Sick Days

[susans]

How sick to you have to be to call in sick (on real sick days not mental health days!).  

Sore Throat?
Fever?
Headache?
Heavily Congested?

Then do you go in and infect everyone, or do you stay home?  How do you decide?

[peaches2160]

If I am running a fever then I do not go in.  Sore throat, headache, but no fever, I just gargle with salt water and take some advil.  Usually feel better.  Symptoms like nausea/vomiting, I stay home.  Congestion depends on how bad it makes me feel.  

[gee4]

If I cannot physically get out of bed to shower and wash my hair then I know I am too sick to make it into work.  That has only happened during 2 sick periods when I was very ill with flu.  

Normally if I have a sore throat or a cold I will go into work.  In my last job we did not get paid in our first year of employment if off sick which I think is wrong as this encourages people to bring germs into work.

[misslynn]

I stay home when I'm starting to feel sick, I know if I can take care of myself before I'm fully sick then I can usually avoid it (and I won't infect anyone in the office).  But I have full capability to work from home so even staying home I still work a full day.  To actually take a full day off for being sick, I don't remember the last time that happened.

[diamondlady]

Unless I have a fever, or know it's something contagious and have too take antibiotics for, I'm home until they kick in.  Otherwise, I'm in the office working thru it.  I"d rather be in the office and working, then bored and miserable.

Diamondlady
Peer Moderator

[spitfire78]

Headache - will keep working.

Sore throat - I'll keep working but I let everyone know that I am coming down with something - as that is usually my first symptom of a cold.  That way, everyone has the option of staying away from me when I may potentially be contagious. I wash my hands continually as well, in an effort to try to keep from spreading germs.  I also make a great effort to do as much work as I can in case I have to stay home for a day or two.

Fever - I wouldn't even consider working.  My health is far more important to me than my job and no way would I jeopardize that by working with a fever.

Congestion - I definitely stay home during the worst of it for a couple of reasons.  One is that I don't feel comfortable being there while I am constantly sneezing and blowing and generally look and feel awful.  The other is that I strongly believe that it is not fair to my co-workers to spread the germs.

A big pet peeve of mine is people who insist on coming into work while sick and spreading their germs.  No one is so indispensible to their job that they cannot be off for a day or two.  And we have an exceedingly generous sick policy - 1 sick day per month, which can be accumulated up to 90 sick days.  In my book, there is absolutely no reason for someone to come to work here while sick.  A good friend of mine had a serious accident and was out of work for 3 1/2 months.  She used only sick time and never had to touch her short term disability.  And still had a couple of sick days remaining in her bank when she returned!  Now, that is an exceptional sick policy and certainly one that should be used if one is sick.

Edited by spitfire78 on 03/09/08 08:16 PM.

[gee4]

Spitfire, are you saying you are allowed to be sick 90 days in one 12 month period?  

Wow!  That is almost unheard of.  I know civil servants in NI who abuse the sick poilicy and whatever their sickness allowance, they feel entitled to use it.

In my opinion that just encourages people to use up their sickness entitlement for petty illnesses or as an excuse to have a day off.

Is this monitored in any way?

[peaches2160]

We accrue sick days at a rate of 4 hours per month.  I did not use any sick time for a year and a half.  I can't afford to be out sick unless it is a real true illness.  I bank the sick time so I can use it during a real illness/emergency.  Right now, I have over 130 hours in my bank.  It will continue to grow until I need it.  We can also use sick time to care for loved ones.  I recenly used a day when mother had to have outpatient surgery.

[spitfire78]

Gee, that is exactly right.

We accrue days at the rate of 1 sick day per month.  Our benefits year runs 7/1-6/30.  Any unused sick days rollover to the next benefits year.  You can accrue more than 90 but can only rollover 90 days.  For instance, I started 7/1 with 90 days.  Because I have not used anything in July and August, I now have 92 days in my bank.  If I don't use any for the rest of the year, I would have 102 days left on 6/30/09.  However, because we can only rollover 90 days, on July 1, I will again have 90 days in my bank.  

There are some restrictions on it.  If you are out more than 3 consecutive days, you need to present a doctor's note.  Up to 3 of the days can also be used for the illness of a family member.  Supervisors do have a bit of discretion with this.  I think for some employees, these requirements are waived.  I have also heard of instances where supervisors required a doctor's note for EVERY absence - this would only be for someone abusing the system.

And, yes, there are a few that abuse the system.  I believe, though, that it is surprisingly few.  There are a lot of people here like me who have the maximum amount in your bank.  As was proven when my friend had her accident, it is a wonderful thing to have.  She was out for 3 1/2 months.  She kept in touch with her supervisor periodically and provided a doctor's note on her return.  There was no paperwork to fill out and nothing to worry about.  Her time was just listed as sick time and the paychecks kept coming.  She actually had a few days left in her bank when she returned!

That is why I am so adamant that people who are sick stay home.  There is really no reason for anyone to have to come in and infect everyone with such a generous sick policy.  The exception would be someone who had a legitimate reason to have used all of that sick time.

[Atlanta Z3]

It depends on the work schedule, I've been known to go in very sick to clear something off my desk for a boss and usually get told to go home.  Knock wood I haven't been sick lately.  sniffy or headache go to work - day time tv sucks!
Food poisoning type illness - stay home (if you catch my drift).
It's a catch 22 you don't want to infect the office (where I probably caught it in the first place) but taking too many sick days is usually frowned upon.  If I'm running a fever and feel REALLY bad I stay at home.

[raindance]

I rarely take time off sick.  My yardstick, I suppose, is whether I can really be effective at work and how infectious my condition is.  I've had some serious illnesses, but these, thankfully, are fairly rare.  

With regard to minor conditions -  cold is one thing, but running a temperature, influenza (proper influenza, which I have only had twice in my life), etc is quite another matter.  Additionally, I have a journey of over an hour in each direction to and from work.  So, if I can take simple home remedies, go to work and still be effective, then that's fine; if not, then I stay at home.  

[itsme_calista]

I's a firm believer in "if sick stay home" purely from the point of view that having a child with no immune system means if I get something then she is likely to pick it up too! However, it's an extreme and personal view rather than our company one.  I have an office to myself so I'm likely to go in and work through a cold or headache, upset stomachs I stay home for, and sore throats does depend on how bad it is.

Our company policy is 0 paid sick days during year 1, during year 2 = 10 days, year 3 = 15 etc upto a max of 25 although payment is discretionary with each Director.   I've not been paid fully for the 8 weeks off I've had (ouch) and do feel a bit aggrieved by it as my previous boss would have paid me as it was essential surgery not just a general illness, this boss declined me  but hey ho!  They also involve an occupational health nurse for absences over 6 weeks.

[viviennenoyle]

For me, it depends how bad I actually feel when I get up that morning.  Sometimes, even with a cold, I feel okay to go in and then discover when I get there that my brain is barely functioning and I start making stupid mistakes.  In those circumstances, I make it clear that I'm not well and generally take the next day or two off until I know I can do my job effectively again.

Anything stomach related, I stay at home until it clears up.