Would you go to work with a temperature of 38?

[Greymalkin12]

I don't seem to have any other symptoms but feel woozy. Also I sit next to a heavily pregnant coworker. I don't particularly mind going in but wondered what the hive mind thought! Thanks x

Take the day off and don’t feel the need to add extra excuses about sitting next to pregnant co-workers or not having had a day off in years. I used to be a bit of a ‘martyr’ who went to work even though I felt terrible, usually making myself even worse throughout the week. I’ve realised now that it’s pointless - people get sick, that’s life, and going in despite feeling like death is rarely appreciated. I don’t speculate or judge other colleagues when they’re ill - and if they looked unwell I would always advise them to go home. I do myself the same kindness now. (Trying to anyway, I literally just started this today - I phoned in sick for the first time in about 8 years this morning, when usually I would have probably gone in and then have had to go home in the afternoon after exhausting myself. It still feels a bit uncomfortable and awkward, but I know having today off and recovering for tomorrow is better than wearing myself out and continuing to struggle for the rest of the week.)

@Yabbers
Would you be happy to have the day off if your nursery was closed because the person opening up had stayed off with a temperature?

@insancerre I think most people would expect a nursery to have contingency for staff illness.
My son has been going to nursery for 2 years now and it's never been closed due to staff illness although I'm sure staff must have been sick in that time.

And if enough of the staff had a temperature that the nursery didn't have enough staff to open then I'd say most people would be happy to keep their child at home in that very rare instance as it must be something quite infectious.

@kaytee87
Yes, because we go in when we are poorly
It’s nothing to do with heroics
It’s to do with not getting paid if we are ill and there being no one else to do our jobs

@insancerre I'm sorry you work for such a badly run nursery.
At both of my sons nurseries they always had an extra adult over the legal ratio and staff worked 4 (long) days a week instead of 5 so there would always be someone to call on if required. I assumed that was the norm as they're not particularly expensive or fancy nurseries.
If your nursery is running on the bare minimum so there's no contingency for illness or emergency then they shouldn't be running at all.

Although I'm not disagreeing that usually it's ok to go to work with a cold if you feel well enough. I have a cold myself today.

Where are you in that heat?

My temperature is always 38 :) Whats normal for you

@PablosHoney that's funny, mine is always 35.5/36 underarm I'm a lizard.

I only have time off if I can’t physically get out of bed

I'm glad I don't have to sit next to you at work every day, then.

Oh god I read it as the outside temp was 38! Duh. I should go back to bed!

A temperature of 38, depending on the cause, can be enough to cause lasting damage to a fetus so no I wouldn’t be coming into the office. If you can, work from home, otherwise call it in. Sometimes you need to think about the other people in your office too

Would people seriously not go into work if they felt a bit dizzy and had a very slightly raised temperature? No wonder absence rates are so ridiculously high. Just take a paracetamol if you want to bring down your temperature.

If someone phoned me at work to tell me they weren’t coming in because they had a mild temperature then I would be hugely pissed off and mentally note them down as a sicknote.

And yes I go into work with a cold and if other people get a cold then they will have to struggle on with a mild illness at work like millions of others do every winter and have done since time began.

My temperature when I'm well is just over 36 so if it was 38 I would be feeling pretty rotten so I'd stay home.

And yes I do know my "well" temperature as its always a good idea to do so.

If someone phoned me at work to tell me they weren’t coming in because they had a mild temperature then I would be hugely pissed off and mentally note them down as a sicknote.

Even if it was the persons first sick day in almost 12 years?

JaniceBattersby do you always make hyperbolic statements completely unrelated to any kind of factual evidence?

Sickness absence in the UK is the lowest on record (that's the opposite of ridiculously high )

www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/sicknessabsencefallstothelowestratein24years/2018-07-30

@JaniceBattersby - I manage a large team. When we have an outbreak of fever (defined by the NHS and multiple other health agencies as 38 degrees) we are legally obliged to advise pregnant and immunocompromised staff to stay at home in many countries to avoid lawsuits. The UK is the only country where people ignore this advice - we have needed to suspend people in the past to make them comply.

It’s ridiculously high in the public sector organisations in the geographical area I work in. I know this because I report on it twice a year.

And honestly, a one-off temperature of 38 degrees with virtually no other symptoms can hardly be described as an outbreak of fever.

JaniceBattersby perhaps your very specific sphere has ridiculously high rates of sickness which contrast sharply with national trends because of all the infections spread around through the presenteeism you advocate... Just a thought.

Public sector employees include health care workers with physical jobs and teachers and are more likely to be off with stress and backpain than private sector employees, hardly surprising due to endless budget cuts, reshuffles, personel shortages, disruptive frequently changing and contradictory government initiatives etc.

Probably not due to someone taking one sick day in 12 years due to having a temperature and feeling woozy.

The person most often off sick where I work comes in day after day with big scarves wrapped around her neck and face in summer and makes a huge deal of struggling through heavy colds with sore throats, then when she seems better suddenly takes a week off with stress... She does this 2-3 times per year. She might be less stressed if she took time off at the start of a physical illness and rested and recovered and came back healthy.

Anyway it's lunch time now, so the OP has long since made her mind up!

Must say I got a bit addicted to taking my temp with one illness, so now take it a lot. Interestingly it's gone from dropping when I'm sick (usually would go under 35) to getting really high. Last illness was 39+. Normally it's 35.5 when i get up to max 36.8 during the day. So sub 35, whist mildly hypothermic, isn't a huge drop. Mid 37 and up is a fever. I've got an underactive thyroid and low temps go with that.

It's a very sight temp. Why wouldn't you got work?

A temperature of 38°c is not a slight temperature, it's a fever. At the hospital, if a patient has a temperature of 38°c we will send blood cultures to try and isolate the cause. High temperatures in adults are much more serious than high temperatures in children.

The NHS site says to contact your GP if you have a temperature of 38°c or higher and:

-you have severe thirst or reduced urine output
-you are passing urine that is darker than normal
-you are light-headed or weak
-you have new, severe muscle cramps
-your symptoms have worsened or you notice new symptoms
-you've had a fever after recent foreign travel

You are light headed, so should at least think about getting an appointment with the GP and should definitely stay hydrated.

ffs let's all take time of work because we have a cold and stay in bed, the country will grind to a halt ! and as for the nonsense of spreading germs to colleagues as viruses are airborne you could pick those up anywhere. no wonder some people are called snowflakes !
rant over, and breathe...

If she has a temperature of 38 and no symptoms of a cold, it's possible it could be something nastier that she doesn't want to pass to her colleague. If it were a cold with a temp that would be simpler.

I had a similar temp, dosed up and struggled in, only for the temp to rise even more and I collapsed at work. Off for a month with a nasty virus. Which a pregnant woman would definitely not want to catch!