My Story
This week I was ill. Yes, I got some kind of spring flu. I have no idea from where it came, it just did.
It’s seldom the right time to get sick.
Being sick made me realize a few things.
The first thing I had to realize was that C-vitamin does not always work. I tried supplementing heavily C-vitamin when I felt the first signs of a flu outbreak, but it did not work. Apparently, if you’re going to get it, you get it.
The second realization relates to time management, and it was that apparently I should have been working more planned in recent times, as on both days when I stayed at home, I had hard deadlines for reports, which I felt obliged to meet. So, I actually ended up working like I would have been at work, even if I was at the kitchen table – sick, and sore in the throat. At least I had not taken into account the possibility that I could get sick.
This was quite annoying. When you’re sick you are supposed to be able to rest, right?
What was the key lesson for me? I reminded myself to focus on starting reports well ahead of time. This is actually one of the classical time management rules: it is good habit to every day work a little bit on some project, which has a far out dead line. This way you minimize the “I have to do this today” -effect, which was the trap I was in now. When done correctly, you can completely avoid it. Think about all the stress you would miss!
Working When Sick, General Theory
My little experience inspired me to take a brief look at what the experts are saying about working when ill. When you turn up to work, it is called sickness presence. Here are the main points:
Working when sick increases your risk of stroke. This is not something to aspire for, now is it? British and Finnish researches studied 5000 persons, and found out that persons who had been working when ill during the last three years, had twice as many strokes, compared to those who had taken the sick leaves as needed.
When turning up to work, you might risk infecting your co-workers, at least when talking about the flu. Even if you are “tough” and turn up, chances are high your co-workers might be more clever than you, and call in sick, which leaves the company plus minus zero in benefiting from your braveness. I also do not recommend going to work if you have a stomach flu.
You might irritate customers. If you work at customer service, you should be extra careful, as you definitely don’t want to pass anything your clients. It is also easy to hear from a person on the phone, when they are not feeling well, so your service level will suffer. Again, the result may be points down for your company.
Repeatedly working when ill boosts risk of long term sick leave. This is also a result of a study, this time among 12 000 Danes. Making a long story short: persons who feel they need to work, even when sick, end up taking more long term sick leaves (more than two weeks), at the end of the day. This might sound counter-intuitive, and still, this was the mean value. One reason might be that among employees who feel they must work, we also have those, who are the burn out candicates. It might also tell something about the work place, namely that it is a place which wears out people.
So, working when sick is a nice and polite thought in theory, but next time, think twice. Above we have some practical reasons for considering not showing up, after all. Perhaps thinking about them could help you feel less bad the next time. At least give them a thought.
The only thing I recommend, is to have your time management up to date all times, so you don’t have to force yourself to work from home.
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