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.

You might...

Point out where my comment was sarcastic, because all I did was point out basic fact? I have no idea what goes on at your specific company. Maybe the work still needs to be done and they can't afford to have it pile up, maybe they know they will be judged if they take lots of time off, maybe there are lots of viruses around and they can't take weeks off for everything going around.

@Walkden has got it in one. I work in eduction and the stress of taking a sick day in terms of trigger meetings etc just isn't worth it unless there's really no alternative.

because missing a single day could mean the difference between not being able to afford rent for some people.

my old job was so funny with people having time off, I have a disability and they would call me into meetings and give me ‘final warnings’ for having time off and attending hospital appointments. I cannot imagine the grief they gave people for having time off for ‘minor’/temporary things such as sickness bugs/colds etc.

You really can’t win, you have the time off to recover and not spread it and people moan that you’re having the time off, yet if you’re there you’re a nuisance for spreading it around. Plus, most bugs are spread 24/48 hours before symptoms even shown, so someone having time off won’t have meant it hasn’t already been spread

I work for the NHS and if you’re off sick more than 3 times in one year (even if only 3 single days) you get a verbal warning and if you have one more episode of sickness (making 4 in total) you get something called a Stage 1 sickness warning in writing. We have regular staff surveys that ask ‘do you feel like you have to come to work when sick’? - obviously we do because we get into trouble if we don’t. A few weeks ago I had a horrendous sore throat, I could hardly swallow or talk. I went to work desperately hoping I could cope but the following day I literally couldn’t speak, it was agony so I had to ring in sick. I now have a written warning despite only having 6 days off in one year☹️

1. Because I don't get paid sick pay
2. Because I have 2 small children who I might need to do my fair share of looking after if they are sick

Too much time off is unaffordable and it also starts to look bad. I might phone in sick in October because I'm feeling a bit ropey, I haven't called in sick for a bit and I can afford the hit. However, 2 weeks later I have a sick child and somebody needs to take the day off. My husband can't do it because he had the last day off back in March when the other was sick so it's "my turn" That's near enough 12 hours of pay down, a shift that is short staffed twice and I start to look a bit unreliable.

Especially if I then come down with some sickness bug or break a leg or something!

There are 3 people at my work who are sick but working for whatever reasons they have. They aren't sick enough to need to stay at home so they just have to soldier on. None of us hold it against them because we totally understand their predicament. We just cross our fingers and hope we don't come down with it too.

That's just life sadly.

For sure you'd get judged for calling in sick this time of year in the company I work for. So people struggle in, cough over everyone until they get sent home!

It might be a cold but it can still leave you feeling rather rough. One of the benefits of wfh is that you can still work even though you don’t feel well enough to commute.

Because I have tight deadlines to meet - if not it affects money coming into the organisation which then impacts on other people and could end up with redundancies
If there is more than one person off at a time especially during busy periods we risk not meeting targets which again would have longer term consequences
However, if I’m ill I try and stay away from others by WFH or if not possible booking a quiet space where no one else is and not going for same lunch or break times
Be very grateful of your privileged position and 6 months sick pay

Good for you. Not everyone gets full pay

You may well get 6 months full pay if you are off sick . In the NHS you get 6 months full then 6 months half pay however if you repeatedly have 1/2/3 days off every few months you still trigger the sickness policy and could face action .

Some people don’t get paid.
Some people get put on a disciplinary.
Some are worried that they might need their sick pay/time for if they are seriously ill for example end up in hospital, so don’t want to waste it as it were.
Some people get nasty comments or feel it will adversely affect them if they take time off.

If I don't do to work, my colleagues will struggle, be short staffed and it would be a huge inconvenience. Much more of an inconvenience than coming in with a mild cold.

I've name changed because I've spoken about this in real life.

Those who say Bradford factor and trigger points are spot on.

I'm Civil Service, we get 6 months paid, in theory....

My sick record is really good. In part because I rarely get ill and in part because I'd feel guilty letting colleagues down as we are so short staffed.

I had 3 weeks off for a cancer op, passed a trigger point and now have to attend a formal attendance meeting. I'm livid on so many levels, it just feels so discriminatory and plain wrong.

My manager, who is genuinely lovely just doesn't get it, from her point of view she's just doing it because she has to, system told her to, there will be no disciplinary action, just a no further action result. Doesn't understand why I'm making a fuss. Policy and Union confirms that she doesn't have to do it and could just reset the trigger as a reasonable adjustment, but I don't think she's had time to read it properly and is stuck on system told her to do it so she has to.

I have gone into work when really poorly with cold-type viruses. I am a teacher and it is easier to go in and feel like utter crap than it is to set cover to the standard demanded by my school. It takes hours, and includes filling in proformas, creating PowerPoints of lessons that have to be simple enough to be delivered by the equivalent of a trained prairie dog but challenging enough to be a ‘worthwhile learning experience’ for the students. There must be no photocopying requirements or links to videos (in case of technical issues). The individual learning requirements of each student should be taken into account. Even if I do all this, my horrible colleagues will criticise what I have set and say it isn’t good enough. Try doing that for a six period day when you can hardly sit upright.

It’s easier to go in and sit in front of my classes with my head on the desk.

Because we get moaned at by everyone if we are off ( nhs).

My office job we can take up to a week paid sick leave with no sick note so there's really no excuse to stay home for a few days, many of us do but there's one who never does and his excuse is "it's not that bad, I'm fine" but really it's because he gets fomo. I'm with you op

Perhaps they have deadlines for clients and know other people won't pick up their work in their absence. Perhaps they know it makes their life more difficult when they get back and have double the work.

Perhaps when colleagues have time off at the drop of a hat people are more vocal about people who have time off work for just a cold so they don't.

Another reason. Our boss makes it clear that we can only take annual leave at times such as Christmas if there are sufficient staff working. Taking time off ill would mean we are short staffed. Without question if someone called in sick it would mean we don’t get annual leave next Christmas. I’d rather go to work sick than know it will be the end of annual leave from here onwards.

Because I am a TA and it would be very hard for my colleagues to cope if I didn’t come in.

I agree it’s selfish and unpleasant. I work in an office job where we can work-from-home and I would be cross if a colleague chose to come into the office when clearly infectious. I have a colleague who is immunocompromised so hopefully it wouldnt happen.

I understand it is different when people do jobs where they cannot hybrid work or where they don’t get sick pay.

@SicknessMadness the same has happened to our son, although not cancer . He went to the meeting , they’d got one of the dates wrong and he was actually in work when they have him down as sick so he has asked them to clarify the dates and also to show him the proof / evidence of any return to work interviews that are supposed to happen after any absence . They of course have none of this as no such interviews have ever taken place so now they are at an impasse as he has pointed out that if they wish to implement the sickness policy they actually need to have followed their own policy - it’s ridiculous .

Another one of these bloody threads. I had a sinus infection last year that went on for six weeks. I looked and sounded like I had a contagious cold the whole time.

People go to work while they are sick for loads of reasons. It’s not something you can control. The only thing you can do is not let it wind you up, shit happens, people get colds and viruses.

@Confused228 if people repeatedly took sick leave they would soon be without a job. The leave is for serious illness

OP, your thread title asks the following question:

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

Well, posters have offered you reasons for why this happens. If you wanted to ask why employees come into YOUR work specifically when they are ill, given your sickness policy, then you should have asked that. But really, how the hell would anyone on MN know why people come in sick to YOUR place of work. The person best placed to find that out is you.