I hate calling in sick. There is just something about it I really dislike – mostly the part about being sick. However, every now and then, you have to listen to your body and give it a rest.
According to Dr. Abdiaziz Yassin of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, workers in the United States lose 8.4 days of work per year due to illness or injury. In his study, Dr. Yassin concludes the monetary loss (in 2003 dollars) totals $63 billion. Productivity losses per worker amounted to $1560 per year.
That’s a lot of bucks!
However, there are reasons that make it necessary to call in sick. Such as an employee fighting the flu or dealing with a really bad cold. A company will suffer monetary loss for one employee being absent. To put a value on the loss, let’s assume $800 in lost productivity for one employee for three days of sickness.
Should “Alice” try to “gut it out” and come to work, she may pass the illness on to others in the office. Now, instead of a loss of $800, the company losses $3200 because “John,” “Betty,” “Paul,” and “Ralph” became so ill they could not function.
Dedicated employees do not want to call in to work to stay home. It is a fact. If you really like your job, you want to get into the office and make things happen. Unfortunately, there are times the dedicated employee should avoid the office to save the others in order to allow them to be productive.
There are other options which you can use for work when sick. “Telecommuting” techniques are a very good method to get those things done at work that you must accomplish without actually going into the office. This saves the others while allowing you to do your job. Or at least, allow you to think you are doing your job.
Sometimes, you should just take it easy and be sick. Work at getting over it.
Whatever you do, never, ever, call in sick on a Friday. Or a Monday. This really looks fishy. Especially when you were talking about the big weekend fishing trip throughout the previous week. Keep in mind, there is also only one thing worse than calling in sick to work.
That is, calling in sick to fun. Which is what I am suffering from today.
(I hope all my well friends have great fun at the fly-in today! Take some fantastic photos and say hi to everyone for me!)
-30-
© 2010 J. Clark
Working too? I’m jealous of those going to a fly-in and time at the airport. When I had my daycare I hated it when parents brought their sick kids to daycare because it exposed everyone. We used to have what I called the “10 o’clock fever” at daycare. The parents would dose up their sick kids before they left home and about 10 o’clock their medications would wear off and start running a fever. They didn’t want to miss work because their kids were sick.
Yeah, I think you would really like the group that is getting together (well, actually, they are at it right now) today.
I think it was Ardy’s two year-old grandson who gave us our sickness of this week – brought straight home from daycare, of course! ;o)
Calling in sick really hurts the school system. Schools down here are only 80% funded for the year. So if every teacher uses their 10 days some other part of the budget must be raided. I often took more than 10 a year. They used to harp on this, but never seemed to ask why? Do 34 years in the inner city minority crime ridden schools and you’ll know why in a week. If you like to fly AND fish do you buy a seaplane? Hahaha. For freshwater I still rely on a purple speckled worm.
Carl, I am actually working real hard on just that concept – flying and fishing, or fishing and flying – from a seaplane.
(I hope all my well friends have great fun at the fly-in today! Take some fantastic photos and say hi to everyone for me!)
We did… we also missed you
Bobby, thank you. I can’t wait to get over this crud… Not how I like to spend holiday weekends!