How sick do you need to be to call in sick to work?

[Nomoreafterthisone]

Just that really.

Does it change your answer if you work from home?

What stops you calling in sick?

Work for the NHS but not patient facing (lab based). We still have the D&V policies in place so other than a blinding headache that I physically couldn’t lift my head that’s the only reason I’ve had time off sick in recent years. We’ll and one bout of covid during the restrictions but I wouldn’t have been fit to work even if there weren’t policies preventing me from attending.

I do think I should call in sick more often than I do but my mum worked at my school when I was young and wouldn’t allow me to have time off unless I was on deaths door so I do struggle 😅 I’ve got to be physically unable to get myself to work before I call in. I don’t necessarily think that’s the best attitude to have though. I think I should have called in last week but I dragged myself through and I’m still suffering now..

I’m a teacher. I always call in sick if I have d&v until I know it has cleared and would always call in if I had a temperature. Otherwise I would only call in if I would be too ill to make it through the day even with paracetamol, so usually if I genuinely didn’t feel well enough to drag myself out of bed. If I can power through with paracetamol I will and think I’ve only had 2 days off in last 3 years.

If you can work from home, crack on. If you work in an environment with other people and can get full sick pay, stay the fuck at home when you’re full of germs! Honestly I have no time for these smug ‘I haven’t called in sick for 10 years’ knobends. It doesn’t make you tough or virtuous, it makes you a selfish twat and trust me, everyone at your work is thinking that too. Maybe the poor sod on the next desk doesn’t share your amazing superior immune system. Nobody wants your snot!

Unless I’m being driven in in a hearse, any illness reported by myself is treated with maximum suspicion by my boss 🙄

I wfh 2 days a week. In the last few years I have only been off sick with, Covid, a uti, 2 sprained ankles (pre wfh) and a planned operation for endometriosis. I haven’t called in sick for about 2 years. I did have a bad back for about 5 days a few months back but my boss said to wfh

I have to be bed bound to call in sick. Literally so ill that I can't get out of bed

I never get colds or flu, or D and V, or bugs in general. I’ve been off sick a lot, though, for cancer treatment.

If it's an upset stomach, obviously not!

If I'm feeling horrible and too ill to get out of bed, or have a crushing migraine I will stay off. There's someone in the office with compromised immunity so when I had Covid, although my symptoms weren't that bad, they made me stay off work until I was testing negative.

Other than that, I go in. I only work mornings anyway, so it's not too bad.

I have to be a lot sicker to not work from home.

If I can be even half as useful as usual, I'll work and use my lunch hour to rest/snooze if needed.

When I commuted into an office it was a lower bar to call in sick because the day would be 12 hours long and I needed to be safe to drive etc.

WFH also makes it easier to start working and see how I get on. Mostly when I do that, I work till the end of the day.

This

Exactly this.

Wow I can't believe how many people WFH.

I work 12.5 hour shifts on a busy hospital ward, it's a very physically demanding job. Totally different to sitting at a desk for 6-8 hours. (I've done that job too).

If I'm too sick to do my shift I call in sick, and I don't care what anyone thinks.

The poster who said they get irritated by people being off sick with a cold, get over yourself! I've got asthma and if I get a cold I really suffer, often with sleepless nights due to it affecting my chest. Maybe don't judge people so much?

I run my own business so have to be pretty sick to stay home. It doesn't happen often thankfully. I wouldn't stay home with a cold but I only work with one other person and she isn't bothered by a few sniffles.

I can’t work from home and sick pay is a joke at £18 per day!

so if I’m not vomiting I’m in.

From a corporate perspective. It actually baffles me how some people can go into work full of cold and spread it around making others ill especially people who are immunity compromised or have family who are. So selfish.

If you are sick you are sick. If you get sick pay- take it! You don't win an award at the end of your working days for person with the least amount of sickness 🙄

I completely agree. We had someone like this on our team in one of my old work places, and then she would complain about having to pick up work for the people who were off with the bug she had given them!

A lot of people genuinely can't afford to go off sick for some sniffles. Sick pay is £90 a week, that is not enough to cover a week's worth of work for most people.

Teacher. I stay home if I have my head in a bucket, otherwise I'll dose up and go in. Being off is a pain- you have to set lots of cover work and it messes up your teaching sequence, especially if you share a class.

It's easy to forget this when you have always world places that pay you in full during sick leave. I've been lucky to have the choice to not work anywhere without full sick pay, with the exception of part time jobs in uni.

I only call in sick when I'm really poorly. If your job involves mixing with others at an office or staring at a screen all day at home and you don't feel well, just call in and most importantly don't go back until you're fully recovered. It's not like management will give you a pat on the back for never calling in sick or coming back quickly to work after an incident of sickness

D&V, definitely off and sticking to the 48 hour rule. Massively emetophobic and my biggest pet hatred is people that ignore this and go about spreading it willy nilly

My poor little baby had it last year and it still haunts me how poorly he was

Anything else I usually work and will avoid anyone where possible just in case

Was on HR warning last year due to genuine issues.
Also only get statutory sick pay

Like the comment above about unless you’re in a hearse you’re treated with the utmost suspicion, that’s how our company is too

I think it depends on your job. I’m a lecturer and generally try and push through because it’s so much hassle for students/colleagues if people are off. I had three days off earlier this year with what I think was probably Covid - coughing so much I was vomiting and just feeling absolutely horrific. I could probably have done one of those days wfh if I had a regular office job and could just lie low a bit and stay in my pjs, but it wasn’t possible to go in and “perform”.

I went back earlier than I should have because I was worried about letting people down, which meant it lingered for weeks. My manager did allow me to teach my classes and go home rather than hang around for office hours and that helped a bit.

Prior to that my last sickness was with PCR verified Covid in 2022, when I felt exactly the same. I had a week off then and I think afterwards at least one week of remote teaching rather than in person.

I can count the number of days I've ever had off work on my fingers, I'm 50. The world doesn't stop because I have the sniffles. I've worked for charities for the past 20 years and I'm letting so many people down if I don't work, that said I have my own office

I never call in sick still go to work how ever I’m feeling

I work in a school, so I have to be dead in order to ring in sick. Everything else there’s paracetamol and berocca and get on with it.

The SLT are pretty good about people being sick, but the HR person is a nightmare (told me off for testing for Covid when I got properly ill with it before Christmas - apparently our policy is that staff don’t test….?)