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?

If I don't feel well regardless of how minor it may be, I won't go in. I wouldn't want to pass on anything.

For me it has to be that I literally cannot sit up at my computer and work, so stomach bug/severe period pain/when I had covid. And yes it is different now that I work from home because if I feel up to working with longer breaks than usual I will do at home but getting up and out in the cold and driving to work would just be too much.
In my work we trigger a HR interview if sick more than 3 times within a year, I have never triggered it in over 10 years

This!!!!!

Also the spreading germs thing, I think since Covid people are more aware of not spreading germs to others so I wouldn't go in with a bad cold now whereas I would have before, but I would work from home so I'm not taking sick leave or letting anyone down

Well not much really, although I will go in sick if I can. My job is very physical and I'm normally running around all day doing stuff, so if I can't do that I don't have the option of working at my desk instead thenInhabe to call in sick. My threshold is probably lower then some due to this.

Tbh I cannot afford to take time off sick so I don’t

Sick enough to not be able to do your job properly or safely. Depending on the job and the illness.

I'm just suspicious of people who are "a bit under the weather" what does that even mean? As a manager I'd rather they said they had period pain or no sleep all night due to worrying or something else specific.

I've taken sick days for occasional migraines and when I got COVID but I know it's only luck I don't tend to get colds and bugs.

If I'm off, it's a ballache for other people in the dept. I'm lucky in that I am fairly robust and tend to just plough on.

Last time I had time off was when you had to have 5 days off for covid. Before that, I think it was around 2015, with flu. I always tend to assume I'll feel better once I've got up and driven to work. And if I don't, then I'll just go to bed when I get in.

WFH has changed things. I once worked from home through a vomiting bug which was a bit ridiculous when I look back, I was leaving zoom meetings to vomit. And everyone pretty much worked when they had Covid too when it was more severe than it is now. Severe tonsolitis has stopped me working through, literally couldn't move out of bed for the pain.

Why did you do that? Why not just call in sick as you obviously were?

Sick enough to not think twice about calling in sick. If you’re hesitating, you’re probably not sick enough! When I’m properly ill I have no guilt at all - no room in my poorly body for that emotion.

I work from home and I don’t feel it’s acceptable to call in sick.

I also have a life limiting illness and I take all my hospital appointments as annual leave.

My thinking behind it is that if my condition does deteriorate then I might genuinely need time off for hospital appointments/stays, and whether we like it or not, amount of sickness is something that is noticed by employers.

Another Nhs healthcare worker. Agree with the being on wards for 12.5 hours sometimes it’s just too long to drag yourself for a shift where you are on your feet and barely any times for drinks or breaks. Im not talking a minor cold.

However luckily i’m not ill often maybe once in two years or so. Agree with the earlier poster too that while the NHS sickness policy is generous on the surface we do get back to work interviews, interviews with sr management for stages of sickness. All under the guise of ‘helping us get back to work’. It can be stressful. We are just expected to get on with it. Even covid…. just don’t test.

Interesting to see how so many of us have internalized the capitalist mindset and turned it into moral failing if we fall short!

Will go in the office if I've got a cold/cough but feel ok to be in and I'm due in the office that day.
If I feel crap but ok to WFH then I check its ok (which it always us tbf)
I rarely feel so ill I can't work altogether thankfully!

Exactly what I was thinking. 'Not acceptable to call in sick'?

The outrageous (IMO) UK situation in which sickness is effectively a disciplinary matter is partly to blame. Where I am, if you're signed off, an employer has no actual right to know what is wrong with you, and must pay you full pay for the first six weeks (after that your statutory health insurance kicks in at between 80 and 90 %). Dismissal for (really) long-term sickness is possible but involves a lot of hoop-jumping for the employer.

Of course people still come in when they perhaps shouldn't and spread stuff, and of course some (a very few) people take advantage, but by and large the effect is that sickness doesn't ruin people, so they can focus on getting better, as they should.

Can't stand the performance pricks I've never had a sick day in ten years. That's because you come in fall asleep at lunch time and spread your disease around the work place.
And the other reason you don't take time off I'll is because you're a gossip mongering fucker who is scared they miss something.

A lot of people don't call in sick because we are all overworked, no one will cover you and you get brought in for a performance improvement plan if you dare take some time to recover.

edited to add: plus SSP doesn't even cover rental costs in most places

I've never seen the point of dragging yourself into work if you really feel unwell. You are hardly going to give of your best when all you can think about is how shit you feel. No-one is going to give you a medal for it.

I have a flexible job where I can wfh. I will happily take 1-2 days wfh with a cold, rather than spread it.

Interestingly the next generation who are around 25, not only take these days off as sick, they will take 3-4 days off with a cold and not work at all. And then they wonder why I’m doing sickness reviews.

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

Wow!!! My boss told me to have four days off for a cold last year - I could easily have gone in for two or three of those days, but she insisted.

part of my job is teaching so I stay off if I can’t manage to stand up and perform all day. I wouldn’t be off for a cold unless it affected my voice or I was constantly coughing, sneezing etc

the other part is writing wfh and it’s much rarer I can’t do that.

overall I have average 2-3 days off a year with a virus.

Anything coming out- I’m going nowhere and not wfh either.
Intense pain - struggled but ended up in hospital. Just exhaustion after, needing to sleep, rest.

Only been sick about three times in twenty odd years.

I think you’re right. And I do include myself in that internalization process. I’m just like everyone else, working when I shouldn’t because afraid of looking like I’m not performing.

im not even sure what the answer is thought beyond radical economic restructuring at a global level!

I’m a primary teacher. I drag myself unless I have d&v or the kind of flu where you don’t get out of bed for 2 days, too poorly to even read/ watch tv.
That’s because (a) in because (a)