Why oh why do people turn up to work when they’re poorly?! 😡😡😡

[slippedawaylikeabottleofwine]

I hate it. My colleague turned up, whinged about how sick she felt for two hours, then threw up in the middle of the carpet and went home. She admitted she’d been feeling poorly all weekend. There’s no excuse for it

I've not always worked for very sympathetic companies. Most have said I needed to come in as they can't arrange cover

I work for the NHS too. Our workplace policy is that you get put on a stage 1 promoting attendance at work if off for more than 4 absences or 8 days in a row. I go into work sick because of this...not because I want to

Maybe she was one episode of sickness away from trigger the next stage of sickness. Or because people in healthcare feel they can't ring in because it leaves colleague and staff short

Because some people don't cry off sick over everything. Depending on how serious it is, you can sometimes power through and some people might not be able to rely on sick pay. Hot and cold sweats due to flu, agree you need to rest at home and recover, but a cough or sore throat is not the bubonic plague. That's how people have such crap immune systems these days because nobody has any immunity to illness anymore. You need germs floating around to make you ill to bolster your immunity for next time. Same goes for kids, so many parents hovering behind them with anti-bac wipes in the home that the minute they come into contact with germs outside, they're practically hospitalised for a fortnight.

Worried they are going to lose their job. We were always officially told to stay home when unwell. Then we were treated like liars if we did, so we would end up going to work to prove we were unwell

With recent changes in NHS sickness policies not necessarily it’s a nightmare as a manager, if she’s had recurrent episodes

Nhs has very difficult sickness policies - staff with 2 episodes sickness in a year get banned from doing bank shifts !! They get discipline meetings with HR and managers and told there must be “an immediate and sustained improvement in their attendance”.

staff come sick in the nhs because they’re scared !!

I know staff who have come in with a whole host of infections, injuries and things they’ve hidden purely to avoid policy !!

top this off with bullying from colleagues and managers for not coming in as it puts already low staffing levels even lower and top that off with them getting given the worst rota the next month

bullying is rife in the nhs and it starts at the top

staffing is dangerously low and affects the lowest pay grades

im sure you can work out yourself why your colleague came in. !!!

(or maybe she’s pregnant and feeling rough and doesn’t want to tell colleagues like you who are clearly unsupportive)

you and all the above factors are sadly are making the issue of staff stress absence in the NHS worse

Most of my life I;ve been self employed. If you don't work you don't get paid. Teaches you to always go to work. But when you're employed, and work alongside others, you have a duty to not give them your bugs.

Got a few shirkers where I'm now employed. I've been back in employment for 20 years now (almost to the day). One little sniffle and they are off for a week. Got one person who's been off almost a year to look after a spouse who's ill. Full pay.

I had 2 days off sick 12 yrs ago. Head cold from hell. Wife drove me to emergency appointment at the doctors for antibiotics, and from there to work to show the b'stards how ill I was then home for 2 days. Wife got the bug within a day or 2 so it was contagious. Others at work got it and most had over 2 weeks off.

Not saying I was right or wrong. Everybody is different and every employer is different.

And don't forget the old saying....

"He who tries and does his best goes down the road with all the rest".

The irony, if the boss was male and stayed at home he would have man-flu.

Perhaps the boss is trying to even up the statistics where otherwise women have more time off sick than men?

Because sometimes they get sacked for being off.

I personally would stay off to protect others. However my mum (who worked in HR) always struggled in. She always said looked better to be sent home than stay off.

some management have a really poor approach to sicklness leave. Some people are just not paid if they don't come in.

There are many factors.

Personally I hate it when a colleague comes in and is clearly ill and it's a bug type thing.

I don't want to get their germs - i would rather take on some of their work and let them stay at home getting better.

Could be the culture. Do you get a back to work interview to explain yourself if your off sick. She has maybe been told to watch her sickness record. If you come in to work and are then sent home.

1. They can see she is definitely ill and

2 If your sent home, it doesn't count in your sickness record

My daughter was off with flu. It took her two weeks to feel strong enough to go back to work (she is a wheelchair user) two weeks back she came down with sickness and diarrhoea. She is doubly incontinent This meant she was off for another week. She also suffers debilitating migraines which means she is often unable to work. She is a Chartered Engineer and loves her job but
it is a fact that companies have rules which do not cater for sickness even when you are on your knees. They spout discipliners at you and dismissals. It is real they do it all the time. No wonder people come in sick because if you have too many sick days you are at risk even when the sickness is real and because of this it takes longer to get better of course.
There are people who swing the lead and fake illness and these people have made it difficult for others. If they can make my daughter scared of being off sick I can understand the ethos of UK companies which do this all the time.
Come in unless you are dying! I have seen colleagues come in with flu, sickness, broken legs, burns all because being off sick is not good to have on your records and it bodes ill for your prospects. Not everyone is 96% well all the time. it will never improve because of business and profits and damn you if you are ill too often 😖

The poster has already said that her colleague felt ill all weekend and then came to work anyway.

There is when your employer makes you attend a meeting to discuss your ’sick’ record after10 days!

Self employed people can't afford to.be I'll.
The buck stops with them.

I work for the NHS too. Our workplace policy is that you get put on a stage 1 promoting attendance at work if off for more than 4 absences or 8 days in a row. I go into work sick because of this...not because I want to

I completely agree. The culture in this country of pushing people to come in even when sick is counter productive. It just spreads the illness around the whole workforce and ends up with many more lost hours than would have been lost had person A felt they could stay home in the first place.

You are A self centered person by putting this post on. I hope you are never in the same situation as the person you are referring to.

Personally I still go to work if I'm not too well because I don't get paid if I don't, and given that I'm on a fairly low wage, I can't afford to lose one or more days pay.
I don't think I'd go in if I had a vomiting bug but (touch wood) I've not had that problem.
The past 2 winters, I've had terrible chest infections which a) I probably picked up at work anyway and b) which lasted 2-3 months. There's no way I could've stayed off that long - even presuming I could have afforded to - as I'd simply have lost my job!
Not everyone works somewhere with a generous sickness policy you know.

I've come to the conclusion that some people are just weirdly blase about infectious disease even though they get them just as badly themselves.

A friend gave me swine flu (I was one of the first patients!) and kept dismissing me as being silly when she came back from Mexico with a cold. Years later, her sister brought her noro toddler to a hen do. You can guess the state of me a few days later... Then she was all for my husband coming to meet their newborn when he had COVID.

They just think germs are a fact of life - which they are, but the fact they're missing is that no one wants their germs!

Sometimes you can vomit without any warning, one time I shat myself at work because the urgent need to poo came on suddenly and I didn't make it to the toilet in time.

Absolutely. Lots of workplaces are like this. The OP seems to be under the impression that because people work for the NHS, they can have put together a nice little package of six months' worth of paid illness! It really doesn't work like that.

No. It’s called a lack of common sense and respect for others. If unwell work from home or have the time off. Sick people coming to work just makes others ill and isn’t fair. I’ve had a similar incident recently and complained to HR, said I’ll person was an Employed member of staff with paid sick allowance per year, and flexible working. I’m a contractor and the company offer me neither so I rightfully complained. I can’t afford to be ill and have unpaid time off. Sadly the selfish ones like at my workplace think it’s worth the recognition and a big pat on the back for soldering on when ill, when it’s so backwards it’s ridiculous. Gotta love toxic workplaces still giving this message

Sadly the root of these issues lies with poor companies and employers with these archaic policies. Everyone should have some paid sick leave entitlement nut they get away with it. Same as the companies taking people on via Umbrella payroll and the employers NI is deducted from employees salary. Too many poor things going on that giv turn a blind eye too.

Blimey I knew the NHS was toxic but that’s absolutely disgusting I’m shocked! I knew they were bad to work for but jeez that’s eye opening.