Despite working from home, in the past three months, I’ve taken off two sick days. The first was when I caught that awful winter cold that was going around, which, after two years of not getting ill at all, wiped me out pretty badly.
The second came when, weeks before Christmas, I finally caught Covid (before the pandemic, I took off the same number of sick days in two years).
Even working from the comfort of our own homes doesn’t magically remedy the Covid-induced lethargy, the colds, headaches, and the debilitating burnout. And yet, there’s still stigma – in some cases even scorn – reserved for those who choose to take time out from their job when they’re feeling under the weather.
The first Monday of February is known, rather disparagingly, as National Sickie Day. Pre-pandemic, it was estimated more than 375,000 British workers took a “sofa day” on this date.
If the figure is true, it’s to be applauded. But it doesn’t sound too plausible to me, given we’re pretty bad at taking a day off even when we are sick.
In 2019, workers in the UK surveyed by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, averaged six sick days per year. And during the pandemic, 6% of workers admitted to going into work despite having Covid symptoms.
Given the British penchant for presenteeism, it’s unlikely hundreds of thousands of people are skiving off for no reason.
Separate research shows the first Monday of February isn’t even the most popular day for absences. HR software provider BrightHR found the day most employees called in sick was actually Monday December 12 (which surely has something to do with Christmas partying).
We don’t recommend you pulling a sickie just because you’re hungover, but it is incredibly important to take time off when you are legitimately sick.
Paula Allen, global lead and senior vice-president of research at wellbeing consultancy, Lifeworks, agrees and says it’s vital we listen to our bodies.
“The main sign that you are too ill to work is when you simply cannot do the tasks of your job. You may have too much difficulty concentrating or be unable to lift the things you need to,” says Allen. If a task you can normally do seamlessly feels like a chore, it might be time for a break.
And if that means taking the whole day off, so be it.