WFH when ill?

[Illbefinejustbloodyfine]

I have the ability to wfh. We try to keep any sickness out if tge office, so if you are coughing and sneezing but fit to work, we wfh.

Some people have set wfh days. What are your thoughts on wfh on these days when you woulnt go to work if you had to go ibto the office? For example, recovering from sickness bug, or flu or something?

It seems since covid, its expected that you wfh when ill.

I can WFH, I happily wfh if I have a sniffle or something contagious that I wouldn’t want to take into the office and share.

However when I had the flu I couldn’t physically have worked, so I took time off as I was sick. I was shaking, couldn’t pay attention to anything, had a fever - I’d have been useless to try and wfh!

Our management are really good with this, if it’s clear you’re online when you’re ill (sniffles) they’ll double check we feel okay to work.

Some people have set wfh days. What are your thoughts on wfh on these days when you woulnt go to work if you had to go ibto the office?

Am I well enough to work or not? If not then dont. If yes then do.

Completely depends. If the illness is contagious then don’t go in and only work if you feel able to. If you’ve had an operation or some sort of muscular pain that means you find it hard to travel, but can easily sit with a laptop, then wfh.

Depends how ill you are

Yes this! I think most people can judge if they are well enough to work?

This is one of the good things about working from home. You can stay home if you have something contagious like a cough or cold but still work. I wish my boss would have done it more often as he was always bringing illnesses into the office (he had two small children) and sharing them with the office staff.

I never get sickness bugs but if I did I would take day 1 off as properly sick (ie. not work) but work on the second day to keep to the 48 hour rule.

My last job was flexible so I could work from home if I needed to and this means I only had a few days of not working at all because ill in the whole of my 11 year stint with that company. I even returned to work earlier than I would have after recovering from an operation.

I think most people do know when they are well enough to work. The problem is work expecting you to wfh regardless.

If you are well enough you work surely.

It's shades of grey. Is this really a thing that's specific to scheduled WFH days? It sounds more like they expect everyone to WFH when ill, wherever their normal site is that day.

I think this is one of those situations where being a bit thick skinned about other people's expectations can be helpful. Don't discuss it or justify it, just call in sick and if questioned say you are too ill. You're the one who is ill, you get to judge whether you are too ill to WFH or not. I do think there is a level of illness where you can reasonably WFH but not go into the office but that doesn't mean you can't ever take a day off sick.

I try to work. I had a sick note for four weeks last year due to a hospitalisation but I didn’t use it, as my work is laptop-based I was able to do most of my work. I would have been on full pay so I could have used the sick note but it wouldn’t have been fair on my team.

Depends on nature and severity of sickness and also work context - eg how much sickness have you taken recently, or is work in a crisis situation or if others in team were off sick or on vacation so I’m being depended on.