If you're wfh do you still "go sick"?

[SunnyStroll]

As in declare a sickness absence?

I've developed a bit of a cough. Obviously if I was expected in the office I couldn't go in, although I don't feel particularly ill. I'm also fairly autonomous so if I am feeling rougher in the morning I can probably just do the bare minimum and no one would notice for a day or two.

At what point do you declare yourself "sick" when you're not actually going in to the office? I.e. if I was well enough to keep on top of emails and do some routine tasks but not to complete something very demanding?

I wouldn't. I'd keep a private log of it but I would rather keep my track record clean.

I did it when i couldnt function and do my job properly

First few weeks of lockdown wfh coincided with early pregnancy for me and I had a number of afternoon naps because I wasn’t functioning that I didn’t declare. If you’re not able to work at all I’d declare, if you can get away with even 50% functioning it’s probably ok not to

Yes, be honest with your boss. Sometimes I’ve worked mornings only for a few days which helped.

If work from home typically. Most of us have a rule for ourselves that if we can't get out of bed or working is making us obviously more unwell, or we are not thinking straight due to illness or medication, then we call in sick. If we can do emails, some lighter work etc then we don't call in sick.

With Covid you may have to report in, even if it's just to say you have symptoms, depending on how your company is monitoring the situation for business continuity purposes. But you can still work through as long as you feel well enough.

I wfh and as of yet, have never taken a day off sick. But have taken half hour with migraine and made up the time.

If you don't feel particularly ill then you should be working!

The only time I've taken sick leave when wfh in recent years has been when I was too ill to do so (eg bad migraine). I've worked on lots of occasions when I probably wouldn't have felt well enough to travel to work, or wanted to inflict a nasty bug on colleagues.

It depends on your work really. Aside from meetings, I’m fairly flexible and I’ve had days where I’ve slept in Or had a longer lunch or taken a break because I’ve felt a bit “meh” but haven’t taken it off sick because I can make up the time another time. If I missed meetings or had a job where I needed to be available at certain times to respond to queries etc I’d be upfront and take it off sick.

In my case it’s been mental health rather than physical health - might be different if I was ill rather than general “can’t be arsed right now” fed up feeling so it’s been an hour or so here and there I can take a break and make up rather than all day.

Ask yourself if you are making the right decisions- I was WFH at the end of March and felt so ill I knew I was doing the wrong thing so threw the towel in-basically stopped caring and made a couple of bad decisions .If you are feeling under the weather but can carry on albeit not firing on all cylinders 100% of the time then crack on. Weird times for sure!

I would report the symptoms so it's on record but keep working if I felt ok to. And just monitor it. But we have been told anyway that covid related sickness won't go down on normal sick record regardless so I wouldn't have any qualms about "going off sick" at home if I genuinely got worse. Hope you're ok.

If you can’t do your job to the extent that it will be noticed now or in the future then I think you should be honest with your boss. Otherwise, it would fall into the none of their business category to me.

No, I would do the minimum and make up the time when I felt better. Still doing the work but at a different time. Flexible working in a nutshell.

I do if I physically cant work. It's only happened twice in the last 8 years.

I go off sick if I'm not functioning well enough to do my job. No different to when I was going into the office.

The bar is a bit higher now as it's so much less strain - no commute, no dressing up, no makeup. So if I'm at a low ebb I'm not wiped out by the thought/actuality of the trip in and being trapped in the office, and can carry on doing my job as that's lower effort than the surrounding activity would have been. Plus you can break whenever you need, lower the light levels, change the heat, wrap up in a duvet with a lemsip on the go...

I've been working remotely for a year and ha e called in sick properly on two occasions as I was too ill to sit at my desk.once, I had a migraine, the other ocassion, I was sick after every meal.

WFH does not mean soldiering on if you're really ill.

For a simple cough though, wouldn't you have just gone to work BC ( before covid) ?

I wfh normally. I have phoned in sick once in the last couple of years. I had a high temp and felt lousy. Needed a day in bed.

But some of the other things you would phone in sick for if I worked i probably wouldn't if I could still function.

I wouldn't phone in for a cough, but if temp started to rise then possibly.

I work from home regularly anyway (like once or twice a week - sometimes more)

If I’m not feeling well I’ll tell them I’m not well but will check in on emails etc throughout the day of feeling up to it but likely il not really be working as feel crap

But my work place is very relaxed - even if I’m in the office and feel a bit crap or tired, not up for it today I tend to be able to just leave early and there’s no hassle about making the time up - once I get my work done they don’t really mind!