Why do people come to work when they are ill??!

I can’t remember the details but last week there was a thread whose manager asked her could she get in in the afternoon when she said she was barely functioning with a virus. One of our managers used to talk everyone in, I was once told I could stay out in the stockroom if I was afraid I’d spread it🤔

How do people know they’re vulnerable? It’s not like things like covid only target the vulnerable. Vulnerable people don’t live in silos either. How is a care home resident or a hospital patient meant to protect themselves from sick staff? How is someone meant to protect themselves at work? Lots of people won’t even wear a decent mask when they’re contagious. Some firms would rather people were in when they’re contagious, even if they could wfh. I think it’s a real shame how many are losing their livelihoods because they become too sick to work or because they have a child who becomes too ill to attend school anymore. Long covid is already costing billions and billions and instead of adjusting to this and other viruses in a sensible way, we seem to be going full steam ahead to cost even more.

@Jeschara Sorry, this is not going to make you feel any better but the pandemic really brought home the reality that vulnerable people need to protect themselves and not expect strangers to stay home and risk losing their jobs.
😖
I hate typing that and I said as much as the beginning of the thread last year .

I have only ever had one job in my 53 years that paid sick pay and another company that paid discretionary. Further more, I have never had a boss that took it upon themselves to send people home even if they had lost their voice and this could be a contact centre , and I'm not exaggerating.

Can I ask if you get sick pay? I have a friend who I used to work with, if she gets a cold it is quite serious as she has long covid she still works.

I do sympathise but I don't know the answer as it could be serious for some people. Also do you get paid sick leave for a limited amount of time.

When I worked in retail we didn't get paid for the first day. Plus they were horrible to you if you had time off ill.

Well actually you can as flu like many other viruses can be mild or even asymptomatic. Unless you are tested no one really knows what virus they have. A “cold” covers many different viruses that present in a similar way. Flu tends to present slightly differently, often including a fever which “cold” viruses often do not.

But as we all learned with Covid, everyone can experience viruses differently. Plenty of people could work with flu if their symptoms are mild. Some people will be bed bound with a cold virus.

This is one of those situations where if I had to choose lose my job/livelihood /home , to save you from getting sick then I'm afraid I'm going to choose me. It's a sad state of affairs , but I would fully expect you to do the same for you and yours.
Not trying to be goady I swear but this is the reality for many many people.

Colds and flu aren't anywhere near the same thing. You cant work when you have flu its a very serious illness

If everyone took time off for cold and flu my work would implode

where possible people should wfh but sometimes you can’t do this.

Yeah, but I’ll bet my pension that if you took a week off every couple of weeks for a cold you’d soon be out of a job.

You got get 6 months 'worth' of time off when you have a cold though, do you? There will be an amount of sick leave that you can take and if you go over that, you'll trigger absence procedures. If you have 6 really bad colds in a year-you can't take 6 periods of time off.

Because not everyone has understanding employers and people already have horrendous levels of sick leave. It's a problem in our department. If we were off for every cold, it would be even worse! Nobody is expected to be off with a cold. You get spoken about like you're a weakling! Colds pass from person to person all the time, it isn't a reason to be off work. You mention Flu though, that is completely different! But I couldn't even get out of bed with Flu, it can't be compared.

Employees can't win.

There's no longer any statutory sick pay paid by the government. Years ago the employer claimed it back from HMRC when payroll was submitted. Then it stopped. It was bought back for a short time in Covid. So the cost is borne by the employer. Ironically the still very low rates of statutory suck pay are set by the Government, but not paid by them, the cost is paid by the employer.

Ive never had a job thats given me sick pay.
I am guilty of going in to work sooner than ideal because I needed the money but also pressured to go into work when ill because of staffing levels. Even working with vulnerable people!

I can't imagine WANTING to go in when ill. Usually it's out of necessity surely

Bigger organisations can afford that. I went from NHS trust with 6 months paid to 1 month which will gradually Increase to max 2 months after 2 years. Not everywhere has something like this.

That’s awful , sorry to hear this, employees should have more rights

yesterday and today it was because I’d already been off last Thursday to keep my younger 2 off sick single mum so I didn’t feel like I could be off sick myself this week 🤧 I do agree we should stay home and not spread it tho 😕

Because the most recent cold drags on for about six weeks

Because they have work to do that means if they’re not in it’s not getting done, or someone else needs to do it and then there’s bad feelings for being off sick, you see it on threads here all the time “ my colleague is off sick again!” “My colleague is always sick near deadlines…” etc etc

I don't want your cold, your sickness,sore throat ect. You get over yourself and stop being so selfish its about everyone in the workplace not just you.

Selfish? I have just enough money to run my house. Would you rather me not have anywhere to live?
What is a good enough excuse for you? It's a cold. Get over yourself

Frustrating but I don’t get paid if off sick. As it is I will be going back tomorrow not fully recovered from my virus but can’t afford to lose another day of pay.

We get full pay for 6 months but you get a warning if more than 3 occasions or 6 days.