Money Moral Dilemma: Should you risk spreading the lurgy to colleagues?

whitejedi

Spread it around as much as possible. Then when the majority of your team is off sick and targets are falling, you'll have the deepest satisfaction of drawing your boss the dirtiest looks for your own suffering and you'll then get even greater satisfaction in saying not a chance when they ask you to bail them out.

I work for Tesco and if your attendance falls below 98% in any six month period, you get treated to a deeply personal Spanish inquisition with a complimentary disciplinary procedure afterward.

If you're going to have health issues then make sure you join a union before hand. It was the best thing I ever did otherwise I'd have been booted out years ago for a number of things.

Badger_Lady

I'm lucky enough to be working in a very flexiblie job with full sick pay, so this isn't a worry for me - if I'm feeling rough, I can sit in bed with my laptop and mobile and pretty much still do the same job.

I have a temp who doesn't get paid for time off and she constantly seems to be catching things - annoying but no-one's fault. I REALLY wish I didn't have to sit next to it all the time; constant moans of "has anyone got a paracetamol?" are bearable, but when we went for a business meeting in Chiswick (2.5 hr drive each way), and she was stopping to be sick, barely even conscious during the meeting (didn't say a word), I actually quite resent paying her the day's wages!

In her case, she needs the money - but I'm shocked by all those people saying "go into the office even if you get paid sick leave"... please don't!

SandC

It very much depends on the illness. Also, there is a huge discrepancy between what some people consider to be too ill to attend work. If I feel rough I will get myself into work because I have a glass half full attitude of presuming that once I'm up and about and doing stuff I will feel better. Some people go the other way and think they feel rough so best not go in in case it gets worse.

It's all about perception you see!

Colds are not cut and dried either. You can be feeling very rough indeed on days 1/2 and really not capable of concentrating on anything. But what's someone else's idea of feeling too rough? The same cold can affect different people in different ways.

Nobody is indispensable, correct, but that one day off can disrupt your workload so much that you can't blame people for coming in and doing the best you can so that it doesn't pile up. Not every job will be covered from day one and rather than being someone trying to keep in with the bosses it's often a more personal thing of making sure that things get done. If you've got flu then you'll be needing a week off and in that case it is up to your employers to make sure that cover of some sort is provided and that you don't go back to major stress inducing workloads.

What I do detest is people whinging about how ill they feel. Well go home then!!! I have first hand experience of one person who you can tell is about to go off sick for a day or two as they will spend the day being quiet and moody and telling everyone they think they are about to go down with tonsilitis (that's another one that is quite serious and is often used instead of the real problem which is - sore throat).

SandC

Badger_Lady wrote: »

I'm lucky enough to be working in a very flexiblie job with full sick pay, so this isn't a worry for me - if I'm feeling rough, I can sit in bed with my laptop and mobile and pretty much still do the same job.

I have a temp who doesn't get paid for time off and she constantly seems to be catching things - annoying but no-one's fault. I REALLY wish I didn't have to sit next to it all the time; constant moans of "has anyone got a paracetamol?" are bearable, but when we went for a business meeting in Chiswick (2.5 hr drive each way), and she was stopping to be sick, barely even conscious during the meeting (didn't say a word), I actually quite resent paying her the day's wages!

In her case, she needs the money - but I'm shocked by all those people saying "go into the office even if you get paid sick leave"... please don't!

Being able to work from home is a massive perk and can allow for you to be absent from the office and not spread germs. It's not that easy for those of us whose jobs can't be done from home. You have to make a decision over whether you can be productive at all.

skistones

If you really have full-on flu rather than a cold (really achey, feel like you can't move from bed, talk for very long etc) then don't go in. If you don't give yourself time to recover properly you risk much more serious things that will lay you out for much longer (and no pay for longer).

I stumbled into work with a chest infection over 6 months ago (and I'm a civil servant - but it was an important day!) and haven't been able work since - it turned into post viral fatigue syndrome which apparently is good at hitting active people who tend to try to push through illnesses - doh. My boyfriend pushed on with what he thought was flu a few years ago and ended up with pneumonia and a hospital stay.

Being ill sucks - don't do it!

chattyviki

Since January 1999 I've only had 5 days off sick, and this was only because I had tonsilitous and my boss wouldn't let me work. I've had colds, flu, migraines, and a very sicky pregnancy (and I mean sicky, most days throwing up in the bin when I couldn't reach the toilet in time!!) yet I still go in to work. This is partly due to money but mostly due to loving work. I do feel a bit guilty that I might make my collegues or customers ill, but I feel so much better working than I do at home in bed. During my last pregnancy I worked right up to my due date and only left because my boss insisted!

So in answer to the money moral dilemma, yes, I would go to work.:A

Pink_Fairy_2

I can understand and sympathise with anyone who would have to work, although I think it's best to stay home and recover more quickly, than work and prolong the illness.

I'm fortunate in that I usually get paid sick leave anyway, as it would be unsuitable for me to work in the environment I usually work in with anything potentially infectious (NVQ Assessor in Health & Social Care, so in and out of residential homes).

puffykat2000

I'll answer this is two ways:

The first is that I manage a very small team - five members of staff under me. If any of them are ill and still contagious I send them home. Simple as that. I cannot have my whole team going down with a bug. If they are not contagious and feel well enough to work then they stay.

The second is from a personal perspective. I have an auto-immune condition called Lupus. If I get a bug, it doesn't just affect me like it would anyone else. I'm flat on my back with a nasty version of the bug and my lupus flares up badly. While you may be off for a couple of days - I'll be off for a couple of weeks. Therefore, I kill anyone who comes into the office contagious!!! They go or I do!

SandC

I feel for you puffycat, lupus is nasty from what I've read.

Brings me to another aspect of this issue actually.

If you have a condition that can flare up you will no doubt have made your bosses/HR aware. But do you also make your colleagues aware so that they don't come into work spreading coughs and colds? Or do you consider your health issues to be private?

What to do in those sort of situations? Would you expect your bosses to expect all employees to not come in with colds? Or would you have sussed out the culture regarding sickness before accepting the job?

surviving-ok

there's some research saying that those who struggle in with 'colds' etc have shorter life expectancies than those who don't by quite a number of years and a more prone to strokes etc in later life; if anybody HAS to struggle in becuase of money they have my deepest sympathy. however the self-righteous 'it's only a cold' bridge can all drop dead of pneumonia, emphysema, pleurisy, bronchitis, ashthma or anything else that 'just a cold' can develop into. And leave the rest of us to long, happy non-selfrighteous retirements.