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What if you get sick with something contagious but you are not feeling bad enough to take day off. Do you still take the day off for the sake of your coworkers or show up to work and be careful who you are around while you are contagious.
Sunday afternoon I realize I might have strep throat. I took OTC medication and gargled with salt water, plus lot of tea. Next morning I felt lazy but not sick, so I came to work. I eventually made it to doctor in afternoon who confirmed I do have strep throat. I had strep throat once before 3 years ago & it felt like hell. I physically needed half a week to recover. This time, it feels like simple cold/soar throat & I don't feel like I need the time off. The only reason I would take sick day tomorrow is so my coworkers don't get contaminated from me but it is sort of too late because I already came to work today. I did avoid people as much as possible & worked quietly in my office today because I suspected I have strep.
I don't want to harm anyone else but I also feel fine-ish
In my wife’s company, people would be hacking up a lung but still come in and obviously infect others, because there is an expectation to “get stuff done”. I’ve seen in others where common sense rules and you work from home when you can.
If I feel like i have a cold, but not very bad to the point of hacking every few minutes, I'll go to work. As long as I can be productive while feeling a bit under the weather, I'll go in. None of my co-workers have ever gotten sick from me doing so.
You could make it a half day; as a balance between working all day vs. not coming in at all. I think that speaks better than just calling in sick. Or, come in for an hour or two. It shows effort, and trying. You can say that you considered not coming in, but decided to give it your best shot, and now are convinced it's not a good idea staying for the day. You can also point out the contagiousness of it. Most will agree with you, and it won't take much convincing. Instead of the brusk mystery of not coming in at all, you can build "a case" for being genuinely sick and needing to go home.
But if it's bad enough, and will make it worse getting out, just send an email or call, and stay home
I generally am one of the last to get into work on most days, I typically stay late too but today I left early for me (normal for other people). If I go in tomorrow or next few days, i am planning on ending my day earlier & doing minimal.
It was more of a moral issue on whether to use up my sick days when i don't feel sick just because i don't want to spread my germ on others. Our company didn't have official sick leave policy aside from "use it when you need it" but last Friday they came up with official rule of 5 sick days/year. So now I am on a mission to take all 5 days per year but when i want to or need to. Not for my colleagues.
Thanks for the answer. I don't feel so guilty going to work tomorrow
I think this is the same in all corporate offices. They publicly put out the policy of "please stay home if you are sick--do not come in and spread the illness."
But.....go to call in sick and they of course, skeptically think you're just taking a day off, unless you sound like you are dying.
If you're sick, stay home. That's my perspective. I rather have one person out than to risk having more out later.
In this day and age where many of us work with others across various timezones - if you are really needed, I think there are options where you can stay home and still get stuff done. The notion of "face time" needs to stop. And I can go on about this archaic notion.
On the flip side, stuff needs to get done. Just because you were sick doesn't alleviate you from your responsibilities or an opportunity to use it as an excuse for those that like to procrastinate.
What if you get sick with something contagious but you are not feeling bad enough to take day off. Do you still take the day off for the sake of your coworkers or show up to work and be careful who you are around while you are contagious.
Sunday afternoon I realize I might have strep throat. I took OTC medication and gargled with salt water, plus lot of tea. Next morning I felt lazy but not sick, so I came to work. I eventually made it to doctor in afternoon who confirmed I do have strep throat. I had strep throat once before 3 years ago & it felt like hell. I physically needed half a week to recover. This time, it feels like simple cold/soar throat & I don't feel like I need the time off. The only reason I would take sick day tomorrow is so my coworkers don't get contaminated from me but it is sort of too late because I already came to work today. I did avoid people as much as possible & worked quietly in my office today because I suspected I have strep.
I don't want to harm anyone else but I also feel fine-ish
Don't be pressured by some perceived practice in the office. If you are sick, you stay home. If you think you might be contagious, you stay home. If you feel well enough to work from home, then do that if possible. Otherwise, it is a sick day. I wouldn't go into a detail explanation of how you feel to the employer, just call, e-mail or text you are taking a sick day.
I tell the same thing to my group cause everyone deserves to take sick days. I'd like to add, no one needs to explain themselves. Because they all have work assigned with deadlines and backups in the event it is urgent, so we have no worries of someone abusing sick days. It is also disruptive to have someone come into the office coughing up a lung.
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