Sickness from work

[Gaz]

Often an emotive subject I know but here goes

I work on a team of 8 people and last set of shifts one of my colleagues arrived at work with a stinking cold/flu/manflu and was in such a sorry state he was sent home after 4 hours, he also kindly passed the bug on to most of the rest of the team resulting in a total of 10 sick days being taken across the team.

Most employers have some form of sickness monitoring system whereby employees are discouraged from taking excessive time off sick which is perfectly understandable, there are also a lot of people who feel the need to be a hero and come to work even when they are clearly unfit. In the example I have given if one person had stayed at home for 3 days it would have saved an additional 7 lost working days for our employer.

[dave2010]

This could clearly have a significant impact in some areas of work, though in others perhaps less so. From your data do we assume that most team members actually only took one day off due to the sickness they "inherited"? For critical teams this could be catastrophic, but most work isn't perhaps like that. Workers in health services should definitely take time off, to reduce the risk they'll pass their problems on to patients.

Often though illness is spread by children, so should we stop having them?

[stairpost]

Often an emotive subject I know but here goes

I work on a team of 8 people and last set of shifts one of my colleagues arrived at work with a stinking cold/flu/manflu and was in such a sorry state he was sent home after 4 hours, he also kindly passed the bug on to most of the rest of the team resulting in a total of 10 sick days being taken across the team.

Most employers have some form of sickness monitoring system whereby employees are discouraged from taking excessive time off sick which is perfectly understandable, there are also a lot of people who feel the need to be a hero and come to work even when they are clearly unfit. In the example I have given if one person had stayed at home for 3 days it would have saved an additional 7 lost working days for our employer.

Apparently a person is contagious before symptoms appear, so even if the chap had stayed at home as soon as he felt really bad, it may have already been too late for the rest of you.

[walpurgis]

I know what you're getting at. I spent half my day in an office when working and was constantly catching nasty infections from other staff. I counted catching eleven colds or flu like bugs one year. The workers all kept coming into work unwell from fear of logging sick days, which of course spread the illness around.

Since I retired, I catch such nasties maybe once or twice a year, some years not at all.

[struth]

I always thought it false economy of businesses to insist on ill workers, especially contagious ones coming to work. A few days and you'll be better without bringing half the staff down with them, and thats not to mention any customers they come into contact with.
Mind you the folk who make those rules are usually safely tucked well away from all that

[walpurgis]

It's the middle management attitude. More concerned with the headcount than healthy staff.

[Pigmy Pony]

Maybe it's different these days, but when I worked in the art department of a large print firm, time off sick meant three days of no pay (I think they called it waiting days), followed by a piss-poor sick pay. Time away was a big financial jolt, especially when you had mortgages and kids and stuff. Luckily I rarely got sick. Probably had a total of about three weeks off sick in the 22 years I worked there, much of that from falling off motorbikes.

[Puffin]

It's the middle management attitude. More concerned with the headcount than healthy staff.

Most employers couldn't give a shit about their employees physical or mental health. They would rather have you infect the whole workforce than say you are ill, which would be treated with suspicion and derision, which you could sense in the tone of voice during the telephone call and so everybody loses. Did the firm learn a lesson? Unlikely, but they made it clear where you stand as a valued employee:D

[PhilofCas]

Apparently a person is contagious before symptoms appear, so even if the chap had stayed at home as soon as he felt really bad, it may have already been too late for the rest of you.

This.

Also, who’s to say the bug will be passed on, I’ve always believed you should go to work if you feel up to it.

[Edward]

Where I worked most recently it was written into HR policy that employees who had, or suspected having a contagious or infectious disease (other than a common cold) had to seek permission before coming to work. There were one or two occasions when I told a member of the team to go home. But we had fairly generous sick pay terms so people did not have an incentive to come to work unnecessarily.

[Minstrel SE]

A good thread Gary because the reality is that nobody with a contagious illness like flu should be coming to work.

I feel the main reasons are nobody wants to live on statutory sick pay, wages might be low, meaning every week is essential and bosses dont give a damn about their staff anyway. There was no sickness cover really so it was not an option to send someone home.

I lost count of the number of people with flu and whooping coughs in close proximity to me. We tend to make jokes about keeping away and getting it free of charge. However its not lighthearted at all when I feel like grim death in a few days time

I have been guilty of going in and part of the thought process is that Ive caught a bad cold twice from the work environment anyway so stuff them and Im going in to slog through it.

You are right though and it should be questioned without fear of feeling awkward. There seems to be a culture here of nobody really giving a toss about how viruses affects others.

Ive seen videos where they wear masks like Japan. There seems to be more of a respect for fellow man or some sort of shame of knowingly spreading illness

[mad-moon]

Most employers couldn't give a shit about their employees physical or mental health. They would rather have you infect the whole workforce than say you are ill, which would be treated with suspicion and derision, which you could sense in the tone of voice during the telephone call and so everybody loses. Did the firm learn a lesson? Unlikely, but they made it clear where you stand as a valued employee:D

do we ever learn a lesson...I'm tired of hearing when something goes drastically wrong ''lessons have been learned'' history tells us, we never bloody learn, as that phrase would not be used...

[Len Co]

I certainly don't condone people being pressured to work when sick but just to present another picture...I worked mainly for large companies in offices among salaried employees where you got paid if you were off sick (within reason of course). It was a job to get some people to come in 5 times a week - Fortunately not my job! People get very good at playing the system.

[struth]

if your off with supermarkets you get a warning. 3 and your sacked. you get a warning even if your in hospital with something serious.

[Macca]

Where I work if you are off 3 times in a 12 month period you get a 'letter of concern.' Although this is at the individual manager's discretion.

A friend of mine had a policy where he always went into work when sick on the grounds that he did not want to waste his sick days. He'd take his sick days when he was feeling fine so that he could enjoy the day off.

[Pigmy Pony]

Where I work if you are off 3 times in a 12 month period you get a 'letter of concern.' Although this is at the individual manager's discretion.

A friend of mine had a policy where he always went into work when sick on the grounds that he did not want to waste his sick days. He'd take his sick days when he was feeling fine so that he could enjoy the day off.

:lol: And no doubt his employers think he's a real trooper - "He comes in even when he's sick, so it must be really bad to keep him away".

[Macca]

Yep, he'd thought it through pretty well.

[dave2010]

Where I worked most recently it was written into HR policy that employees who had, or suspected having a contagious or infectious disease (other than a common cold) had to seek permission before coming to work. There were one or two occasions when I told a member of the team to go home. But we had fairly generous sick pay terms so people did not have an incentive to come to work unnecessarily.


Even a so called common cold can be a pain, though many people (including me) would call it flu just to make it sound more serious, otherwise people think you're skiving. Real flu is horrible - I think I only had it once. The difference between flu and a cold is immense, even though some colds can be really bad. One of the worse things I had was labyrinthitis - and doing anything is almost impossible. The whole world spins round, and standing up is very difficult.

I guess it's really difficult where people work in closely connected teams, and each has a significant role to play. Then loss of one member even for a few days can disrupt the team, and the alternative of one person coming in and infecting the others is not good either. Not all work is like that though, and even though in some work places there may be a "team", the work is more collective, but done by individuals, so one or two people not turning up does not have a big knock on effect. Some people can be off sick, yet still effectively work, for example on-line, or in the case of teachers or computer programmers, doing preliminary work away from the work place. This doesn't work if people have some more problem illnesses though.

However, in some work places now, cut backs are making things difficult. For example, in schools where conventionally there were supply teachers to fill in gaps, in some areas there are hardly any supply teachers, and if a few teachers are ill, then classes are cut.

Another type of work is train driving. I can remember complaints years ago about some "spare" drivers going in to work each day, and sitting in a room waiting for trains to drive, and "obviously" costing their empoyers and the "travelling public" and the "taxpayer" money. Now I hear that that in the current economic climate there are complaints about cancelled trains due to the fact that a few drivers called in sick, and there were no members of backup crews to drive some trains. I have recently experienced that - not with a cancelled train, but with an overcrowded train with cancelled seat reservations, due to the cancellation of one or two prevous trains.

Management policies are often as one might expect - the managers have to prove how idiotic they are in order to gain promotion. This is more important than the effect on anything else - the environment, the public, customer satisfaction, effectiveness, efficiency etc.

[Macca]

Management policies are often as one might expect - the managers have to prove how idiotic they are in order to gain promotion. This is more important than the effect on anything else - the environment, the public, customer satisfaction, effectiveness, efficiency etc.

So true.

[struth]

So true.

ditto, although tbh most are already that idiotic and thus fit into job well. A company deserves what it has, management, and to an extent workers...but itss led by management, all the way down the tree.
So there is no real excuse for it. Hire the right folk and the problem disappears

[Macca]

I've had some terrible managers over the years. They far outnumber the good ones. At least one has been genuinely certifiable, although she did end up getting the sack for incompetence so there was some justice. Although that was at a place were they weren't afraid to sack people who failed consistently. Most places that seems to be a good way to get promoted.

[Pigmy Pony]

I'm glad that the days of working for a company are behind me.

The last place I worked at was a large family-run (3rd generation so they were pretty clueless) printing company. The place was really struggling, and so they got themselves a CEO, a big Glaswegian thug who clearly had just graduated from the Barlinnie Charm School. He ran the place through fear, and a fair bit of dead wood fell by the wayside. No bad thing. Company gave him a new S-class Merc and a sizeable salary.

Then one night, one of the office paperclips came across a couple of documents that clearly showed that this CEO was running the place down and steering customers towards another printing company, presumably he was getting some cash for his efforts. The guy was fired, but due to something in his contract, he was able to successfully sue the company for unfair dismissal, and he rinsed them for a fortune, money they didn't have. He even got to keep the pissing car.

In a bid to reduce their operating costs they asked for voluntary redundancies, and I put myself forward for this. My job was becoming less and less relevant anyway, so I decided to jump before I was pushed. I'd been there for 22 years, so the redundancy money would have been very handy. In the meantime the company went into administration, and I left with not a single penny for my 22 years. Wankers.

[dave2010]

Then one night, one of the office paperclips came across a couple of documents that clearly showed that this CEO was running the place down and steering customers towards another printing company, presumably he was getting some cash for his efforts. The guy was fired, but due to something in his contract, he was able to successfully sue the company for unfair dismissal, and he rinsed them for a fortune, money they didn't have. He even got to keep the pissing car.

In a bid to reduce their operating costs they asked for voluntary redundancies, and I put myself forward for this. My job was becoming less and less relevant anyway, so I decided to jump before I was pushed. I'd been there for 22 years, so the redundancy money would have been very handy. In the meantime the company went into administration, and I left with not a single penny for my 22 years. Wankers.Sorry to hear that - a rotten story.

I hope you've found your feet again now.

[Pigmy Pony]

Yes I have thanks Dave. That was in 2002. The kindness of friends and family (finding building-related work for me), and over the years have built up some skills and a fair few loyal customers. I like being self employed - I can mostly work at my own pace (slow) and have no one looking over my shoulder. Job security is non-existent (not sure how I'll fill next week, but somehow it always works out), but then even people working for a company don't have that any more.