To think of you’re signed off sick you should stay at home?

[Poppins17]

I’ve been unwell since the beginning of December.

I’m currently on my second dose of antibiotics and have now got steroids.

Dr informed me to rest as much as possible but there was no discussion about time off work.

I work in a senior position in Local Government, and have 15 staff to manage as well as assets.

I met a friend last night (which was a mistake as when I got home I realised I didn’t have the energy to do that), and she said how unwell I looked, and how I needed to go back to the drs to get signed off work.

She mentioned doing a few things whilst off sick to help with my well-being (spa days, going to the coast etc).

It made me wonder something that I assume when people are off sick they stay at home and don’t engage in any ‘nice’ activities.. is this an old fashioned view now?

Just to stay I work in the same village as where I live so likely people would see me out and about.

YABU - You should engage in nice activities for your own well being

YANBU - You should stay at home

Sorry to hear you are not well.

Honestly, most of us grew up with the parents keen to get us into school, so the rule was always a very binary one, either you're in bed unable to move or you're well enough to be at school.

Clearly that falls into the same category as you must clear your plate before dessert/getting down and all the rest of it.

Yes it was normal then, nowadays "listen to your body"is more appropriate.

So maybe use the time to get to know what you're able to do and what you aren't. And also perhaps learn that you can work 4 hours a day rather than 8 to start with. Which is better than nothing or everything.

Take care.

Maybe you can answer my question since none if the other PPs saying the same thing have been able to.

what job is it that you do? Because I’d love a job that’s only as taxing as going for lunch with friends, could really do with an easy life right now.

Of course you shouldn’t stay at home - in fact that could do more harm than good! I had a significant amount of time off work a couple of years ago due to an msk issue. After an initial two weeks when I couldn’t move, gentle walks in the countryside, progressing to more strenuous walks were what helped me to recuperate! If I hadn’t done that, my recovery would have been greatly hindered. If I could have driven to a spa, I’d have been in there!

Pissed and out clubbing is completely different to driving somewhere nice for a walk and lunch.

It's not the problem of the ill person if the work they normally do has to be covered be a stretched team. This is the problem of the company/organisation who need to have better strategies in place to manage workload in this event.

You don't have to hide taking a walk, swim or having a massage ffs.

@Zippedydoo123 i live by the beach- The beach is fab in January. Walk it every day more than once. love it regardless of what the weather is or time of year.
I agree with most people depends on what you are off sick for. If you have flue covid etc stay at home. Get out for a little walk when you start feeling better to help build you up. Wouldn't go to a spa with this type of illness
Other illnesses i would defoe get out for a bit and get on with life and what is needed to be done to get better
Though i would be very conscious not to take the piss though, i am a person who feels guilty taking time off work

I think I am suffering from something similar. I’m retired, so not off sick, but I would be I wasn’t because I can’t hear a thing except my own voice.

I have been out for walks to try and clear my head but that’s it. I don’t want to give it to anybody else. Where I live it’s easy to do long walks without meeting another soul.

I think spa days would be taking the mick but some sea air could be beneficial.

If you are unwell you should do whatever is needed to become well again. Staying indoors all of the time isn't healthy and fresh air, daylight, walking, can do wonders.

But for the love of god please do not take your germs into a spa!!!

In your particular scenario you need to be at home recuperating and resting. Potentially a walk in the fresh air might do you good but pub visits, spa days, days out to the coast certainly don't feature.

It's not an old fashioned view.

If you're unwell enough not to work then you're unwell enough not to go to the pub, spa day, coast.

After a particularly serious operation, my father’s employer paid for him to stay in a convalescent home on the coast.

Depends a lot on what you are signed off with, long or short term and how it impacts your work. If you do a manual job and broke your leg I wouldn't be offended to see you sat in a café, why not! If it's short term sickness I generally think that is too ill to really leave home. But if it's longer term, or MH or doing something like cancer treatment then you may well be going for walks etc.

Perhaps it depends on where you work but I always would go back to work as soon as I could - I did the final bit of recovering at work not taking a jaunt and people were so pleased to see you they were nice about it - made you a coffee etc … it was about being part of a team and thinking of that team .. from this thread it sounds like people don’t think like that anymore

Why is a walk at the coast so much worse than a walk "in the fresh air"...? The air is freshest near the coast, and I don't see why the walking would have to be any more strenuous than walking in the countryside generally...

What is so bad about going to a pub? If you've gone for a nice walk in the countryside, a pub is often the only place to get lunch for miles around.

And more to the point, why all the disdain for spas, which were literally invented for sick people originally??! What could be more appropriate for an ill person than lazing around all day in a warm room, getting in some nice warm water and maybe having a massage?

There are some really bizarre assumptions in this thread...

I presume the "if you're well enough to go out, you're well enough to go to work" posters have been fortunate enough to never have a major illness, injury or surgery? Because if they had, I expect they would realise that actually you are not bedbound one day and fighting fit the next, and that during the recuperation period health care professionals not only tell you it's ok to get out and about, they actually advise it. If you have been seriously ill it's likely that you'll need a significant period of rehabilitation to build up enough stamina to get back to normal life, including work. You might see your sick collagues out for a nice walk on the beach and query why they can't work if they can do that, but for all you know, that walk will leave them completely exhausted and not able to do anything the next day.
Obviously it's different if someone is claiming to have an acute, short term illness like flu or a stomach bug and is seen out having fun, but there are numerous situations where it's perfectly possible to be legitimately unable to work but not need to be housebound. In fact for many longer term, and indeed some short term conditions, staying in all the time is probably the worst thing you can do.

Unless you are absolutely unable to get out of bed, going out can help you get better. Whether that includes going out for drinks/meal/spa depends very much on the nature of your illness. If it's something you can pass on, then stay at home (or go for a walk in the countryside alone!)

Couldn't have put it better myself; if you're signed off sick, you're signed off work, not life!

Stupid thing to say depends why you are off sick and what job you do.

For example myself and some other people I know have been off with work related stress. We were all encouraged by the medical professionals treating us to go out to do exercise, go to the gym, go on holiday including abroad, go to the shops, go to weddings, etc all to show that the issue was work related and not due to issues in our private lives.

On the other hand I've been signed off work after an ENT operation as I was not allowed to go out to mix with people for 2.5 weeks to minimise my chance of catching a common cold or other respiratory infection. In my case as I could work from home, so apart from the 48 hours I was recovering from the general anesthetic I worked. It just meant after work I couldn't do any of the activities I would have normal participated in - so no going to the shops, go out to exercise including no going out for a walk around the block, no going on holiday, etc.

I have friends who have broken limbs including one of their arms which meant they couldn't do their jobs at all. It also meant they had to have help doing basic things like showering themselves and dressing themselves. They could only go to the pub/picnics if they had help getting there and people helped them while they were out.

Your view is outdated. You should do what you need to do to get well and what that is depends on the reason for illness.

When a boyfriend years ago broke his leg he couldn't work. He was signed off due to doing a physical job. But he needed to keep exercising so he did what he could and hobbled to the pub 2 or 3 evenings a week and enjoyed beers with friends. No reason to stay home.

I think YABU. You can be off sick with a lot of different things!! Staying at home on the sofa is not necessarily the best thing to do for your recovery, depending on why you are unwell. x

The thing is, when you go for a walk on the beach or go for a spa day, you know when you have done enough and can go home and rest. Your level of activity is on your terms. If ou were in work, you would not be able to dip your toe in and retreat as you listen to your body. You can't do that when you're back in work.

At risk of joint the echo chamber, it entirely depends on why you were signed off.

If you say you have gastroenteritis and then post pics of your lovely family day out or you on a night out with friends then you're going to end up in trouble if someone sees you, but if you've had a chest infection and after a week off are seen on a walk or in a coffee shop then you shouldn't be in trouble for wanting to build up your energy by doing something other than sitting on the sofa all day before you return to a full day of work.

I had bariatric surgery in April last year - my surgeon wanted me to be signed off for 8 weeks because I wasn't allowed to lift/carry anything heavier than the kettle for those 8 weeks, had to be careful with bending/leaning due to the incision sites being all across my abdomen, had to rest or couldn't exert myself, and was on very limited calorie intake so had zero energy. I also had a medication schedule where I had to inject myself twice a day with blood thinners and had to take tablets at about 3hr intervals which was not something I wanted to be having to do at work.

I work on the customer service desk in a supermarket where I do 10-12 hr shifts on my feet, rushing around, lifting and carrying and generally being busy ... There was no way I could do any part of my job - if I was on the CSD I'd be lifting and carrying, if I worked the cig kiosk I'd be bending/leaning into the drawers all day, checkouts would be a no go as there was lifting and bending/leaning; self scan would have me carrying things to be detagged etc as well as having me on my feet walking miles a day plus carrying things; parcel collection would have me carrying; shop floor is lifting/bending etcetc

By week 3 I had a handle on what I was capable of doing and it was more than just lying in bed/walking round the house; I'd had my staples out and was getting more than 200ml of water in me every day so I had a bit of energy. Part of my recovery was to walk every day so I did - first day was literally 2 minutes to the postbox at the end of the street and back, by week 3 I could do a 15 minute walk round the block with my SIL and newborn baby niece (whom I was only allowed to hold if I was sitting down as she was too heavy for me to lift) before having to spend the next few hours on the sofa recovering

If I WFH at a desk job I could have been back at work by week 2/3 but due to my job I was nowhere near ready to go back to work then, but by week 6 of being off I was more than capable of driving 5 minutes to the supermarket I work at, wandering round for an hour to do the shopping with my mum or DD pushing the trolley and lifting anything heavier than the bread, stopping for a chitchat with colleagues who hadn't seen me for weeks, having someone else bag and pack the shopping while I paid and then having them load up the car for me to drove home and for them to unpack everything into the house but I wasn't yet able to stand for 10-12hrs and lift anything heavier than a kettle so I couldn't go back to work.

Honestly? Good for them!

In my experience, with work it has to be all or nothing in terms of being present. You can't be there as "half well", because people will expect and rely on you as being normal.

So when you sign off, a phased return is necessary. By which I mean, trial shorter hours and fewer days to get back into things.

And be the same with friendships and socialising. Be upfront, and say "I will just come for an hour then leave as I'm building up my strength."

I find that people find it very hard to understand that you can only give, say, 75% of your usual capacity, so it's better to give closer to 100% for a couple of hours than to spend all day feeling sub par.

(plus many people have quite a selfish attitude to your limited capacity, and expect you to choose to use your energy on them - goes for friends as much as work!)

DH was signed off for a couple of months last year while undergoing cancer treatment and is now off again recovering from surgery. Right now he's in no fit state to go anywhere but part of his recovery will involve gentle walks and easing himself back into physical activity. This is medically advised. We will also be doing nice things, when he's able to, because life is short and it benefits no one if he doesn't. It is very obviously not the case that if he's well enough to go out to lunch he's well enough to go back to his (busy, physical) job FFS! Right now he needs a nap to recover after the effort of taking a shower!

If he were to stay in bed for the entire time it takes for his wound to heal and the organ he's had bits chopped off of to recover I'm not sure how he would ever manage to get up again. Though the attitude that says he ought to comes from an age where he would have been told not to expect to ever get up again. Some of you need to get to grips with the fact that it is 2023 not 1953.

I'm currently off sick with a back injury, will be signed off (hopefully) for 6 weeks in total.

I saw the consultant yesterday who plainly told me that activities such as walking, swimming, going to the gym or just being active in general were all absolutely fine and should be encouraged. In my case this is clearly an aid to recovery and regaining strength and movement. OTOH I would be a bit eye-rolly if you were too exhausted to work but were able to go to the gym and do a heavy workout.

Horses for courses I guess <shrug>

Gentle walks, meeting friends for coffee - yes.
Spa days, clubbing, active sports - no