Why do people come to work when they are ill??!

[Confused228]

In work yesterday, about 3 or 4 people are harbouring horrible cold/flu type things. Surprise surprise tonight I am starting to feel ill. I honestly think it's so selfish, stay home if you're ill and don't come to work spreading your germs about!! We work in an industry with really good sick leave policies.

I live on my own. If I dont go to work who is going to pay my bills?

They do it because either they think, oh, I can manage, so I won't vary my routine (no thought to who the share the germs with) or because they can't afford to stay home (either they need the money from work, or there are must do jobs)
Whichever reason why, there will be some that feel bad about it, and others that gleefully become martyrs, and tell you how they haven't had a day off sick in years.

Even if you have good sick leave, there's often quite harsh absence management policies these days and presenteeism is the cultural norm. .....

This and it's only a virus we all get ill at this time of year. I would rather go in with a cold and keep my sick leave for things like D&V

Hourly paid jobs - no work, no pay.

Then there's some.managers who really try to make people feel awful for having a day off. Sing of a truly awful manager imo.
One of my.managers prided himself on not having a sick day in 20+ years... He'd just come to work I'll as fuck and sit behind his desk doing fuck all.. didn't like it when I suggested he'd probably given it to loads of others in that time.

There's also some mathematical system where managers can kick employees if they lose time. I forget what it's called. I want to say Krypton Factor... But it's not that.. 😂

No one wants to be at work when they feel terrible so either they cannot afford to be sick or they don't think their work place would be understanding.

Because their work policy means that taking time off impacts their payrise. Due to the stupid fucking bradford factor

Because the work still needs to be done.
Because they don't want to get a reputation for being flaky.
Because - barring a very small number of jobs with vulnerable people - there is absolutely no reason to stay at home simply because you have a cold, FFS.

We get paid full pay for 6 months.

I've never knowingly had flu. I'd go to work with a cold, unless I'd completely lost my voice which has happened just once in my life, because I don't feel ill when I've got a cold so I would feel a bit of a fraud. I know some people who do feel ill with colds and I have no problem with them staying away if it's what their bodies are telling them to do.

If you're feeling ill today you won't have only caught it yesterday.

We have a culture of ‘keep calm and carry on’ so most people with any sort of work ethic will feel obliged to go to work if they are capable of getting through the day.

Most people are also conscious of receiving reduced pay, not keeping on top of workload, pressure that absence can put on other colleagues, previous sickness records.

Very few workplaces offer what yours does. Maybe ask your sick colleagues why they came to work while obviously poorly!

The OP wrote that their industry has good sick leave.

@Confused228 I've no idea but it's maddening when they have the option to ring in sick or wfh.

My boss would make me feel so shit if I called in to say I was ill. She’d encourage us to come in even if we weren’t 100%. It was easier just to come in sick than to call in sick.

Because people have to go to work to pay their bills...not fun for anyone but not complicated

Most work places wouldn't be happy if people go off with colds. And besides, who takes time off with a cold? Most people are perfectly able to work through. How would your workplace have coped without these 4 staff? I wouldn't stay at home with a cold tbh.

If I call in sick then someone else needs to cover, which isn’t fair on the person covering.

Who's going to believe them when they phone in sick over the Christmas period?

You can't stay off work for a cold. Unless you are really ill you need to go to work.

We went to a family party Xmas eve. Several family members coughing and spluttering. All four of us are now ill and having to cancel the get together we planned for tomorrow because we don't want to pass it on.

That’s different to work though. You can’t take time off work every time you have a cold

I’m NHS and get the same but the NHS also has a robust sickness management policy and if you have more than 2 sickness episodes in 6 months, sickness management will be triggered!

I’ve had 3 episodes so after my recent brush with flu I went back as soon as I could. We work in a hospital filling up with people with infectious illnesses anyway so if it’s not colleagues passing things on, it’s patients coming through A&E!

Are you sure that's not just if you have a sick note?

You can't win really, I've only called into work sick about 2 times in the last three years. If I was to call in sick over every sniffle everyone would bitch and Moan about that too.
It's the same issue with school attendance. Damned if you do damned if you don't 🤷🏻‍♀️