AIBU to take a sick day from work if I WFH?

[pontipinemum]

I feel rough today! It feels like just a very bad head cold but I'm pretty exhausted from it. My head is fuzzy, I am very sore and my throat is raw.

If I worked in an office still I would have called in sick, I wouldn't have wanted to pass it on and I wouldn't have felt OK to drive.

But since I WFH can I call in sick? I want to go to bed but feel like I am work at probably 50% capacity so I should.

YABU - you work from home so keep working
YANBU - take a sick day

If you're unfit for work then you're unfit for work. My employer is clear that sick leave should be used in the same way whether WFH or in the office.

I think an exception would be if a health issue made it difficult to get into the office, but not to sit at a desk and do your job. In that case it wouldn't be reasonable for a home worker to take sick leave and might be reasonable to ask a hybrid worker to work exclusively from home for a few days until well enough to make the journey.

Thanks, when I have told my manager in the past that I feel sick and need to finish work. She suggests I take a break and come back online later. I think she thinks she is being super flexible and understanding.

I think I will wrap up what I am working on and call it a day in a few minutes. I feel dreadful.

If you died, your work would hire someone else immediately

Take the sick day x

If you feel dreadful then you should be officially “off sick”

if you’re a bit sniffy with a cold then most people would be ok to wfh (I would be) but it sounds like you are properly ill

I wish more people who work from home would take a sick day.

Where I work, we seem to have a two-tier thing going on where those who WFH have an almost impeccable sickness record and those who can't, don't.

Yet, they're constantly cancelling/rearranging online meetings and putting more difficult work off until they feel better.

IMO if they can't get through a normal working day due to being ill, they should go sick like everyone else has to.

When I was working at home during COVID we were told that if you were sick and wouldn’t have been able to come into the office then you weren’t fit to work at home and should take sick leave. Take the sick leave OP.

That does sound very annoying! We are not monitored on our sick leave. I don't even think they monitor annual leave fully! My jobs is pretty much a solo experience. I have 1 meeting max with my manager per week

I went to work sick once and made a mistake. Even though someone else was supposed to double check my work, I got blamed for it and got a written warning. Ever since that, a sniffle and I am off sick.

I took the afternoon off and slept! Got DH to collect the DC from nursery and rested.

I am still a bit sick today but so so much better. I wouldn't even consider not working today