to tell Matt Hancock what happens if you don't come into work or school because you have a sniffle?

[chomalungma]

He is surprised by people who go to work (pre pandemic) if they have a sniffle or are feeling a bit run down because they should be at home and not spread any illness. He would like to use the diagnostic capacity build up to test for other illnesses.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55061543

I know what happens at some work places if you are off everytime you have a sniffle. Your sickness records gets investigated.

Same with schools. Does he have any idea how schools frown upon children taking time off?

"Why in Britain do we think it's acceptable to soldier on and go into work if you have flu symptoms or a runny nose, thus making your colleagues ill?

"I think that's something that is going to have to change.

"If you have, in future, flu-like symptoms, you should get a test for it and find out what's wrong with you, and if you need to stay at home to protect others, then you should stay at home.

"We are peculiarly unusual and outliers in soldiering on and still going to work, and it kind of being the culture that 'as long as you can get out of bed you still should get into work'. That should change

Totally.

As heslth secretary he should have a better grasp of the nhs sickness policy. 3 episodes in a rolling 12 month period amd you’re in trouble. I’ve known nurses be told by their ward manager even if they’ve being throwing up they need to come to work!

If every nhs worker with a sniffle didn’t come to work then it would be chaos with dangerously low staffing levels.

I 100% agree with him. Each time we drag ourselves into work and put our bodies under more stress we keep lowering our immune systems. Each time we pass it on to others and they get more sick each year it is a vicious cycle.

However, yes employers want buns on seats. People in.

I think this pandemic has shown though just how easy it would be to either bring down a business through the virus ripping through it or because of the widespread of it in the general world.

I have the luxury where I will wfh if I feel ill or wear a mask.

If he thinks people go to work with flu symptoms he has never had proper flu!

That's a fallacy @Averyyounggrandmaofsix. Flu is a bit like COVID in that way - the same flu virus causes differing severity of symptoms in different people. So if you take your case of walking flu to work, others in your office may end up in bed for 2 weeks with classic flu or in hospital seriously ill.

If I took time off work every time I was ill I would be sacked. I get ill about once every three weeks since my immune system was fucked by a serious illness a few years ago.

I can't see how forcing me out of my job helps anyone to do anything.

I suspect MPs don't have a sickness policy with their attendance being monitored.

But I am sure that Civil Servants in his Department have a sickness policy. I wonder if he knows it.

Is that what he said?

I'm surprised.
I suspect I am the person he is referring to. I just get on with things. I go to work no matter what. I think I've only had 2 days off in about 20 years. One of those was because I had a diabetic hypo.

My husband is the same. And both ds's. Ds2 has never had a day off, ever. Ds1 has only had 1 or 2 in the whole of his primary and secondary.

Some people or just not ill. some children seem to catch every sniffle going or have D&V all the time. my two have never had D&V ever so I suppose I should count myself lucky.

I find him laughable. He's so out of touch with reality.

How Tory Governments treat disabled. And PIP?

Excuse me while I vomit.
But now your saying, because I've vomited you don't want me going to work? Matt?

Oh. Purlease.

I’ve phoned in sick this morning. Got sworn at by my boss and won’t get paid (ssp).
First time in years I’ve been sick. Matt Hancock needs to live in the real world.

I totally agree with him arguing we need a change in culture. But if he is actually serious about it then he needs to look at sickness policies such as those in the nhs and make a meaningful change. Otherwise it’s just lip service.

Be the change you want to see Matt

I don't want to be bored stiff by having to stay home.
I like my job.
I don't want a big backlog of stuff to catch up with.

I had a colleague who sometimes told me to go home when I was full of cold (we sat near each other). She was very exasperated by colleagues making her sick (she said). She said she had terrible problems & history of head colds & worse.

Never, not once, did she seem to catch anything from me, when I was her colleague. Several years.

I wonder now if, since I have so much equipment at home, maybe it will just stay at home even when I'm allowed back in office. I quietly won't tell work I have it all. Then I would have option to just carry on working at home if not welcome in office with a cough/snivel.

@Thecazelets

In the NHS itself 3 episodes of sickness absence over a year triggers a review (even if each episode is just a day) so the culture of going in unless you physically can't is embedded. And that's for people in secure jobs with proper sick pay. Perhaps Hancock hasn't heard about the steep rise in zero hours contracts under the Tories

I just came on to say the same.

You daren't be off unless you are on deaths door...

Deeply ironic considering it's his lot that forged this culture of presenteeism in the first place.

He seems to have no concept, either, of being conscientious and not letting down colleagues.
If I don't turn up for work (nurse), my colleague on the previous twelve hour shift would not be able to leave until cover had been found, which could take some time.

If I’m off they need to cancel a whole clinic, so I tend to only be off if desperate. There is no surplus staff now to fill in.

Changing the workplace culture would be a start, flexible working, more staff, better pay, less hours, more breaks, more space, up to date equipment etc. This would reduce stress, give a better work life balance and subsequently improve general health.

Well let's hope that the high Street goes bust , because that will be a massive chunk of people who will be forced to get jobs working from home then sick'ees will eventually die out 🤔. Job done.

@Doingtheboxerbeat

Well let's hope that the high Street goes bust , because that will be a massive chunk of people who will be forced to get jobs working from home then sick'ees will eventually die out 🤔. Job done.

Without "the high street", people will shop online, so that means warehouse jobs, delivery drivers, etc., - it doesn't lead to work from home jobs at all.

He is not surprised, he is well aware, he doesn't care.

In April half the population was WFH at least some of the time suggesting many more people could WFH when they have mild respiratory infections than currently do. Obviously that's very sector dependant. Much easier for a software engineer than a nurse.

When my company first told people to stay home if they had a cold in early March I had a conversation with my boss about should I go home because I (at the time) had a very mild cold that wasn't affecting my ability to do my job. Their immediate response was 'nah, stay at work, it's daft to go home' even though I was in a job where I regularly WFH already. I went on to develop a really nasty cough that may well have been Covid-19. I suspect in cases like that more people will WFH when they are a bit poorly but not ill enough to call in sick.

@Thecazelets

In the NHS itself 3 episodes of sickness absence over a year triggers a review (even if each episode is just a day) so the culture of going in unless you physically can't is embedded. And that's for people in secure jobs with proper sick pay. Perhaps Hancock hasn't heard about the steep rise in zero hours contracts under the Tories

Same in the local authority where I work

So the government, which he is part of, need to put in place more robust sickness protection and pay laws for a start then.

My workplace is one of the more generous, but if you trigger on the Bradford factor, you can expect, ultimately, to be dismissed, and in the short term to be put on an "action plan"- where you can not be sick for 3, 6 or 12 months. Absolutely ridiculous.

@user1497207191, I was being facetious, sorry if that wasn't clear.