Do you use all your allotted sick days each year? Not personal or vacation time, but actual days you are allowed to take if you are unwell? Recent reports suggest probably not. And the ability to work from home has made this a trickier question than it seems.
What does the data suggest?
A report from the data analysis group Statistica has some interesting information. Remember that this is from US companies that adhere to local and state regulations wherever they are.
- 25% of employees took no sick days between March 2022 and June 2023.
- Of the people who did take sick days, most took 2 or 3 days.
- 9% of employees took 10-20 days in that year.
To anyone not in the United States, those sound like strange numbers. But they are not a radical change from the past decade. American workers aren’t ill less often than anyone else. They just don’t report it or take time off as much as employees in other countries do.
Enter Remote Work
Remote work makes this picture even cloudier. The policy group, Applauz, reports that remote workers are less likely to take sick days. Is that good news or bad news?
On the surface, it’s not the worst thing in the world. If someone is sick but determined to work, best they not come into the office and spread the crud around. And they can still get a lot of work done, even with the sniffles.
But as someone who has recently had surgery and grossly underestimated how that would impact my work, it raises questions that aren’t easily answered.
- People may be “on the clock,” but are they working at the peak of their ability? As intended, I was, in fact, at my desk for several hours each day this week. However, I can confirm that writing on pain killers is far more difficult than I thought it would be. And naps are good.
- Rather than appearing to slack off, there seems to be a different problem at work. Some call it “presenteeism.” The ability (some might say need) to appear to be working even if you’re sick or your capacity is diminished.
- How does pretending to be fine when you’re not, and not receiving support from the company and your manager impact your engagement?
- Does hiding illness and not just allowing yourself to heal make you less productive in the long run?
- If someone doesn’t take their sick days, or let the company know when they are ill, adjustments to their expected productivity won’t be made. Productivity is a huge metric for success, but nobody’s more productive when they’re ill.
Do What You Need
There is no moral weakness in listening to your body. You don’t get a medal (or extra pay or even much of a thank you) for working when you are ill. And rest assured, you are legally protected within certain parameters.
Companies aren’t responsible for paying people who can’t do the job they are paid for. Nor are they exempt from labor laws that were put there to protect employees.
If remote or hybrid work is to be the new normal, more than just location expectations will need to change. It will require adopting new laws and policies of the workplace to take new realities into account. Both employers and employees must be honest and communicative about expectations and responsibility.
I’m lucky to have an employer who talked to me about expectations and pressure. We discussed what the proposed recovery time was and when I could expect to be at full throttle. While I’ve been disappointed this week, by next week, all will be well.
That’s the way it should work.
Quality employers don’t cover up illness or pressure people not to take their sick days. This will ultimately come back to haunt your employer brand and make it hard to retain good folks.
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