To call in sick during my probationary period?

[alwayswonderedd]

I am 2 months into a 6 month probationary period. I already didn't have the best start/first impression to the job as I was unwell when I was due to start and had to push my start date back by a few days.

I'm working from home today and feel really unwell. I've dosed up on Lemsip but my chest feels heavy and breathless and I just feel unwell. I keep having to take breaks to lie my head down on my desk. I'm trying to push through and keep working but I'm really not being productive and just feel like I want to crawl into bed.

WIBU to message my line manager asking to log off early as I'm unwell when I'm in my probationary period, or will that look really bad?

They might not like it, but if you are really ill you are really ill

take a covid test?

Do everything you can to power through, especially as you are WFH and can put your head on the table for a few minutes and have a lie down in your break. You don't want to fail your probation over this

I would power through today if at all possible because you’re in danger of failing your probation otherwise

This.

Depends what your company absence policy is. For us, if you exceed the absence threshold then probation is automatically extended.

You can't help being ill, but as you're WFH if you can muddle through today with frequent breaks then it'll look better on paper.

It entirely depends on your employer. I think most reasonable employers wouldn't bat an eyelid about this as long as you're generally performing well. I had 3 days off sick during my recent probation period.

If you are sick, call in sick. It can’t be held against you - you’re human and humans get sick sometimes it’s down to luck . If you feel too bad to work better to be off than power though and work badly or make a mistake - things which could affect your probationary period.

How do you know this?

At my workplace this would not be grounds to fail probation in any way.

You'd have to hit an absence threshold (and two absences would not hit this), and even then probation wouldn't be failed. It might be extended by a couple of months, that's the most that would happen as a result of this.

The problem is that if you are WFH then someone really genuinely ill looks exactly the same as someone slacking off. You haven't built up the trust and mutual respect that would allow them to give you the benefit of the doubt. But if you simply power through without telling them you will probably be making mistakes and working inefficiently and generally giving a bad impression anyway.

You might be best to see what happens if you talk to your line manager and let them know that you are feeling ill but doing your best to power on through as you don't want to let them down, but that it's possible that the quality and efficiency of your work may be lower than normal so you just wanted to let them know because you wouldn't want this to affect the outcome of your probation.

It might be that your manager tells you to stop working and rest. It's better to work till they tell you to stop because your are clearly too ill rather than making the judgement call yourself this early in an employment.

@DexaVooveQhodu To be honest as a manager I'd have more respect for an employee who can manage their own health and be confident/ assertive enough to just call in sick when they need to.

It's really annoying having to tell people to stop working because they are running themselves into the ground to try and impress and refuse to take a break when they need to. That sort of attitude just leads to burnout.

It's also annoying when people are "working but not working" i.e. I'm sick but I'll just work from home... No - If you're sick you're sick and should just take the day off 🙄

I don't like having to "mother" grown adults as a manager. Adults should be able to look after themselves and their health.

I think if you were sick a few weeks ago and had to delay your start date and now are sick again, it will be concerning due to level of sick leave in a short period. However if you’re sick you’re sick.

Why? What difference would that make?

Oh my god so much this. I have so much more time for people who are willing to act like grown ups and take responsibility for their own health instead of doing that baleful dragging themselves into work and staring at me like Eeyore, doing everything in slow motion and waiting for me to say "you don't look well, you should go home". Drives me batshit.

A lot of people have fallen victim to the idea that if you work and show willing when you're ill your manager will send you home if you're really too ill to work - my own mum used to say it to me. When it's actually far better to just be proactive and confident and say "I'm not well enough to work today".

It does depend on the kind of boss you have though OP. I personally wouldn't fail a probation for this if your work is otherwise good. I'd always rather ill employees take proper time to recover instead of "powering through" and doing half arsed work hoping I'll be grateful for it and send them home. That's an old fashioned idea that needs to die, but if your boss is an old fashioned sort that may be what you have to do.

Why?

Can you fit in a lunchtime nap?

Normally I'd say call in sick, but if you just did that a few weeks ago when you pushed back your start date, it might not look great.

If you were my reportee I'd be cross you were running yourself into the ground
Worst case you'd be looking at probation extension but if you're doing well and meeting objectives I probably wouldn't be bothered.

Personally I would try to push through.

Why? Not recommended now and old ones don't work.

I'd power through to be honest, I'd be worried it wouldn't look after after the bad start too.

I wouldn't if I were you. Do you normally take time off every time you have a cold?

I could understand it more if you were going into the office, but when wfh you shouldn't need time off for a common viral infection.

They might not like it, but if you're sick, you're sick. I hope you get better soon.

Yep. Why should your manager have to make the decision for you? They're not a doctor and they shouldn't have to tell a grown adult to go home.

Just work or don't work, I really don't care either way as long as you make a decision like a bloody adult. I'll respect that.

If you hit the sickness threshold then we'll talk about it, otherwise you are all good!

Only you know how sick you are. I’ve had to call
in sick on probation and it’s been fine but I physically couldn’t look at the screen- I would have made a mistake. But equally lots of times I can power through is wfh.

Thank you all. I've managed to make it to lunch time so going to have a nap now and push through this afternoon