Change in attitude to taking sick leave after Covid

[reallyisthisallthereis]

Just reading an article about how people shouldn't go to work with Infectious coughs etc. Do we think there will be a shift towards it being more acceptable to take sick leave in work or at school?

It's definitely been an issue in last 10 years in schools where kids are sent in when they are obviously ill when feeling pressure about taking time off (I work in secondary so talking about kids who could stay home by themselves). Same goes for staff battling through illness.

I'm hoping one positive that comes out of Covid is for the acceptance that when ill you should be at home resting and not in work/school spreading germs.

I really hope so. One of my worst illnesses happened just after a colleague came back with bronchitis to avoid a trigger. I can never prove that was the cause, but I think it might have been. I was immunosuppressed at the time and spent a lovely new year in hospital.

I hope that those who can and have wfh can do so more often post Covid, so that they can be at home if not 100%. Sometimes you can work when a bit ill, perhaps knowing you can stop and rest if you need to being enough.

Not everyone gets paid sick leave, some only get SSP and people who are on 0 hours contracts get nothing.

I'm assuming you are asking about those who get paid sick leave and / or can work from home if they've got a minor cold, stomach bug type of illness?

For me it's always been about sick pay.
I've worked in places where you get nothing. I didn't care what I spread about, if I could get in I got in. If one person had a cold, everyone got it because people couldn't afford the time off. Tummy bug? Neck some immodium and give it to everyone.

Now I get sick pay, if I'm contagious I stay off.

I think employers have a responsibility to pay sick pay for this reason.

I hope so, I work in an office where we can wfh (and have been since March last year). I hope it becomes more acceptable to just say “I’ve got a cold, I’ll be wfh for a couple of days”. And that is seen as not only reasonable, but the correct thing to do.

Yes, it's absolutely about sick pay or in schools, paying for cover staff.
Increased flexibility about wfh just makes sense.

But it's also about the attitude that working through illness is a positive thing. Schools rewarding 100% attendance. If it were frowned upon more when people come into work when they are ill, there may be a change in attitude.