The number of sick days we are taking has fallen dramatically according to the Office for National Statistics. Actually, that’s a big of an understatement – the number of sick days we’re taking is at its lowest level since records began.
137.3 million working days were lost due to sickness in the UK last year, that works out at around 4.3 days for each worker. However, back in 1993, when they started recording this stuff, it was around 7.2 days per worker. The ONS have found that since 2003, there has been an overall decline in the number of sick days people are taking. It can surely be no coincidence that this has also been a time of severe economic downturn and recession?
I don’t know about you, but nobody I know takes sick days. Whether they’re coughing up phlegm, snotting all over the shop, fluey and sweating in a meeting or even suffering with something more severe, into work they go. I’ll be honest, I’m not mad about it…especially if it’s me you sitting next to as you sneeze your way through that meeting.
But, here’s the thing…we live in a time which values productivity above all else and, to top it off, where jobs are harder to come by than they were in the past. Somehow, somewhere along the line being a ‘trooper’ who ‘soldiers on’ and goes to work even if you’re really quite ill became aspirational, your germs worn like a badge of honour as you ‘power through’ the day. Sick people trudge around the office getting high-fives and patted on the back like heroes, outpourings of sympathy meet them wherever they go despite the fact that they’re probably infecting everyone they encounter.
All of this, despite the fact that when sick people come into work they don’t actually do any decent work because they’re often too busy moaning/going out to buy over the counter drugs/ theatrically blowing their nose and/or slumping at their desk to actually make the hours they’re putting in count. Also, if you’re sick and you rest for a day or two guess what happens? You get better. If you keep going you stay sick and continue to operate at 60% which, surely, can’t be good for anyone?
We're so worried about absenteeism that we've now got a culture of very unhealthy presenteeism. It goes hand in hand with a culture of disbelief that surrounds sick days. ‘Oh so and so isn’t in today, they’re not well’ everyone nods, says they hope they’re OK and, secretly, thinks that person is probably just nursing a hangover/skiving. Last year I had a nasty cold/flu type virus for what felt like forever (it was around 2 weeks). Frustrated and run down, I went to see my GP. He rolled his eyes and said 'why does nobody take sick days anymore?!? Why have you been going to work?' I welled up and explained that I had to go. 'Why?' he scolded me. It was a good question. 'If you just took a day or two off you'd get better, but instead you're getting more and more run down. I can't prescribe you anything for a virus. You just need to rest'. He was right. I asked him if he was seeing a lot of people who didn't feel that they could take time off? He said 'if I had a pound for every time I've had this conversation...'
I’m not sure what’s worse: the sickness scepticism, the martyrdom or the fact that as soon as one member of a team goes down with something and comes in anyway everyone else starts dropping like flies? Thanks, nice one.
Speaking to The Times, Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC, said that ‘too many people are struggling into work while suffering from colds and flu when they would be better off at home.’ She described us as ‘a nation of mucus troopers’.
Economically taking sick leave makes sense. It reduces the risk of contamination at work which, always, results in an overall drop in productivity because when people aren’t well they can’t do their best work. It’s a no-brainer.
Nobody wants to let the people they work with down and nobody wants to be seen as a 'skiver' but, equally, nobody should feel they have to drag themselves into work if they’re unwell. It just prolongs the lurgy and, more often than not, passes it around the canned air, strip-light lit boxes that so many of us are lucky enough to spend our days in.
Listen to your body, it's trying to tell you something. Stay at home. Get well. The odds are that there's nothing about your job that can't be put on hold or rescheduled. I really, really don’t want what you have it looks gross AF.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.