How many sick days do you take?

[Mushroo]

Inspired by a Reddit thread. How many sick days do you take on average each year?

The consensus on Reddit seemed to be about 4 a year which I thought seemed quite high. Personally, I think I’ve had 2 or 3 in my working life (8 years) which I guess is low.

So just out of interest how many do you take?

One and a half for Covid last year, to for laryngitis and head cold/Covid this year, before that, none for very many years.

I had six months off last year. Musculoskeletal issues as a result of wfh during lockdown followed by two injuries sustained during a medical check up and a sporting activity. Couldn’t drive. Couldn’t dress myself. Now mostly self employed and have had a couple of weeks in the past year. Seven were Covid related so lost a bit of income there 🙄

I have quite a few unfortunately as I have chronic migraines, digestive issues and am going through the menopause. I also had time a few weeks off last year when my mum passed away. When I was in my twenties I rarely had time off.

Some years more than others.

2017 I had 4 days off
2018 I had 7 weeks off
2019 I had 7 weeks off
2020 zero days off
2021 zero days off
2022 zero days off so far and I'm currently working with a broken leg.

Whenever I'm sick!

The year before last I had none, last year I had 2 periods of quite long term sick and one shortish. the long term ones was when I had cataracts deteriorate rapidly to the point I couldn't work until they were treated, and one long period when I badly broke my shoulder and had surgery. I also had a 2 week period off for gallbladder removal.

I returned from he shoulder injury just after Christmas, and since then Ive had one day off-I had a stomach bug over the weekend, went back to work on Monday but hadn't recovered so went home early and didn't come in on the Tuesday.

I hate taking time off work, but on the other hand won't be a martyr.

I’ve taken 1 sick day (for covid) in the past 5 years. prior to that, 1 week sick following an abdominal operation.

Only when I'm too sick to work. I've had one half day off in the two and a half years I've been running my business.

But in my previous career I had a bit of a MH breakdown and ended up being signed off for several months and quitting as I just wasn't coping.

Yes, absolutely. I just meant that in lots of cases if someone has a stinking cold or a stomach bug or something like that previously they would have taken a day off sick when they were commuting into the office. With WFH they may still struggle through or do a few hours and take a nap over lunch etc. That's not necessarily great if staff are pushing themselves to work when really they'd be better off taking the time to properly rest.

However I'm sure like you say with more WFH they aren't picking up viruses etc as often as they previously would have which can only be a good thing. I know when I was in the office last week and my boss was sneezing and coughing everywhere we all wished he'd stayed at home.

My last sick day was one Friday a couple of years ago when I had a cold. It was over by Monday. Before that it was a few years earlier and for a few days. I'm just lucky that I don't get sick very often and have no underlying health issues. I had worried that lockdowns and WFH would have weakened my immune system but Restrictions have been lax at work for at least a year now and I'm still fine.

A couple of my colleagues are similar to me. Others are prone to migraines or vertigo or endo flare ups (all seem very genuine) so are off more frequently.

In one of my jobs 1.5 years I had 0 sick days. I was happy about that, but I wasn't sick during that time.

ONe place I worked one employee told me 'make you take your extra seven days holiday a year' meaning sick days, and he had a point really. A few places now say you can't get promoted with more than 3 sick days in a period so I think that eradicates a lot of pisstaking. (doesn't count if it's related to a disability)

Self-employed now so no sick days or holiday pay.

I knew someone who worked in local council who saw sick days as entitled extra leave. Got signed off with thyroid problem every time she had a baby but was out and about as normal.

Also had a tit for tat thing going on with a colleague who she thought was off too much. If he was off, she'd go sick on his return so he'd have to pick up her work. Absolutely no guilt whatsoever!

Should add that was post birth, not before. None of her pregnancies were high risk.

Very rare for me to take sick days. In my previous job was there 10 years and only took 2 days. Current 1 is very similar. Last sick day was 2017

None. Self employed. I’ve been working full time for 20 years and can count on one hand the sick days I’ve had.

I take time off when sick. I've been really lucky health wise so not had much time off at all.

Had covid at the start of the year but wasn't poorly so worked at home rather than having sick time. But again that's just luck

Very rare, perhaps 10 in 25 years

None luckily I'm not a sickly person

I had 1 due to covid this year
I think 2 last year due to some awful bug i caught and couldn't get out of bed

Couldnt tell you prior to that as lucky to not get sick regularly despite very generous sick pay

My husband on the other hand has loads due to various auto immune conditions and no company sick pay which is a pisser

Your emoyer doesn't care about you.

Whether you've never been off or are off every couple of months. They won't thank you for it and if they need to, they'll drop you when it suits them.

Take your sick days.

Maybe 6/7 days a year. Like a PP I have severe migraines, with aura. Work for the NHS & I've gone through Occy health to allow me more time off for this reason. I essentially go blind for a few hours, can't speak or move. Impossible for a patient facing role.

I don't see any merit to dragging your self into work when you're genuinely sick. No one gets a medal for it and it just aides in spreading illnesses around.

I reckon I’ve probably had ten in 37 years, two were for an operation and five for flu.

roughly one day every 3.7 years. All 100% genuine.

I think it very much depends on your job, if you have an underlying health condition and your luck that year wrt accidents / operations etc. If your job is physically demanding or involves speaking a lot etc then your going to take more time off. Also if you work in the food / service industry you’d not want to be coughing over everybody or have a runny nose.

Personally I’m lucky in that I work in a technical advice / management role so it’s mostly office based except occasional site visit, so all adds up to a low sick rate as you can usually
muddle through if usual illnesses are quite mild. Hybrid working makes this even more so as you can often just work away at home with a cold etc.

I think the 4 day average is probably reasonable when you look at the bigger picture across the population, job types, ages etc.

About 5 days in 25 years. Seriously.

Isn't the idea that you take sick leave when you are genuinely too sick to work? it is not something you can plan for or regulate and I really don't get the concept that as an employee you should aim to take only a certain amount of sick days each year.

I had years when I did not have any illness so no reason to take any sick leave.

I had a period of time where I had serious health problems and I took 3 months sick leave to recover from a big operation.

Some people have disabilities and long-term health conditions and might need more sick days. People have accidents, develop cancer or like me need major surgery and so on. To say ''4 days is a lot'' is quite nonsensical when you think about that...

None for myself except covid, while mandatory I took a day off this year and needed it. That's my first sick day with my current employer (5 years).

I have had to take days off to look after sick children. Probably two per year.