Sick Days - How sick is sick enough?

[merithyn]

Because illness is such a huge deal these days to many people, I'm curious to know how Languish handles illness. How sick do you have to be in order for you to stay home from work or school?

Personally, I hate staying home from work unless it is impossible to do my job due to illness. That being said, I don't think it's fair to expect others to go to work with a fever or serious head cold, so what I expect of others is much lower than what I expect of myself.

How about you guys?

[Ed Anger]

Personally, I hate staying home from work unless it is impossible to do my job due to illness.

Thank you for giving everybody else the flu. Dick.

[DGuller]

If I'm too sick to be productive at work, I stay home.  There is no point in wallowing in your misery at work.  The good thing is that my work has no true sick days, we just get more personal days in exchange, so that should avoid situations where your sickness is second-guessed by your bosses.

[Iormlund]

Either too sick to work or too contagious to wander around the office are enough.
An exception is taking medication or suffering symptoms that make driving a hazard. That alone makes me stay at home.

[Martinus]

I hate idiots who go to work while sick and then end up giving the entire office the disease.

[merithyn]

But the work has to get done, right? And who else will do it while the person is sick?

What's interesting is that I had a supervisor who claimed to feel the same way but gave me the silent treatment for days if I called in sick. She didn't like answering the phones or helping out, and when I wasn't there, she had no choice. So while she said to stay home when we were sick, she meant don't be sick.

And she was by no means alone. This was the case at several jobs I've worked at.

[DGuller]

I guess it also depends on how needed you are right at that moment.  Obviously if you have three important meetings on that day, you'll just have to come no matter what.

[Martinus]

Then work from home or arrange someone to replace you or postpone the meeting etc. The "I will come to work looking like death and sneeze at everyone" is the easy solution, and it is also a cretin's solution.

[DGuller]

Then work from home or arrange someone to replace you or postpone the meeting etc. The "I will come to work looking like death and sneeze at everyone" is the easy solution, and it is also a cretin's solution.

There is nothing easy about coming to work looking like death.

[garbon]

Yes, I have a tendency to go in because my work discourages working from home (although we've many employees who always work remotely).  That said, I also am typically low on sick days if I can manage a day where I can escape from doing work.

[Martinus]

Well, my work discourages that too, as most do. That's why I said it isn't easy, but it is the sensible thing to do - both to yourself and to others.

Doing the stupid thing because you are too cowardly to do the right thing or too lazy to come up with a satisfactory alternative solution is still stupid.

[Martinus]

For the record, I am not saying you should call in sick whenever you sneeze. Nor I am saying that if you are sick, you should just call in sick, and turn off your phone and go to bed ignoring the outside world.

Most likely, you will have to spend a lot of your time on the phone or e-mail anyway, making sure everyone is happy, delegating your work to your coworkers, explaining the situation to the boss etc. So most people just figure out they can't be arsed and go to work sick instead - but that's dumb and lazy.

Now, if you put an effort into it, your boss will understand unless he or she is a complete idiot - but then you wouldn't want to work for one that is.

In short: nobody is irreplaceable (we have a saying in Polish that cemeteries are full of irreplaceable people) and your work will not collapse if you are not there for a few days.

[grumbler]

I will go with those who say that one should stay home unless "productivity is near zero or one could infect fellow workers."  Having said that, I have always loved my jobs, enjoy extremely good health, and can count the total number of sick days I have taken in my life on one hand.

What pisses me off is that I don't take any of the five "personal days" that I have coming to me each year.  Each year, I determine that I will take them, but I never do, because there is always a reason why my students will "suffer" if I am not there to teach that lesson.  Better planning on my part would eliminate this concern, but I always out that off.  It isn't like I get any gratitude from my bosses for not taking sick days or personal days.

[Martinus]

I will go with those who say that one should stay home unless "productivity is near zero or one could infect fellow workers."  Having said that, I have always loved my jobs, enjoy extremely good health, and can count the total number of sick days I have taken in my life on one hand.

What pisses me off is that I don't take any of the five "personal days" that I have coming to me each year.  Each year, I determine that I will take them, but I never do, because there is always a reason why my students will "suffer" if I am not there to teach that lesson.  Better planning on my part would eliminate this concern, but I always out that off.  It isn't like I get any gratitude from my bosses for not taking sick days or personal days.

Sounds like you are a workaholic.

[merithyn]

Not all jobs can be done from home. In fact, until my current position, none of my jobs could be done from home, and while others could do it, most often it required calling someone in to take the shift. If you didn't find someone, you HAD to come in, period. It was the policy of the place. (And this was when I worked for a hospital, too. )

So it's a bit easier to say that one should sacrifice by staying home, but that isn't always an option.