To come into work so Ill

[creamcheeseandlox]

My boss has just come in and sat next to me. I said hi and in his own words "morning, I feel like death"! He is full of cold and had tissues, nose spray and lemsip all over his desk and is coughing and spluttering. I have so far this winter managed to avoid colds but am thinking I'll probably bloody catch his one now.

I'm not a shirker in any sense but if someone is that Ill i think it's disrespectful to come into a open plan office and proceed to spread germs all over the place. AIBU?

I used to take time off if I was really sick, and then I realised that no one else in my office did and people talked about me behind my back (manager included). I only had 3 sick days in that whole year, 2 of which were part of one absence where I had food poisoning and ended up going to A&E.

People come into my office disgustingly infectious, sometimes even with diarrhoea and vomiting, and everyone talks about how brave and dedicated they are. It pissed me off no end because it means I get ill more often.

I find it an unhealthy culture but since I don't want to lose my job, yes, I do go into work when I'm really sick and spread my germs to everyone else. In principle though I agree with you OP. Just a weird attitude that some people have... Bloody martyrs lol.

Some people have to go in unless they are really ill as with SSP you don’t get paid for the first three days and then you only get about £92 a week, these jobs are not usually ones you can WAH

You shouldn't take time off just for a cold.

Well, that depends on how bad it is. Colds can be awful. If you have a bad cold where your eyes are sore, your throat hurts, you ache all over, feel wiped out and you feel like absolute crap, then not going to work is fine.

I personally don't mind people coming to work with a cold because it's bloody everywhere anyway, but saying people shouldn't take time off for a cold is silly.

I had about 7 colds last year
Regardless of anyone else's immune system if I had seven absences in 12 months I would have no job and be unable to pay my mortgage. Which would be really helpful to my kids

Ok he is BU for that warrior comment

In that case you wouldn’t be able to work at home either Precisely. So the PP who said "there are some jobs which you couldn't do with a bad cold but an office job isn't one of them" hadn't really thought it through.

I never understand this 'you shouldn't take time off for a cold' comment.

There is a big difference between having a touch of the sniffles and a full on eyes streaming, nose running, shivery cold. The latter makes you feel really awful and of course you should stay at home if possible, rest and keep warm. I would really hate to work with some of the people who make that comment.

It's hard to tell what will be an issue though. I had a mild sore throat and a bit of cough that wasn't even bad enough for over the counter stuff, my poor boss caught it off me and came down with tonsillitis and had a week off. I felt bad for him but from my point of view their was no reason to stay off work even without that draconian sickness policy.

of course its easier and better to work from home when ill than it is to go out and work in an office with people.
In both cases youd probably not work as efficiently as if you werent ill, but at least youd be more comfortable, could rest here and there, could concentrate more and wouldnt be infecting everyone else with your germs and misery.
Lots of people dont have this opportunity, which is understandable but if you have it, and dont take it, then thats selfish.

Its impossible to avoid ALL illnesses, but that doesnt just mean that we should not give a shit about infecting everyone unecessarily

With a decent boss that would be a good idea, there is definitely a level of illness where you don't want to go out but could sit at a computer with a hot drink. The problem is when you have something more debilitating and you have to justify to your boss why you can't "just work from home"

We can also wfh as we want and those of us who aren't customer facing will when we have a cold.

Before Christmas I had an absolute death cold. I worked from home for most of the week but one day had three meetings. I offered to either rearrange or dial/VC in, but the manager in charge of the meetings insisted in a most unpleasant way that I went in for them, even though it was clear how I'll I was when I spoke to him. So i did - and made it clear he had made me!! Of course everyone got the death cold. I didn't even make it through all the meetings either - would have been fine quietly wfh but wasn't up to a three hour commute total and a full day at work. Was sent home in the end! Ridiculous.

Surely if you are too Ill for work you shouldn’t be WAH, or is this the new norm, all sick people soldiering on at home from their beds

There's a big difference between eg driving in when feeling rubbish (should you be driving if you feel ill) or doing a long commute by public transport and being in the office with people hassling you and pottering around at home and checking emails and replying to the urgent ones. I would probably not go into work if I was feeling grotty but there is a difference between feeling too grotty to go out/do a journey and feeling too grotty to work at all.

If I am as ill as you describe I wiukd nit go in. If one of my staff came in as ill as that they would be sent home. They would get paid