To be slightly annoyed that work expect me to carry on as normal?

[Paperbackmermaid]

I’ve got covid and so far it’s true, I don’t feel at death’s door. Work have said I’m ok to work from home as usual, because I do anyway.
However although I largely feel ok periodically I’m hit with absolute exhaustion, not tiredness, like MUST REST NOW. I’m taking paracetamol for the headache and sore throat and apart from the exhaustion it’s ok really.
If I had a job I couldn’t do from home I wouldn’t still be expected to attend meetings and deal with clients.
AIBU? Obviously I will do what I can and it’s varying a bit, I feel ok and then it just suddenly crashes over me that I am so unbelievably tired.

Just tell your manager ‘I thought I was ok on painkillers. I’m not. I’m going to have to go off sick.’

I worked through covid from home but I apart from being a bit more tired I wasn't ill - in normal times I would have gone to work with mild illness anyway

I am expect they'll take their cues from you, OP. So I'd you say you're not feeling up to working today, I doubt they'll push it.

You mention that you're ECV. Knowing your body, do you think you might feel better sooner taking today completely off?

Otherwise, if it just comes and goes but overall you think you're fine to do some work I'd explain that to your manager and see if they think it's more productive to work and take breaks when you have to, or have a clean break and hopefully come back properly next week.

Contact them today and say you have been trying to muddle through but now you are much too sick to work and will be taking today off to rest. You can see how you go after the weekend and decide on Monday of you are able to work or need further time off. You make this decision, not your work.

If you have an understanding employer you can tell them it comes and goes and you can do a bit of paperwork while you are feeling better but won't be able to take meetings. If they are less understanding or its not really easy to be flexible with what you do, you will have to just call in sick for the whole day. You will not recover as quickly If you are forcing yourself to work when you need to rest.

@Paperbackmermaid

I’ll speak to my manager. It’s difficult because yesterday morning I felt ok ish but by lunchtime I felt dreadful and then I felt ok again by late afternoon. It comes and goes.

It's not tho. Overall, you're not well enough to work.

You need proper rest to overcome that level of exhaustion. You'll recover quicker & be better able for work, if you take sick leave now and really rest.

I actually checked this out with HR ( NHS) and even for staff completely asymptomatic( we had a lot) they said if they were on sick leave they should not be asked to work, unless they volunteered because they were feeling bored!

Tell them you are too sick to work. End of. They are not clairvoyant, and you have rights.

Covid tiredness is horrible, much much worse than feeling a bit tired, I couldn’t work through it so while I didn’t feel “sick” I was unwell so took the time off work. Take the time you need to recover.

Why? What’s wrong with saying “it comes and goes so sometimes I will need to log off. It otherwise I will work as normal” Would you do that if you worked in the office? Would you do that for any other illness?

OP has sent her employer a mixed message and they have replied in kind - at which point OP is annoyed with them. THAT is why!

You seem to be tying yourself in knots because you feel well enough to do a few hours’ work. That doesn’t mean you aren’t ill enough for time off and should just keep going.

If your place is like mine, it will be normal and perfectly acceptable to say you’re ill but will/may pick up your emails, etc., when feeling better. I’ve had days where I’ve slept in, done a couple of hours of work and then gone back to bed. It isn’t necessarily a binary working as usual or sick day as someone else said. If your employer is more binary in their thinking, though, you must take the day off. Being exhausted IS being ill!

Hope you’re resting today.

My work tried to do this when I had covid. I felt ok initially then the screen went fuzzy, I took my temp and realised I had a raging fever. So I called my boss and said I wasn’t fit to work and was taking sick leave as the covid symptoms had now kicked in.

OP if you are happy to work when you are feeling OK you could ask your doctor for a fit note saying you are fit to work with adjustment to hours.

@Paperbackmermaid

They didn’t ask me, they just made the decision that I was working from home as usual. I’m ECV so I do wonder how much of what I’m experiencing is worry, because I am worried - which I know is ridiculous. I’m fine. I’m just very very very tired.

I don't get this. How can work 'decide' if you're ill or not?

Ring in sick, for heaven's sake.

Oh, and out of interest and excuse my ignorance but what is ECV?

Agree with other posters, unless you say, "I have covid and feel awful" they won't know.

Also depends on your work place. To be honest, I've worked in a lot of places where sick days were mostly a bit casual and you only really got properly signed off sick if you were off for days at a time. It was quite normal, for example to not feel well and say you'd do your best to work from home and see how it goes - but basically just do the bare minimum. But if the policy is that you're either WORKING or SICK, then I'd take at least one day off to try sleep it off and tell your manager that you'll see how you feel the following day. Two days would be better but it's Friday today so arguably take today and see how you are by monday.

Don't get this at all.
You are too ill to work.
Get Fit Note or whatever it's called from the GP and sign off sick until you are better.
Work cannot decide whether you are fit enough to work or not and you should stop with all that "Oh I feel ok sometimes" stuff.

Why are you telling them you feel ok in between? Just say you are sick and will be taking time off. It's not for them to judge how sick you are.

The fatigue is very bad -and it can come back and hit you harder if you don't rest. Take a couple of days off, rest, see how you feel before going back to work (even if it's wfh). Wfh doesn't mean you work through sick days.

Just go off sick

You don't owe them a blow by blow account. Just tell them - I won't be working today (or for the next 2 days) I am sick. I will ring you tomorrow to let you know if I will work.

You have to be firm. If they say, you have a meeting at 10. Just repeat, no I am off sick today. I won't be working. You just need to be clear. Don't say, oh I'll do what I can, or I'm not that bad. Just give yourself a couple of days to rest and recover. They can't force you!

It’s not up to your work to determine whether you are well enough to work. You decide that and then inform them if you are on sick leave. You clearly aren’t well enough to work, so inform them of this and take some time off to recover.

Call your manager. Tell them that trying to work yesterday helped you realise that you are too unwell to do so today. You will advise them when you are well enough to return to work.

@CuriousaboutSamphire I have done that with other illnesses and have wfh to facilitate being able to do that.

I agree re the mixed messages but wouldn’t a better solution be to communicate clearly rather than retreating to a binary option only?

You need to speak to your manager and explain the situation. From the sounds of things they seem to have the impression that you have COVID but since the symptoms are only mild you are happy to WFH rather than take sick leave.

In my friends office anyone with COVID is given the option to WFH (they are usually fully office based) rather than have to take sick leave. That means there is flexibility depending on the person's situation- those who are asymptomatic can WFH as normal; those with mild symptoms are given a modified role (meetings/time sensitive tasks are taken out of their schedule while WFH) and those who can't commit to at least X hours/tasks a day is signed off sick until they can come back to the office.

You need to make the situation clear to your manager as it seems like a miscommunication regarding what you are able to do while WFH. They may suggest that if you can't do your full work schedule then you go off sick or they may agree a reduced WFH workload (eg you do your day to day tasks/paperwork/emails etc at your own pace and schedule but all meetings and time sensitive tasks are given to someone else).

[quote Burnamer]@CuriousaboutSamphire I have done that with other illnesses and have wfh to facilitate being able to do that.

I agree re the mixed messages but wouldn’t a better solution be to communicate clearly rather than retreating to a binary option only?[/quote]
Why? Working when I'll, covid or otherwise, could slow down recovery. And nobody is required to work when ill. If, as OP says, her work have decided she can WFH even though she is I'll then they are taking the piss.

I say that as an ex teacher who worked for 3 months from home, scheduling and monitoring lessons when I lost my voice. I did it because I could, I decided. My employer covered my work, as they should. And again when you broke my ankle. I couldn't go on site either time as, once a sick note is issued you are no longer covered by insurance, etc.

OP is I'll and has no need to do anything once signed off sick.

And again when you broke my ankle
Good heavens, this is quite a robust discussion I know, but that's a bit much