Do you go to work when you are sick?

[susans]

I recently read an article on going to work when sick.  I admit today I have a horrible flu so as I sit here with my sore throat, congestion, and just feeling 1/10th here I think this is the perfect question to ask!  Do you go to work sick?  If so, when do you call the line and know to stay home.

[gee4]

Unless I physically could not get out of bed and walk to work, then I would be off sick.  Haven't had a day's sick in prob 5 years.

G

[carolmmarch]

Because I'm backup to our receptionist I find that a lot of times that I am sick I come in to work anyway.  Depending on the sickness - sometimes I take a 1/2 day / sometimes I stay all day.  When I wake up in the morning sick and find it extremely hard to get out of bed then I'll stay home.  

I think going to work when sick shows devotion & loyalty - but also you take the risk of getting other people sick.

Carol

[raindance]

I take very little sick leave, and my boss doesn't take much sick leave either.  We are lucky where I work - we have generous sick leave allowance if we need it, but I prefer not to take sick leave if I can avoid it.   The Authorities where I work will sit up and take notice if you have lots of odd days off (the flashpoint is 20 days in a year) and also if there is a suspicious number of Friday/Monday sick days.  

In the past four years I have had one day off.  I had a dreadful cold last week and felt, like you Susan, about a tenth here much of the time, but still managed to work through it.  I'm not a martyr, but there isn't anyone to take my place at the moment, and we have some really important projects going through that require my attention.  On the other hand, I'm not indispensable.  I guess I take leave if I am ill enough to warrant a trip to the doctor and he signs me off.

It rather depends on the place where you work.  I used to work in a hospice, and those of us who had patient contact were SENT home if we had so much as a cold.


Raindance

[diamondlady]

My determining factor is if I have a fever or not.  If I have a fever, I have no choice, I stay home regardless.  Fortunatley, that doesn't happen very often.  But, on the other hand if I have other problems that I can't be away from the house for very long, I'll stay put awell.

Most of the time, if I have a cold, I go to work.  Knock on wood, I haven't had my yearly Spring cold yet.  I've been taking claritin to help with that, and it seems to be working nicely.  It's just in the Spring and Fall when I get my seasonal colds.  So the doctor said to try taking Claritin for a while til things settle down.  Then I can stop.  I don't take it in the summertime.

Diamondlady
Peer Moderator

[susans]

I agree  the fever is my determination as well.  I have noticed (not just this cold but many) they tend to get worse at night and if I just get to work I start feeling much better as the day go by.   I do admit I tend to put off calling people unless I need to though.  I return calls but will delay any I have to make.

[countrigal]

I definitely go to work sick, more times than naught.  My sick leave is being used for when I have to be off for sick babies (we have a family leave act which allows us to use our SL for tending sick loved ones) and with 2 boys that are in daycare and catching EVERYTHING, I need all my hours I can get for their sicknesses.  Now, if I'm running a fever (noticeably) then I stay home, but stay the minimum amount of time before returning to work.

CountriGal
Peer Moderator

[spitfire78]

Well, I guess I'm going to be the odd person here!  We have a very generous sick policy (1 day a month - 12 a year - and they accumulate if you don't use them to up to 90 sick days!).  I have fortunately been fairly healthy, except for the odd cold or so, so if I am sick I stay home.  Actually this is one of my pet peeves.  Because we do have such a generous policy and because there is not really anyone here who is indispensable for a day or two, I get kind of ticked when people insist on coming in sick and spreading their germs to me.  I have elderly parents and really try not to take anything home to them.  It angers me that other people jeopardize my family just because they have this desire to prove the place cannot run without them (I assure you it can!).

Now, I'm not saying anything against anyone here or trying to start anything.  I am only stating the way it is here at my place. There is nothing that anyone on the admin staff does that is so special that someone else can't step in for a day or two.

Edited by spitfire78 on 10/04/06 09:38 PM.

[donnap99]

Unfortuntately I do take sick days more often than the average folk. I wish I could just trudge on when I am sick, but any virus hits me harder - because of my irregular heart beat, virtually any illness makes me really weak - exhausted - I get to where I need a nap just from taking a shower! I also take sick time for my family's needs - daughter's doctor's appointments (looks like she needs back surgery - again), mother-in-law's appointments with specialists (like GI and Alzheimer's doc - DH takes her to regular doctor on his days off - averages every 3 weeks or so), and it's looking more and more like I'll need to be taking my mother to her appointments (she's getting really bad with Rheumatoid arthritis and I don't want Dad to drive if I can prevent it - his Alzheimer's is progressing quickly).

Sorry this turned into a bit of a whine, but maybe it's an exercise to one of you reading this who might have someone like me in your office and give you some insight... it's overwhelming at times, and I can't change the circumstances to allow me to NOT attend to my family. So I continue to appreciate my supervisor's understanding, and without whining I give out enough information to co-workers so they realize I have no choice and am not trying to abuse the system.


DonnaP99

[misslynn]

It depends on how sick I am.  If I'm contagious and it's an office day (Monday) or I know there will be a lot of people in the office, I'll probably just work a little from home (do reports, read a couple e-mails, etc.).  Because my desk is in the very back of the building, when it's not an office day, the next closest person to me is about 50 feet away so I'm not worried about spreading germs and therefore will probably go to work.

Of course, if bossie finds out that I'm sick, he'll send me home in a heartbeat.

[geminigirl]

I try and work through it.  If I'm infectious, though ie with a cold, I'll try and stay away from people so I don't infect them (I *hate* catching a cold or flu through work colleagues!).  Even if I'm feeling like death, I'd probably come into work first, check email, do urgent things (if I have any) and then go home and die!

I have worked for people that, even if you are dead on your feet, they will not notice and act very surprised if you have to go home early.  I've aso worked for people that, if you so much as clear your throat in the cold and flu season, they will ask after your health and try and send you home.

I must admit, I much prefer to be sent home rather than phone in sick!  Guilt is a powerful motivator that can drag you out of bed when you're at death's door!

[catsmeat]

Luckily I don't get sick that often!  I work very much on my own, so catching other people's coughs and colds isn't often an issue.  My other cause of sick leave (in my last job) was back pain, but as I walk a lot in this job to avoid a horrible bit of driving, I don't tend to get that either.  I can do quite a lot of work from home via e-mail so, if push came to shove, would do that.  At least I can keep an eye on my inbox.

[officeguru]

I will typically drag myself in... unless I wake up with a migraine - then I'm done for and at no point able to get myself TO work!  I try to save my days for when kidlets need attending to...be it they get sick or just have appts that I can't schedule on weekends/evenings.  

Came in to work today feeling great... within 15 mins of being here I got what apparently seems to be a migraine.  Doing my best to work through it.. taking my round of meds to try and offset it - but it's looking like I"m going to have to go home because the nausea is getting worse and I refuse to spend the better part of a work day in the office bathroom!!

But if I go home...then I feel guilty for leaving work early and then not getting to any of the housework that deserpately needs done!

[tiffanyctd]

Spitfire,
I agree totally with you. There's a reason we're given sick days-to USE them. Sorry if that sounds mean, but I'm tired of people coming in here coughing and wheezing and worse. Our building is fairly new and airtight, so those germs just get circulated to everyone through the AC.
Tif

[misslynn]

I was just at an IAAP meeting last night, we had someone come in from HR and talk about what we can do to get the promotion we want.  One of the things she said was to never call in sick, you should go into work even if you're incredibly sick because you don't want a poor attendance record.  I leaned over to the girl next to me and said, "It's even worse if you get the boss sick."