns; there are 5 in OP's team and they handle apparently mission critical tasks, as inferred by the fact that it's hard for them handling 2 simultaneous intern leaves.
  • Intern's sick days are not paid.
  • OP brags about the fact that their organization exhibits the very bottom of human decency in allowing people with a bad flu to stay at home and not working.

Given the above, my recommendation for the OP:

  • Interns shouldn't tackle important tasks and your organization should be robust with respect interns' contributions. Aside for leaves, an intern could just be not good enough to produce a quality output, since it's their first work experience. The fact that 5-6 days off of one intern out of five is something you think you have to handle is a huge ring bell and it should help you realize that your organization has much bigger problems than dealing with an intern request for sick days.

I'm also seriously worried about your clients, that are paying for work carried out by interns, and interns themselves, towards whom your organization doesn't show any trust.

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    Yeah - seems the OP should consider replacing these interns with H1b foreign workers instead - they're easier to abuse. </sarcasm>
    – brhans
    Commented May 30 at 11:41
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    @ashler What you say perfectly corroborates the truth of "OP's organization relies heavily on interns". The simple fact that you are asking this question is evidence. Maybe "mission critical" might be exaggerated, but there is a clear mismatch between what an intern should do in a healthy company and what they actually do in yours.
    – nicola
    Commented May 30 at 13:00
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    IMO, for an internship to be valuable, it needs to be real work. Real work (and learning to do real work) has deadlines. That doesn't make it mission critical, that makes it a learning experience. A good intern would love the fact that their work could actually be meaningful and used by others.
    – cdkMoose
    Commented May 30 at 14:02
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    @cdkMoose I definitely agree with the deadlines. However, if you can not afford that interns miss a deadline, you are doing something wrong.
    – nicola
    Commented May 30 at 14:08
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    @cdkMoose If they ask a question about 5 sick days over 5 months of an intern, it simply means that they can not afford.
    – nicola
    Commented May 30 at 14:13
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Collate a list of the sickness periods and take a look to see if there's any patterns evident (being ill on Mondays, important meetings, progress report deadlines etc). This may give you an indication as to whether the sick leaves are genuine or whether they appear to be "get out of jail" cards.

Either way, present the intern with the dates, indicate that you're aware that they've been sick frequently and ask if things are ok and if they need any additional support. Having this conversation also lets you find out whether they're facing any issues in the work they've been given.

This lets them know that the sick times have been noticed and that you're doing the right thing in offering support if there's a continuing condition at play.

There's also the passive indication that you're noting how often the sick days are. If they're not genuine, the implication of being noted should stop things.

Although interns aren't by their nature working on critical pieces of work, they still should be mentored and guided into working in a professional manner. Although you could let them come and go as they please, this isn't really preparing them for the "real world" in terms of an ongoing career.

However, if you get the impression that they simply don't like the work and they're just there to get this placement out of the way before moving on to something else, that's another question.

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    I think the important thing to keep in mind is that this is an intern. That usually means a college student with their first work experience in their chosen field or profession. Making sure that they are ok and working with them to understand what is professionally acceptable for a sick day and when it's appropriate to work is important. Although it can vary company-by-company, this can be made into a good educational experience for the intern.
    – Thomas Owens
    Commented May 29 at 13:32
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    @ThomasOwens Exactly. So being presented with the list of absences and asking if more support is needed would hopefully be interpreted as a request for more professionalism, if the intern is in fact treating turning up to work as optional.
    – Boots
    Commented May 29 at 13:34
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    I don't get the "pattern" thing. It's not evidence that they are not legitimate. Maybe they have a periodic therapy (they might have a chemotherapy every given weekday), or maybe they have other conditions that intensify during stress periods. The rest of this answer is good, but the first paragraph does not address anything, but just reinforces OP's prejudice that the intern is faking.
    – nicola
    Commented May 29 at 15:15
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    This. This person is an intern, so presumably there's some expectation that they'll be receiving some training - they're not yet ready to take on a "real job in the real world". Part of that training should be around some of the "soft skills" which go into a real job. So letting this person know that their absences have been noticed and that the frequency they're occurring is not expected is one of the things they're going to have to learn before the internship ends and they get a real job with potentially higher expectations.
    – brhans
    Commented May 29 at 20:32
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    @nicola - It's pretty standard practice for a company to look at patterns for absenteeism/sickness abuse. I get completely that there might be reasons for this, hence me suggesting that the employee/intern may need support - none of my answer here is accusational in nature, it's all about supporting the employee. However, interns (and new employees) should be learning that work isn't optional and that sick days aren't free holidays. If there's an underlying need for these days to be taken, it needs to be discussed with the employee/intern and not simply shrugged off.
    – Boots
    Commented May 30 at 7:12
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There are two ways of viewing an internship.

From the company's point of view it's partly cheap (if minimally skilled) labor and partly an extended interview/promotional process, trying to find good candidates and encourage the best to stay after the internship is over (which is why it isn't just cheap labor; you want them appropriately challenged and engaged so they want to continue).

From the intern's point of view it's also an extended interview, an extended exposure to what it's really like to work in this field, and an exposure to workplace culture and expectations (if they didn't have that previously).

So for both the intern's sake and the company's, if there is really an attendance problem without legitimate reasons, management should make sure the intern understands that this could reflect badly on whether they get an offer, and could adversely affect their career if it continues after being hired. If it was seriously bad, even interns can be fired.

HOWEVER:

  1. As others have said, make sure your expectations are appropriate. The fact that someone is having legitimate health issues during a relatively short time should not be considered a failure.

  2. The recent epidemic has taught us that people probably should be more proactive about staying home if they think they might be infectious rather than risking disease transmission to others; "toughing it out" is not necessarily the best thing for the company. Again, that should not be considered a failure.

  3. If you pay hourly, and pay low, and the employee isn't engaged with/excited by the work and doesn't absolutely need the money and doesn't think they are likely to come back, you are not likely to see a great deal of effort to work every possible hour. In that case the question is whether the failure is the intern's, or the company's. The internship program may need work, either in candidate selection or in how it uses interns.

So: start by understanding if there is really an issue rather than unreasonable expectations. If there is an issue, discuss it with the intern to understand what the issue is rather than making assumptions about it. After that discussion, manager and intern should have something like a reasonable understanding of what, if anything, should be done about it. Repeat that discussion if necessary. If you can't reach agreement, don't hire at the end of the internship. If they really aren't justifying even intern hourly wages, manager should give them a warning and then fire if necessary.

If you are the manager: Manage.

If you aren't the manager: let the manager manage.

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How are you handling this?

At the end of the internship, I don't hire an intern who hasn't demonstrated that they would be a good employee.

If you feel the absences are excessive, that's a bad sign.

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    Translation: people that get sick often, don't deserve a job. I simply don't get why basically everyone here accepts blindly OP's framing rather than acknowledging the simple fact that people with serious health issues exist.
    – nicola
    Commented May 30 at 3:09
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    @nicola, people with serious health issues need to let their employer know, if they expect accommodation. If you hide that fact, you can't fault the employer for not taking care of you. Excessive absence isn't a problem when there is a known cause, but it's a two way street.
    – cdkMoose
    Commented May 30 at 14:06
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    @cdkMoose Maybe it's a cultural issue here, but we are talking about interns, non standard, full time employees. From the moment that you don't pay sick leave, an intern has no obligation towards the employer - and that's exactly because it's a two way street.
    – nicola
    Commented May 30 at 14:41
  • I also read "if they expect accommodation". I don't see any expectations from the intern here. Where did you see that? It's not an "accommodation" to be able to not work for no pay when you are sick (it's incredible that it should be specified though).
    – nicola
    Commented May 30 at 14:49
  • @nicola you are an intern to learn how to do a job, so you need to get feedback if what you do would be problematic as a normal employee. And often being an intern is an opportunity to feel each other out - so if there are aspects that the employer might feel concerned about when committing to the employee they better be addressed beforehand, otherwise the safe thing for the company to protect its interests AND the interests of the potential new employee's colleagues (who might have to deal with fallout from sudden absences) is to not hire.
    – Frank Hopkins
    Commented May 30 at 19:32
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What is your role? If you are not a manager, then your job is to do nothing.

If it is a manager, do not recommend the intern for hire unless they are so good at their job this minor inconvenience can be overlooked. An internship is like a first date or two. You are both feeling each other out, and in many industries is more the responsibility of the employer to attract the intern.

Given that the internship will likely end soon, they let that be the natural course.

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  • The internship will end in 9 months.
    – ashler
    Commented May 29 at 14:40
  • @ashler are they good/great or average at their job? Does their salary come out of your budget?
    – Pete B.
    Commented May 29 at 14:51
  • average at most. salary comes from our organization's budget.
    – ashler
    Commented May 29 at 14:55
  • @ashler so get what you can out of this person and do not recommend for hire. No biggie.
    – Pete B.
    Commented May 29 at 15:01
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    @PeteB. give this intern a bad recommendation and possibly negatively alter their entire career just because they're sick a little more often than normal? Sounds like an overreaction to me. OP should at least have a talk with them about it, I can think of a dozen possible explanations that wouldn't merit a penalty.
    – InBedded16
    Commented May 29 at 15:51
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You want to have your cake and eat it too.

You want to nickle and dime the interns by paying per hour, but are also unhappy when they exercise the freedoms you gave them in regards to work hours by not working all the possible hours.

So decide what is important to you having interns work full time or paying the minimum

Adjust your policy and expectations accordingly.

Remember what is good for the goose is good for the gander.

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