Sick days

[Belladog1]

Just wondering how many days sick you generally have per year. I'm not talking serious ailments but coughs/colds/stomach issues etc ....

I am very lucky and I'm rarely ill. I can't remember the last time I got a cold and i don't think I've taken a sick day in years. I'd have to feel really rubbish before I'd consider not going to work.

But my colleagues are very different. One lady is off a lot, at least fortnightly with headaches or a cold. She apparently takes to her bed and gets looked after by her husband. I've noticed her son takes lots of time off too for ailments and she often gets calls from the school for him to be collected as he has tummy ache. I can't help but wonder if her sickness days and staying home look great to her son who gets a day home with one mention of a poorly stomach.?

My boss often phones me to say he's woken up feeling grotty and is taking a day to stay under the duvet.

I remember as a kid trying to convince my mum i was sick. She would sit on the bed, pull a silly face and if I giggled she'd say 'I think you're well enough to go to school', and off I'd go. But, even today, as a middle aged woman, I still feel guilty, almost like I'm lying, if I need a day off sick.

Last job I was there 6 years. Had 4 days sick in total.

I had been there ten years and never had a day off sick. In my job if you work part time and are off 3 separate occasions you have a disaplinery.

No sick day since 2011. If in a standard office job, I agree that people taking days off for colds etc are ridiculous.

How fortunate you are blessed with excellent health. Some are not so fortunate. Some also decide to drag their arses in and infect the rest of the office when they should be at home just so they can tell everyone how ill they are but still went to work. I worked with a guy who did exactly this. Did fuck all work, spent two days coughing and moaning and groaning about how ill he was, but still he came in. Proudly told everyone he didn’t even take the day off when his father died. Then, over the next two weeks, half a dozen of his team had two or three days off and he bitched and moaned about them not coming in. I made the point to him that as patient Zero, if he had stayed at home, his team wouldn’t have needed time off.

I have the option to wfh so generally I take 1-2 days a year to make it through the worst of a bad cold/noro or whatever. This year I hit a wall with my mental health, so I've just come back after a few months off. That's the longest I've ever been off in a long career, including when a parent passed away. Generally, I'm lucky with my physical health and fight off colds etc pretty quickly.

I think this can be very much cultural. In my last work place, time off sick was almost unheard of unless it was long term. If people were a little under the weather they would usually just opt to work from home and plod on.

In my current work place 100% office attendence is mandatory, and the sick leave rate through the roof. There is also no performance bonus. I do wonder if this also contributes. There really isnt any incentive not to stay home when your ill.

I don’t understand why anyone would feel guilty for needing to call in sick. If, as an adult, we judge we’re too poorly to carry out our jobs, then that’s it. Can’t really be helped.

It's daft isn't it, but it's what my mother instilled in me. I always feel, if I ever call in sick that I need to put my very poorly voice on!!

I am rarely ill, but always feel guilty for taking time off sick. I find disciplinary action for being sick is bizarre! Obviously people can’t be off and paid forever, but treating it as naughtiness is very odd.

I’ve had about 4 days off in the last 3 years - two for kids being ill, but I look back on a number of times I did not call in sick where I might have been better being off, and I also can work from home sometimes. So I don’t think my particular number is especially helpful or generalisable.

I didn't have any last year but usually have about 4 days sick a year.

Last month I WFH on a day I was exhausted and hadn't slept. Promptly made a big data protection mistake, it would have caused me less upset taking a day off sick. I'll get more trouble from the data cock up than a day off.

3 weeks off last year. I tend to just push through with aches, headaches, colds but I’m 59 and that is getting harder. How old are you?

Hardly any. Maybe one a year.

I used to have sick days when I was sick. I’d come into the office with a bad cold. My colleague never took time off sick but she didn’t work Fridays. All that changed when she had grandchildren (and one lived with her) as she got what they did if it was a sickness bug and would then be off sick.

One day in 19 years.

Perhaps people need to add if they are employed by someone or self employed.
It won’t be a surprise when you see the difference.

3 days in the past 12 months (1 episode). I had flu that started with 24 hours of D&V and then moved to fever, aches, headaches, sinuses. No way could I work - I was either in the bathroom or drugged and asleep.

2 sick days in the last 3 years. 1 in the 3 ears before that. Unfortunately both of the most recent ones have been this term and if I have a third before the end of the academic year I will be given a warning and be hauled into a meeting.

Been in this job two years and haven't had one yet, I do have two rounds of surgery on the horizon though. Both should result in about a week off each.

Lady job I only had time off when my mum died.

I don't kid myself this is some kind of achievement though, I'm lucky I rarely get ill even though I'm immunosuppressed

I find it varies significantly how much sick leave I take each year. I have a demanding job, if I don't feel well enough to do it to a good enough standard I will call in sick, I can't do my role working from home. Its years ago now, but when my eldest started nursery I was off loads, as almost everything she caught I caught. Last year I had a few sick days for various illnesses and then got the flu, I had reached the point where my boss had to have a conversation with me about my sickness record, in which I committed to taking steps to try to boost my immune system - taking vitamins, getting more exercise. It seems to have worked, because I haven't had a sick day since January 2025, because I haven't needed to. I do feel a bit guilty calling in sick, because I know a colleague will have to be reassigned to cover my role, but at the same time I don't believe its right for me or my job for me to be struggling to get through the work and annoying everyone I work with as I under-perform and risk infecting everyone.

I'm late 40's, just DH and myself and no kids. I work solely from home and have had 2 days off in 5yrs. I've might get 1 cold a year, but WFH, can continue to work. Previous job was office based and in 8yrs, I might have had 3 days off.

I have a colleague, also solely WFH but part-time, who is off all the time- it always coincides with her annual leave or her days when not working. I have no idea how this hasn't been flagged but maybe it has? 🤷‍♀️

I once ran a conference with the closest thing to flu I have ever had in my life. Coughing like I was on a 40 a day habit.

I have to be projectile vomiting, covered in blood or unconscious before I don't go to work. I am SE.

Self employed for the past 20 years. I think I’ve maybe had 2-3 weeks off in total in that time. It takes a LOT to keep me home. My husband however, gets paid full pay sick pay and he has at least a week or two off a year for colds etc. But yes I go to work with the same colds as I can’t afford not to.

I think it depends on the job you do. Some jobs it’s easier to carry on with a cold than others.

Aside from recuperation from operations last year I’ve had about 5 days in 3 years. Two separate occasions when I felt a UTI coming on … I work in an environment without ready availability to a toilet so going to work wasn’t an option.

Also public and private sector would be interesting.