Do you go into work with a cold?

[Cloud44]

I think I know what the majority will say but do you go into work with a cold?! Please give me some tough love to get me through the next couple of work days with the lurgy!

I’m with you. I had the mother of all colds last year right over a 3 day conference. Never felt so bad in years or wished for the weekend to come so fast. But you do what you have to do ehh?

I wouldn't want anyone in my team to struggle in with a cold. Largely because for every one that would struggle on with it, there are another three that would take it as an opportunity to take an entire week off on account of the bad cold going around the office.

Yes,but I have my own office. I hold any schedule meetings via teams and avoid the Canteen during busy times.

I thankfully have the option to work from home so, if it was a mild cold, I'd do that. If it was a right stinker and I knew I'd get no meaningful work done and would feel worse at the end of the day (prolonging my recovery), I'd call in sick.

If any of my team are unwell, I encourage them to take time off. I'd rather they recovered and came back refreshed rather than struggling.

I used to be the person who'd drag myself to work and martyr through and it was pretty selfish actually and not the most productive in any case.

Depends how bad it is. I’ve had the day off today but I think it was flu (high temperature, chills etc) plus I’ve lost my voice which isn’t helpful for a teacher. Plus we serve lunches which is unhygienic when you’re coughing and spluttering. I’ve never had a day off with just a cold though. I probably average about half a day sick per year.

If it was just a mild cold I'd go to work, but try to avoid other people by taking my breaks at a different time to the rest of them and doing tasks I can do on my own if possible. If it was bad enough to affect my ability to focus then I would stay at home because I'd be no good for work and could make dangerous mistakes.

Yes unless I'm really too sick to sit up at a computer.
Flu/D&V no I wouldn't

We can't WFH and paid sick leave is minimal so a cold has ravaged our room (four of us). I've been ill for over a week. Mine has, as usual, gone to my chest so I've also got a rotten cough which will almost certainly result in antibiotics when it becomes bacterial as it invariably does. Didn't feel I could stay home because of volume of work, even with trying and failing to sleep sitting up on the sofa last night. I'm fucking exhausted and my boss has been off this week... with a cold.

Sorry, you've hit a nerve.

I would WFH but in previous jobs it would depend on how bad it was.. sniffles yes but anything more absolutely not
I seem to get really nasty colds and would not be presentable for my previous front line jobs and I found out the hard way that if I tried to work through an awful cold I ended up with bronchitis.
I am asthmatic though so a simple cold can get bad quickly

If possible, I try and WFH the first few days when I'll be coughing most but I will go in with one. I had 2 kids that started daycare so I was getting a cold a month for about 8 months so sometimes I just had to come in with it and try not to spread it. The colds usually turned into sinus, chest or ear infections too so I would take sick days for those things. The kids seemed to have built up a bit of immunity now so we're not as frequently sick thankfully!

I used to unless I felt really rough.
I now work from home.
If you arent well enough then you aren't well enough.
Severity of colds vary-you could always call it a virus!
Tbh I used to hate working in an open plan office when people had colds, you can literally see it progressing down the banks of desks as more and more people caught it until it eventually got to you.
But because so many people came in when perhaps they really shouldnt have it made it hard to phone in sick unless you were at deaths door

I work from home with a cold. Back in the day, I would ring in sick if I had a high temperature, throat infection or similar.

Yes

For those of you who do go into work with a cold, I know it sounds silly but how do you best keep symptoms at bay and be half productive?!

My Headteacher expects us in unless there's blood pouring from various orifices or bones poking through your skin. In the winter, schools are just pools of germs ground around and around.

I really feel for teaches with the germs @YesIJudge , how do you deal with feeling rotten and trying to teach?!

I'm lucky enough to be able to work from home whenever I want/need, so no; I wouldn't go in with a cold.
I work in a uni and fresher's flu is rife at the moment, office was almost empty today but everyone was logged on at home.

So glad the culture of presenteeism is changing with the younger generation, which hopefully leads to better mental and physical health.

I don't want to say but many jobs are like that. It's not that harsh, it's a cold. They are harsh with cancer and chronic conditions but a cold is something to work through.

Sudafed and warm citrussy drinks.

Yes. I’m a teacher so no option to work from home and I have a cold just about every other week from October to March so it’s not really possible to be off sick that much. I tend to just dose up on paracetamol and try to make it to the weekend if I’m unwell.

Plenty of over the counter cold & flu stuff plus E- Numbers will keep me going!

Yes, but I hide in my office/stand away from people/use a hanky.

Nope I’d wfh. If feeling really ill would take time off.

Been in with a stinking cold this week, no way to keep away from people so I have to just get on with it. It's the sort of environment where illnesses are always going around and I've very likely picked it up from work anyway.