The New Corner Office: When should I call in sick?

A listener asks when remote workers should take sick days

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,
the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the
new world of work, where location and hours are more
flexible than in the past. Today's tip is about how
to figure out when to call in sick when you
work from home. Recently, a listener wrote in that she

(00:27):
had had a fever over the weekend. It didn't seem
to be the coronavirus, and she powered through the first
three days of the work week, popping into her Zoom
meetings and the like. As she noted, it felt silly
to call in sick even though I didn't feel well.
I wasn't going to infect anybody else, and I didn't
have to leave my house. But she said, on Wednesday afternoon,

(00:49):
my fever spiked again, and so she let her colleagues
know that she couldn't be on her calls on Thursday.
She worried that she was letting everyone down, though she
noted that her colleagues responded graciously, offering to bring her
food and medical supplies. In any case, she wondered, what
I thought about taking sick days when you're working from home.

(01:09):
It's a good question. People who work from home take
significantly fewer sick days than people who work in offices.
Now that's not necessarily because they're healthier. It's just that
if you aren't exposing other people to your germs and
you don't have to go anywhere, you can, in fact
work when you are moderately sick. You can also work

(01:31):
if you are caring for a moderately sick family member,
Since little kids get sick all the time, this is
one reason that parents in particular appreciate the option of
being able to work from home. But note the qualifier
moderately sick. Sometimes we're really sick, and just because you

(01:51):
could technically take a zoom call from your bed doesn't
mean that this is a great idea. You can tire
yourself out when you should be resting. If you're a chy,
or feverish, or vomiting for that matter, you probably won't
be able to think straight. If you're caring for an
extremely sick family member, well you're probably best off watching
that person rather than trying to mute the phone around

(02:14):
their needs too. So here's my rule of thumb. We
all have good days and bad days in the office
or at home. Evaluate how you're feeling and ask this question,
what percent capacity can I perform at today? If the
answer is over, I'd say go ahead and work. This

(02:37):
is within the realm of a mediocre day, the sort
we all have from time to time. But if the
answer is less than six, then go ahead and take
a sick day, and yes, really take the day off,
turn off the laptop and the phone, and focus on
healing yourself or your family member. If you focus on healing,

(02:59):
you'll probably you feel better more quickly than if you're
just trying to model through. If you've worked from home
for a while, I'd love to hear your thoughts on
when you decide to take sick days. You can let
me know at Laura at Laura Vanderkam dot com. In
the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's

(03:19):
the succeeding in the New Corner Office. The New Corner
Office is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts,
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