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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

When you are poorly do you take a sick day or carry on?

41 replies

C1239 · 27/02/2023 11:07

The most sensible advise is to let you body rest and recuperate im sure but I hate taking sick days, just makes me feel guilty, but I think this delays recovery and makes me more susceptible to picking up the next bug. For those of you who take a sick day do you find it helps?

OP posts:
FortheBeautyoftheEarth · 27/02/2023 11:09

I hate taking sick days and normally end up going back before I'm fully ready. I agree, probably not the best thing to do but because I have chronic health issues anyway I tend to worry what work will think if I take too many days.

Alwaysworryingoversomething · 27/02/2023 11:10

I'm not well today - got a horrible cold & very sore throat. I was due to work from home today so am soldiering on! But I'm going to take it easier than normal - I have to have 1-1 meetings with people (online or face to face) so I will do those appointments today but not much else as I'm feeling exhausted already.
If I had had to go in to the office today I wouldn't have gone - my commute is about 90 mins door to door and it would have wiped me out + I don't want to spread my virus far and wide!

TokyoSushi · 27/02/2023 11:10

Mostly just carry on unless it's something incapacitating like D&V. For example today I'm WFH with no voice and a raging sore throat.

BlackbeardsToast · 27/02/2023 11:11

If I take a day to just do nothing but rest, my illness is inevitably shorter than if I try to carry on.

However, it's not always convenient to do this and so it always depends on how sick I feel vs what else I have going on.

GimmeSleep · 27/02/2023 11:14

I wfh and feel absolutely rotten today but still working. Our company's sickness policy is ridiculously strict, but I guess it's in place because people take the mick 😡

Trisolaris · 27/02/2023 11:20

Well it depends on the nature of your job doesn’t it?

I have a stomach bug and I’m WFH because I can in my role and it’s not so bad that I can’t work as long as I don’t eat anything and stay near a toilet! Couldn’t do it if I needed to be in the office though or had too many external meetings today.

CoalCraft · 27/02/2023 11:23

I haven't taken a sick day my entire adult life, but then I rarely get ill beyond the sniffles. There was a day a year ago or so that I definitely would have had to have taken off (vomiting bug) but I was on maternity leave anyway.

I do think people who come in when they look and act like the undead are silly.

GooglyEyeballs · 27/02/2023 11:25

I would always soldier on but ended up in hospital last month sooooooo I've changed my tune recently!

IHeartGeneHunt · 27/02/2023 11:27

I work in care so if I've got anything worse than a bit of a cold I won't go in, I don't want to make anyone already vulnerable ill.

Oysterbabe · 27/02/2023 11:29

I don't take sick days. Well I'm sure I would if I literally could not get to work, but I can't remember taking one. It's much easier now WFH is a thing.
No one would cover my work and being off unexpectedly is more stress than it's worth.

roseopose · 27/02/2023 11:31

I WFH rather than take a sick day. I've only been well for about 2 weeks since the start of December and started a new job which I probably wouldn't still be in if I took sick days every time I'm ill although I am starting to wonder if maybe I did, I might actually recover and not get so many bugs.

Appleblum · 27/02/2023 11:33

When I was working I used to carry on unless I had a fever. Fevers always make me woozy.

Now as a sahm... 😪
I usually get someone else to pick the kids up if it's unsafe for me to drive but otherwise we all have to soldier on.

Berlinlover · 27/02/2023 11:35

I always carry on. I book a lot of time off work for weekends away etc so feel I can’t take time off work - a bit ridiculous I know.

MakkaPakkas · 27/02/2023 11:36

I'm on my 5th day of feeling awful with a flu like bug & I've taken the day off today. Went in Thursday & Friday. I'll probably not be feeling fully better tomorrow but I probably will end up going in. We're not encouraged to take time off at my work.

Spiderboy · 27/02/2023 11:38

If I physically can’t work, I don’t. I was off for a couple of days with tonsillitis and a week with a chest infection. I work from home so most things I can work through.

GobbieMaggie · 27/02/2023 11:39

Depends what’s wrong with me. You can’t do my job if you’re infectious in anyway.

JenniferBarkley · 27/02/2023 11:49

This is something that WFH has really helped me with. A slower start to the day, staying in and putting the heating on help.

But then when I'm really sick I've become less inclined to have a day in bed. That's rare though.

EilonwyWithRedGoldHair · 27/02/2023 11:59

It depends what it is, how I'm feeling and what work needs doing. Complicated by the fact that DS isn't attending school at the moment and me being ill is a trigger for meltdowns.

I felt like shit last week but there was work that really needed doing asap and had already been delayed, plus I knew DS would be staying with his grandparents for at least one night so I'd get a break then, so just had to soldier on. Downside is that I'd probably feel better today if I hadn't.

I WFH as well, so could just roll out of bed in my pyjamas and start work straight away, and could technically go back to bed for an hour in the middle of the day - if DS would let me. pros and cons to that. But majority of my work nobody else is going to do so it will all be waiting for me when I get back, with more work piling up.

mindutopia · 27/02/2023 12:01

It depends on how poorly I am - as in, would I get any work done anyway? I don't have the sort of job where just being present is enough. I have to actually work, so have to be well enough to work. If I'm not, I take a sick day as there's no point really.

BodyShapeWoes · 27/02/2023 12:01

I feel like absolute shit today, blasted cold/cough/possible covid so have cancelled my face to face and site meetings and I’m working from home

I will finish around 3 ish and snuggle up on the sofa drinking lemsip…

whydoesitalwayshappentome · 27/02/2023 12:01

I have always been a battle on through type of person, but I was rarely ill till I caught covid in September, and now I have a couple of chronic illnesses because of it, so I have had to take quite a bit of time off to aid some kind of recovery.

Sparklybutold · 27/02/2023 12:01

Sick days are a luxury for many who only get SSP which is set at 14.20 per day. Most can't afford to take sick days.

GarveySister · 27/02/2023 12:05

Depends really. I’m off work currently (not sickness related!) but in my profession (education) sick days cause a lot of disruption and stress to colleagues and the kids, so I have to be really I’ll to take a day off.

The downside of that ‘soldiering on’ mentality means that I usually end up having at least one longer sick period per year. So…I soldier on with extreme PMT, colds, sore throats, tummy troubles etc to avoid taking days off here and there. But I almost inevitably end up off for a week some time between December-March every year because I burn out and get a proper flu or the like.

I don’t know the answer! But taking days off here and there when I feel unwell has never been an option.

Mariposista · 27/02/2023 12:09

Carry on unless covered in blood, projectile vomiting or unconscious. I have felt dreadful all week with the worst cold in ages, but as a SE worker, no work = no pay and letting clients down, so off I go.

RuthW · 27/02/2023 12:10

If I can get out of bed or leave the bathroom and I don't have covid then I go to work.