Take a Sick Day, or Suffer ‘Sick Shaming’ at Work?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your Money Briefing for Thursday, February 15th. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. Good morning. Wow, a lot of people in the office. We have so much to do today to get that project done. Come on, cover your mouth. Geez, why don't people just stay home if they feel sick?
You can be shamed by your manager for calling in sick and leaving others in the lurch to pick up the slack for you. But you also get the stink eye from workers if you show up contagious because nobody wants to be around the person who's, you know, hacking up a lung at their desk. For a lot of workers, it feels like a no-win situation.
We'll talk to Wall Street Journal columnist Callum Borshers after the break.
Why are more people coughing and showing up sick in the office this winter?
Coworkers who are under the weather face tough choices. Come into work and push through the pain? Or take a sick day? Wall Street Journal columnist Callum Borshers joins me. Callum, is it my imagination or is there more coughing and sneezing going on in the office this winter?
No, it's not your imagination. Respiratory illnesses have been lingering above the national baseline since November. So we're going on three months here.
What viruses and trends explain lingering respiratory illnesses since November?
That's according to the CDC. And it's largely a numbers game. Just think about all the ways that you can get sick now. You've got the flu, COVID-19 and all of its many variants, RSV, the common cold. On those COVID variants, I spoke with Dr. Nahid Badilia at the Boston University Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases and And she says, we're sort of going to expect this to be the new norm. Every time the virus mutates, it doesn't necessarily get more severe, but it's just another way that you can get sick. It's another disease for us to battle every single cold and flu season.
So why are these sick employees coming into the office? It seemed like one of the best practices we learned coming out of the pandemic is not to run the risk of infecting other people.
Yeah, you'd think we'd learned our lesson, right? But that doesn't seem to be the case.
Why do employees still come into work when they feel ill despite COVID lessons?
It's both internal and external. So for some people, that impulse to push through and tough it out is really hard to break. It's hard to unlearn that old habit. But there's also some external pressure from managers, and some of it comes from setting an example. So if bosses are reluctant to take sick days themselves, that can signal to subordinates that, hey, you're expected to gut it out too. Also, if they're harping on how inconvenient it is and how Your co-workers are going to have to pick up the slack that can apply pressure to come on in. And there are some numbers that we can put to this. I mean, when Resume Builder surveyed a thousand U.S. managers in January, a fifth of them acknowledged that they do encourage under the weather employees to come to the office.
And almost a quarter of them, J.R., said they are suspecting that workers might be lying or at least exaggerating the severity of their illnesses.
Oh, none of us have ever done that. Never. But wouldn't one of the functions of a hybrid work schedule be to allow for physical absence from the office if someone isn't feeling well and still get the work done?
Yes, that is one of the flexible options of a hybrid work schedule. But the numbers show that people are actually reporting to their desks at the highest rates in almost four years.
How do managers and workplace culture contribute to 'sick shaming'?
At the end of January and into the early February, office occupancy was climbing up to 53%, according to Castle Systems, which is one of those companies with the building access card so they can track who's swiping in and out. And that's the highest number since March of 2020. So even though many of us have a hybrid schedule, it turns out we're back at our desks more than we have been since the beginning of the pandemic.
And before the pandemic, if somebody was sick, they stayed home to recover and coworkers picked up the slack. But in this era of remote work setups, is the idea of a bona fide sick day obsolete?
For a lot of white collar workers with desk jobs, the answer is yes. And again, it sort of comes from your own ability you prove during the pandemic that you can work from home a lot of folks they just sign on from home instead of actually calling in sick you know they're typing and blowing into their tissue in their pajamas at home but they're still working they're not totally taking the day off and this also comes up in conversations with managers some bosses acknowledge that when somebody says hey i'm not feeling well today instead of initially just saying okay great take the day off they do sometimes ask okay do you feel well enough to work from home
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–1:13
2
Why are more people coughing and showing up sick in the office this winter?
1:13–1:38
3
What viruses and trends explain lingering respiratory illnesses since November?
1:38–2:22
4
Why do employees still come into work when they feel ill despite COVID lessons?
2:22–3:29
5
How do managers and workplace culture contribute to 'sick shaming'?
3:29–6:15
6
Is remote or hybrid work eliminating true sick days or just shifting the problem?
6:15–8:10
Speakers
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