Do you feel guilty working from home when poorly?

[Cloud44]

If you’re in a hybrid role, do you feel guilty if you choose to work from home rather than go into the office when poorly with a cold or similar? Even though it’s still working and not a day off I feel I should drag myself in as that’s what everyone seems to be back to doing nowadays?

No i don't. But i do feel that there's an expectation that if you can wfh whilst feeling not 100%, then you are expected to be online. Think D&V or UTI level of 'illness'.

Why would I feel guilty for not spreading a virus around the office?

Nope was told not to go into the office if feeling like that as they would rather it wasn't spread around.

If you keep doing it though I assume a half decent manager would detect a pattern and raise it

No, not at all. And I make sure that my team know that if they're unwell but able to work, they should stay at home and there's no expectation they should come into the office.

No, I work from home 4 days a week, and hate going in. Grateful to not have to when I'm I'll. we also have an awesome policy of 3 months sick leave on full pay then 3 months on half pay.

Not at all. There's not enough room in my office for everyone to go in anyway - there's over 7000 employees and it's all massive open plan working. I went in today and couldn't even sit with my team as there was no room there! Pointless.

What? You'd feel guilty not dragging your minging virus into the office? If your manager expects that they're stuck in the 90s. I've sent multiple people with colds home and been really clear that I don't want them taking out half the team with illness.

I always feel it’s a sign of weakness being poorly though, I don’t think it if anyone else is off or poorly but whenever I’m feeling off colour I feel like it’s my fault. Silly I know.

I was ill last week, no way I could have worked if it had required a 2 hour round commute but was able to work from home.

No but sometimes I do it and think "I should have just called in sick".

Since WFH I have only called in sick once and that was a bad stomach bug where I could barely leave the bathroom, anything else there is definitely the expectation that you try to log on which means you don't get the rest your body is crying out for.

Luckily I can’t work from home so if I’m not well enough to go in to work I’m off sick at home.

why would you if you're hybrid? My workplace actually sent out a memo that if ill, stay home. If family members are ill, also consider working from home. Nobody needs to share your germs and most places don't actually think you're a hero if you shuffle around the office, coughing and sneezing.

No. Not remotely.

My office much prefers you stay home rather than spreading it. Don't think we've had the full team for months as someone always insists on dragging themselves in when complaining of a cold!

It's good we have this halfway house kind of measure imo - can be hard to tell how ill you feel in the morning when you're getting up for a commute.

No I don't .

No. I feel virtuous that I'm not spreading my germs and let it be known!

Please stay at home - no-one wants your germs spread around the office

Id feel more guilty spreading a horrible virus round the office. I hate when someone comes in coughing their guts up all over the place, sniffing away and clearly feeling dreadful when they absolutely have the option to stay home (where I work this would not be an issue at all).

I wfh, rarely go into office. But last week I wasn’t feeling well, really nauseous so didn’t logon till a meeting I had to attend in the afternoon and logged off again after it. I don’t think we should force ourselves to work if unwell. If you can just do a bit here or there fine. But not a full day hard work.

No because I don’t take the piss with it, I’ve only done it twice once when I had a horrible cold and once when I was so stressed with a personal matter that I was crippled with anxiety and depression (I did go to the doctor and get my anti depressants increased). I rearranged my appointments for another day or switched them to a telephone call if I could. There’s a few people in our office though who absolutely take the piss and work from home because they’re “sick” at least once a month and expect others to cover their appointments. Luckily, the main culprit left before she was pushed as all she did was create more work for the rest of us.

If you were one of my direct reports and told me you were feeling a bit under the weather and didn’t want to come in I would absolutely agree you should stay home and check you are well enough to work. No one else wants your cold.

Absolutely not and there's nothing as bad as someone in the office snotting and coughing all over the place.

Nope. Stay home. If you’re well enough to work then wfh. If not take a sick day.

I don't know why you would feel bad about this. I can't bear people spreading their germs round the office, especially as I have four kids at home including a baby. Totally pointless to come in and spread germs when hybrid is an option.

No guilt at all. In fact I think people should feel guilty for wafting round the office when they are full of germs