Opinions on going to work sick

[zoebartlett]

MC, for the flu or stomach bug, of course I''d stay home. For a little cold, I probably wouldn''t. For a big cold, yes, I''d stay home.

 

[upgrade]

NF- I hope you feel better soon!

I have a husband with a compromised immune system, so a silly thing like the common cold can become pneumonia for him. I''m very grateful to those who stay home when sick because to my husband, these illnesses can be dangerous. I have a sister who always shows up for family dinners at Mom''s house when sick. It drives the rest of us nuts. She and her husband will come with colds, the flu, stomach bugs, etc... Not only does she do it when my husband is there, but she''ll show up sick when newborns or pregnant women and very elderly grandparents are going to be there. It''s gotten to the point where my mom will ask when she calls to invite people if everyone is healthy and she''ll now flat out say "If you''re sick, stay home!"

 

[LilyKat]

My rule of thumb for coworkers:

Contagious = stay at home.

Not contagious = drag your butt in at whatever cost, you lazy moo

 

[zoebartlett]

Date: 2/1/2010 4:56:02 PM
Author: MC
Zoe - I didn''t realize until just a second in reading another post of yours that you''re a long-term sub. Disregard what I''ve said regarding subs being a ''free day.'' Entirely different situation and I hope I didn''t offend.

Nope, you didn''t offend me at all, MC. This is kind of an off year for me, teaching-wise, but usually I''d have my own classroom. What I said earlier still applies.

For the record, I drill it into my kids'' (students'') heads that we need to wash our hands often throughout the day, and I always wipe down surfaces with disinfectant. I feel like I do my fair share of keeping my room as germ free as you''re gonna get in an elementary school.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 2/1/2010 5:40:16 PM
Author: ZoeBartlett


For the record, I drill it into my kids'' (students'') heads that we need to wash our hands often throughout the day, and I always wipe down surfaces with disinfectant. I feel like I do my fair share of keeping my room as germ free as you''re gonna get in an elementary school.

My kids'' teachers go crazy with using santizing gel. Before snack, after morning recess, before lunch, after lunch recess, after afternoon recess. . .My son uses one from B&BWs. lol He thinks it smells better than the plain clear stuff.

 

[vespergirl]

If I had a slight sniffle, I would go in. But if I had a bad cold like you are describing, I would usually stay home, even though I also had my own office. I would still use the restroom, elevator buttons, etc., and I would hate the idea of getting someone else sick.

If I had a major event or deadline, and absolutely HAD to go in, I would work in my office with the door shut, and post a sign on the door that said something like, "sick today - enter at your own risk"

 

[fieryred33143]

It bothers me when people come in to work sick. I don't think they are selfish but it sucks that you have to work when you are feeling at your lowest.

I try my hardest to stay away from sick coworkers so I prefer if they stay home. A sick coworker more often than not means I'll be getting sick which almost instantly turns into DD being sick. I couldn't care less about battling a cold but when she gets sick it breaks my heart. I hate it.

 

[Circe]

I am responding flat-out without having read any of the comments, but ...


FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WOMAN. Stop infecting your hapless coworkers!

I don't mean to yell at you: I mean ALL of us with a high work ethic. I'm up there, too. I tried working with a badly sprained ankle, once. But it's different when it's, a) CONTAGIOUS, and b) distracting (as in perpetual sneezing, incessant nose-blowing, endless, hacking coughing). I've had students walk in with oozy pustulant eyes to hand me their papers and say, "So sorry about the typos: it's just the pink-eye!" And I've had to wonder, dear student, do you think this makes you look *good*? Do you think I'm that stupid/that much of an ass that I wouldn't have accepted the attachment to spare your fellow students (and, for that matter, myself)?

If you're sick and you have the option, work from home. The rest of us will love you all the more (and avoid infecting you, in turn, when our time comes).

ETA: And now, having read the comments ... NF, good on you for going home! Feel better soon.

 

[Haven]

I think it's very rude to go into work when you are sick, especially if you are contagious.
As a colleague, I prefer that you keep your germs to yourself, thank you.
As a human being, I prefer to put my personal health above all else, including work. And I definitely don't think I'm so important to my employer that their world would crumble if I called in sick for a day or two. Thank goodness--I'd never want to be so beholden to an employer that my own health wouldn't come first.

I'm a teacher, so calling in sick is an enormous amount of work. Needless to say, it's much easier to go in to work and teach my students myself, but if I'm sick I don't do it.

What's interesting is that despite my commitment to taking time out whenever I'm sick so I can heal, I *rarely* get sick at all, so I rarely have to take sick days. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I DON'T work and keep on running when I am sick. I take it easy, so I heal really quickly when I am ill.

TGal--That's interesting about TGuy's PTO days instead of sick days. We have both as teachers--two personal days per school year, and 14 sick days. The only days we can take off ahead of time are those two personal days, though I don't know many teachers who use *any* of their days off.

 

[Diamond*Dana]

I definitely think you should stay home if you are sick. I am a nurse and work with the elderly, there are signs all over my work stating that you should not be there for work or visiting if you are sick. I do not send my kids to school sick either. Nothing irritates me more than the little "your child has been exposed to..." notes in their backpacks.

 

[Lilac]

I think you should stay home if you''re sick. There have been times when coworkers of mine have come in sick and inevitably someone ends up catching whatever it is they had.

 

[upgrade]

Date: 2/1/2010 11:26:38 PM
Author: Lilac
I think you should stay home if you''re sick. There have been times when coworkers of mine have come in sick and inevitably someone ends up catching whatever it is they had.

And that costs the employer far more in lost time/sick days than if the original sick person had taken a sick day or two and stayed home.

Dana- I fully agree! I used to *hate* when I would take my son to preschool and at drop off overhear another parent telling the teacher "she threw up an hour ago so maybe keep an eye on her." Um, or maybe take her home so every other child here doesn''t throw up too! I always felt like picking my son up and taking him home when that happened.

 

[MAC-W]

If you're concerned about being a good company employee, which is better from a company standpoint?

Scenario 1: You get sick but still come into work. Because you're sick you're only working at say 60% efficiency and also if contagious you are infecting your collegues, who then get sick come to the office work at 60% efficiency cos they are not feeling up to par and infect more who who etc etc etc

Scenario 2: You get sick but dont come to work. You take 2 days off to get better, come back to work at 100% efficiency and dont infect any collegeues / co-workers.

As a boss I know which I would prefer from my employees (and I tell them often

I also tell them dont abuse it

) No job is so important and no person is indispensible. There is always some one else who can cover for you unless your are a one man business, (but then you wouldnt infect co-workers either)

PS I hope you feel better soon.

 

[sba771]

I am a bad person and always went to work when I was sick when I worked in NYC. The only time I stayed home was with the flu. I had 12 sick days and personal days combined, for a year. Also if I was sick at home, I was still on call and my bosses would call me and I would have to log in remotely and despite the fact that I was working, they would dock me the day. This was the norm in the industry I worked. If I had a cold though I would try to stay away from everyone and use lots of wipes. That is why I love working in Europe- unlimited sick days!! No one calls you, no one questions it and its encouraged. It has spoiled me and going back to the US will be hard with this one.

 

[sparklyheart]

Date: 2/1/2010 3:09:47 PM
Author: Porridge
Stay home! I don''t want your germs!!

Ditto!

(get well soon, too!)

 

[cammy85]

I''m in the same situation where my sick days are included in my accrued PTO. I hate it. It''s really hard for me to justify staying home when that same PTO is what I use for vacations. I wish we could adopt a policy where you get 2-3 flat out sick days on top of your PTO - you can''t abuse 2-3 days, and people like me who want to save their PTO for vacations and fun times wouldn''t have such a hard decision about taking the day off if they aren''t feeling well.

NF, I''m glad you decided to go home, your body will really appreciate the rest!

 

[whitby_2773]

Date: 2/1/2010 4:12:01 PM
Author: April20
My rule is if I''m contagious, I stay home no matter what. It''s not fair to others. Also, you never know who might have a compromised immune system and what is run of the mill for you can be serious for them. I''ve worked with several people that have compromised immune systems, so I''m more aware of it now.

If I just feel bad, I play it by ear. I''m not hugely productive when I feel awful, so I think it''s better to be home.

that''s me - ''she of the compromised immune system''.

i had lots of colds and upper respiratory tract infections when i was young - and was given antibiotics about 2-3 times a year, every year. then i got crohn''s and was given antibiotics a zillion times for gut infections. then i had glandular fever/mono. then i had pneumonia 3 times.

if you''ve got an URTI bug, and we''re within earshot/hand shake/ shared air space/communal bathroom or WHATEVER range - i will get what you have.

you''ll be sick for 2 days.

i''ll be ill for 2 months.

you''ll have a blocked nose.

i will struggle to breathe.

you''ll take a course of antibiotics.

i am now allergic to most antibiotics and resistant to the rest. i have to take a cocktail of drugs that rips my crohn''s affected guts out and make me bleed.

you''ll cough.

my lungs will fill up with fluid and i''ll end up at the ER in the middle of the night cause i''m drowning from the inside.

if you''re sick - i''m not kidding - i''m BEGGING you - stay home.

 

[Lauren8211]

Date: 2/2/2010 9:03:24 AM
Author: whitby_2773

Date: 2/1/2010 4:12:01 PM
Author: April20
My rule is if I''m contagious, I stay home no matter what. It''s not fair to others. Also, you never know who might have a compromised immune system and what is run of the mill for you can be serious for them. I''ve worked with several people that have compromised immune systems, so I''m more aware of it now.

If I just feel bad, I play it by ear. I''m not hugely productive when I feel awful, so I think it''s better to be home.

that''s me - ''she of the compromised immune system''.

i had lots of colds and upper respiratory tract infections when i was young - and was given antibiotics about 2-3 times a year, every year. then i got crohn''s and was given antibiotics a zillion times for gut infections. then i had glandular fever/mono. then i had pneumonia 3 times.

if you''ve got an URTI bug, and we''re within earshot/hand shake/ shared air space/communal bathroom or WHATEVER range - i will get what you have.

you''ll be sick for 2 days.

i''ll be ill for 2 months.

you''ll have a blocked nose.

i will struggle to breathe.

you''ll take a course of antibiotics.

i am now allergic to most antibiotics and resistant to the rest. i have to take a cocktail of drugs that rips my crohn''s affected guts out and make me bleed.

you''ll cough.

my lungs will fill up with fluid and i''ll end up at the ER in the middle of the night cause i''m drowning from the inside.

if you''re sick - i''m not kidding - i''m BEGGING you - stay home.

That''s terrible!

I will *definitely* stay home from now on!

I have a woman at my work who just had a double mastectomy for BC and is still receiving chemo treatments. I''d hate for her to get sick!

 

[Novel]

Date: 2/2/2010 9:03:24 AM
Author: whitby_2773

Date: 2/1/2010 4:12:01 PM

Author: April20

My rule is if I''m contagious, I stay home no matter what. It''s not fair to others. Also, you never know who might have a compromised immune system and what is run of the mill for you can be serious for them. I''ve worked with several people that have compromised immune systems, so I''m more aware of it now.


If I just feel bad, I play it by ear. I''m not hugely productive when I feel awful, so I think it''s better to be home.

that''s me - ''she of the compromised immune system''.


i had lots of colds and upper respiratory tract infections when i was young - and was given antibiotics about 2-3 times a year, every year. then i got crohn''s and was given antibiotics a zillion times for gut infections. then i had glandular fever/mono. then i had pneumonia 3 times.


if you''ve got an URTI bug, and we''re within earshot/hand shake/ shared air space/communal bathroom or WHATEVER range - i will get what you have.


you''ll be sick for 2 days.


i''ll be ill for 2 months.


you''ll have a blocked nose.


i will struggle to breathe.


you''ll take a course of antibiotics.


i am now allergic to most antibiotics and resistant to the rest. i have to take a cocktail of drugs that rips my crohn''s affected guts out and make me bleed.


you''ll cough.


my lungs will fill up with fluid and i''ll end up at the ER in the middle of the night cause i''m drowning from the inside.


if you''re sick - i''m not kidding - i''m BEGGING you - stay home.

Me, too. Different disease, pretty much the same story. I understand that my coworkers want to play the hero and come in and look like great employees. I tell them to use me as their excuse: they''d come in, but if they did, Novel would get sick, and that just wouldn''t be fair, right?

Plus, and I''ve been in this situation, any boss who would rather you come to work sick than stay home, get better, and be back at full strength (as opposed to the above mentioned 60%) has only one thing in mind: $.

 

[dragonfly411]

I didn''t read all the way through but:

I agree that it''s good not to be flaky.... but in the case of possible contagiousness.... or if I feel that I will be utterly useless I will stay home. I was home last week one day because I was in pain and KNEW I would be useless... and it hurt to sit upright. I would have wasted their time. That isn''t fair to others in the company. If it''s contagious... I don''t want it.... so stay home.

 

[janinegirly]

I didn''t read through alll the responses, but it definitely bothers me more if someone comes in visibly sick, coughing away and spreading germs. It not only spreads germs to other co-workers--those people bring it home to their kids and so forth.

However I know most people do drag themselves in (not you..) in order to spare taking a day off since a lot of companies opt for "paid days off" rather than vacation + sick days, so a day off counts as a day off rather than sick day. I also hear alot of sick people on my train in in the morning and it''s frustrating! I''m lucky in that I''m rarely sick but I do feel that each individual has a resposibility to society so to speak to not go in knowingly contagious with something unpleasant (ie not just a minor cold) as well as to themselves--sometimes rest is needed!

Again, just talking generalities..not you! Hope you feel better!

 

[MonkeyPie]

I get a write-up if I use more than 32 sick hours in 6 months. I am also pregnant, so I have two irritating boundaries - I want to hoard all my sick time for the end when I will actually NEED it, and my immune system is compromised until the baby is out. I feel like there is no middle ground!

Both yesterday and today I have been nursing what will be my third cold in the past 7 months, and I did not call in. Instead I touch nothing, have doused everything near me with disinfectant, and have an entire roll of toilet paper at my desk "just in case". I worked only a half day yesterday, and will be working a half day today as well. The only space I share is the bathroom, and I have been using my shirt sleeve to open that door all day just to keep my germs away. I know, it''s rude of me to be here, but I only get 6 weeks STD and I haven''t even taken a vacation day since I have been pregnant, so that I can use that when the time comes. I can''t afford to just stay home whenever I get a sniffle, and I have had a sniffle a LOT since I have been PG. There''s no middle ground for me.

 

[Karl_K]

one of my clients last year implemented a work from home policy if your sick or your child is sick (sick spouse is a case by case basis but allowed) and the missed days dropped in half.
Since Oct of last year if you come in sick you will be sent home and wont get paid for the day or have to take a vacation day is the policy.
If you stay home and work from home you get full pay for up to 3 days and longer with a doctors note.
They also can require you to go to a walk in clinic at their expense if they think your abusing it.
So far they are down 75% in missed days for the year compared to 2 years ago and only one person has got in trouble for abusing it. (her supervisor saw her at a restaurant when she was spose to be out sick)

Bottom line stay home!!!!

 

[upgrade]

Date: 2/2/2010 2:02:50 PM
Author: Karl_K
one of my clients last year implemented a work from home policy if your sick or your child is sick (sick spouse is a case by case basis but allowed) and the missed days dropped in half.
Since Oct of last year if you come in sick you will be sent home and wont get paid for the day or have to take a vacation day is the policy.
If you stay home and work from home you get full pay for up to 3 days and longer with a doctors note.
They also can require you to go to a walk in clinic at their expense if they think your abusing it.
So far they are down 75% in missed days for the year compared to 2 years ago and only one person has got in trouble for abusing it. (her supervisor saw her at a restaurant when she was spose to be out sick)

Bottom line stay home!!!!

That's a fantastic system. I think a big part of the problem is that people so often have to compromise their vacation time to stay home sick. My pre-baby job gave us 5 sick days per year, but using them was very frowned upon. It used to p*ss me right off because those who came in sick and oozing germs with which to infect the rest of us were looked upon as office heros by the powers that be. Someone else *always* caught the offender's illness and now the pressure was on- he worked through it, so you better too! I hated it.

MP- that sucks!! I feel for you. You're in a really tough spot.

Whitby- I understand! That's my husband too, crohn's and all. It's horrible and I hope you stay healthy!

 

[zoebartlett]

Date: 2/2/2010 12:54:23 AM
Author: upgrade

Date: 2/1/2010 11:26:38 PM

Author: Lilac

I think you should stay home if you''re sick. There have been times when coworkers of mine have come in sick and inevitably someone ends up catching whatever it is they had.

And that costs the employer far more in lost time/sick days than if the original sick person had taken a sick day or two and stayed home.


Dana- I fully agree! I used to *hate* when I would take my son to preschool and at drop off overhear another parent telling the teacher ''she threw up an hour ago so maybe keep an eye on her.'' Um, or maybe take her home so every other child here doesn''t throw up too! I always felt like picking my son up and taking him home when that happened.

Upgrade -- I can''t highlight on this browser, but I wanted to highlight the part about parents dropping sick kids off at school. That drives me insane! There''s always been a rule at every school I''ve worked at that you can''t send your child to school if they''ve vomited within 24 hours of if they''ve had a fever within 24 hours. Many parents ignore this rule, and it''s really frustrating. I''ve had to send several sick to the nurse (who then went home) because they really hadn''t gotten rid of whatever bug they came in with.

 

[Cehrabehra]

Gosh it depends - I''ve worked with people who were always "sick" and I thought they lied and I''ve worked with people who came to work sick and I thought it was gross and they shouldn''t be there. I think for me what I like to see is the sick person show their face for like a minute just to show yeah I''m sick but you don''t want me here.