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RNZ

Feel guilty taking sick leave? Don’t – soldiering on is so pre-pandemic.

Workplace attitudes are slowly shifting when it comes to being sick at work; where a tickle in the throat might’ve previously been a non-issue, more and more employees are now being encouraged to make use of their sick leave, to rest and recover properly.

If you’re still unsure of how and when to actually call in sick, fear not; RNZ speaks with five workplace communications experts who clear it all up.

Calling is your best bet

Every workplace will have a policy outlining how and when to communicate that you’re taking sick leave, and this should be followed first and foremost. However, if you’re still unsure of the protocol, Spice HR’s Nicole Griffiths and Nichola Gold say an old fashioned phone call is still your best bet.

“When you start you say, ‘If I’m sick, what’s the protocol, what do I need to do? Is text okay? Do you need a personal phone call?’ Some older bosses prefer a phone call so we can hear that you have a croaky throat,” Griffiths says.

“It totally depends on what the company you work for has set up,” Gold adds. But if you’re still unsure, The People Project’s Sarah Cruz Taylor says it’s important to use your judgment: “If you have a good relationship with your manager, it could potentially be acceptable to text, but I think for the most part, if you’re starting from ground zero, the best thing to do is call.”

You don’t have to share every intimate detail

People sometimes feel obliged to explain how sick they are, to prove that their illness warrants taking leave. But as it turns out, you don’t need a detailed explanation to prioritise your wellbeing.

“You don’t have to disclose anything because it’s covered by the Privacy Act,” Fix HR’s Liz Tibbutt says. “You just need to say you’re unwell and that you’ll be absent, but you don’t need to give a diagnosis. It’s the same with a medical certificate, it won’t say the diagnosis but it will just say that you’ve been seen and that you’re unfit to work for a particular period of time.”

However, Taylor says it’s a “common misconception” that your employer can’t ask you for further information, if they feel like your condition impacts your ability to do your role or fulfil your duties.

“If ... you’ve been sick for quite some time, your employer is entitled to ask you for further information just regarding your condition, the state of your wellbeing and ... to get additional clarification in terms of what support you may need.”

Give plenty of notice

Though you don’t have to spill all the details, giving an indication of how long you’ll be off work is good practice, Griffiths says.

“In terms of the minimum amount, it literally is, I’m sick, I won’t be coming in ... but in terms of being fair and reasonable, if it’s something that’s gonna keep you off sick for a fair amount of time ... you should give an indication of the timeframe you’ll be away.

“You can say I’ve got glandular fever, I’m gonna be down for two weeks, or I’ve got the flu, I’m gonna be out for a few days ... it’s really it’s about them being able to run their business and plan around the fact you’re not there.”

Flagging that you feel unwell from the moment you come down with something can help your workplace prepare alternative arrangements. But if you’ve fallen sick overnight, Tibbutt says calling your manager “an hour or two before you start work” is usually okay.

Any leave when you’re unwell is sick leave

Many companies have started to offer different types of leaves as part of the benefits package of working with them; stress leave, mental health leave, personal or away days are on the rise, but Tibbutt says they all fall under sick leave at the end of the day.

“There’s no such thing as stress leave or mental health days or wellness days, some companies do give away days, but that is seen as an over and above, and a benefit of working for that company. It’s understood that if you’re just not feeling it that day, it’s probably better to just stay home under the duvet than go in and lose your rag with some people.

“But sick leave is sick leave, and you would use sick leave when you’re unfit to come into work. Mental health is illness, that would fall under that category as well.”

Taylor says if you’re taking leave because of work-related stress, “you should ideally be having conversations with your manager before you get to that point”.

You don’t have to soldier on

“In the good old days, it was like you’re a hero for coming into work if you’re coughing and sneezing and you still made it in, I don’t think there’s that feeling anymore,” Griffiths says.

“People are much more like, ‘Actually you know what, you need to stay home and get better’. And the reality is you’re not gonna get better, quicker, by being in at work ... it’s in everyone’s best interest to just take time to actually recover.”

Tibbutt says Covid-19 changed not only employees’ attitudes towards taking sick leave, but employers’ attitudes towards offering it too.

“They, for the first time, are now thinking, do I actually want people with colds in my business? It’s probably something that we should’ve always had, that infectious disease control thing probably should’ve always been in our policies, but we just didn’t think about it until we got a pandemic, and then it was sort of accepted.

“It goes against that Protestant work ethic thing that we’ve always had, that you would drag your dead body into work in order to fulfil your job, and that since Covid has gone away, that just isn’t there anymore.”

Flexibility doesn’t mean working from home when you’re unwell

Many people, particularly those working office jobs, feel an obligation to work from home if they can’t head into the office. But our HR experts say this can do more harm than good on the road to recovery.

“There’s an attitude of, ‘I’ll jump on for a couple of hours, I’ll clear my emails, I’ll check if there’s anything urgent, I’ll keep you updated if there is, but you know, I’m gonna kind of tap out for the rest of the day’. There’s no obligation to do that – if you’re on sick leave, you’re on sick leave – but there is a bit more flexibility there,” Griffiths says.

On the flip side, sick leave is there for wellbeing, Gold adds. “You need to err on the side of caution if someone says ‘I’m feeling grotty’, you need to be able to say, ‘Take the day off, please don’t work from home, you’re not gonna get better by working’. It’s become a lot easier for people to keep working from home and that is a danger.”

For Tibbutt, “the definition of illness is that you are not well enough to work, so it doesn’t matter where you do your work from ... if you want to work from home, that’s a separate issue ... you have to not have lots of kids running around or lots of distractions, you’ve gotta be somewhere where it’s nice and quiet, there’s a whole lot of things about working from home, but that’s really got nothing to do with illness.”

Taylor says people shouldn’t feel guilty for taking time off: “Sometimes ... we say, ‘I’ll just keep going’ because the thought of having to take that time off and the mountain of work that you’re gonna come back to is gonna be worse, but I think that if you’re not getting better, you’re just doing everyone a disservice to be honest, yourself and the company.”

It’s okay to tell your sick workmates to go home

It can be awkward when your sniffly workmate comes into the office when they really should be in bed resting. But our HR experts say it’s okay to be honest, and tell them to head home.

“I think Covid has changed things, now it’s actually okay if you’re sick and people are more accepting if you go in and say ‘Hey, you’re sounding awful, why don’t you head home for the rest of the day and let us know how you are in the morning,’” Gold says.

“If you’re coming from a place of care and concern, it’s okay,” Griffiths adds. “Just be honest like, ‘I’ve got small children at home’ or ‘I’ve got an elderly parent I need to visit on the weekend’, but actually, you don’t have to give a reason, ‘I really don’t want you sharing your germs, you should go home’ is fine.’”

Tibbutt says employers also have a health and safety responsibility to their employees, and that should be enough reason to relay the message.

“You don’t want somebody coming in and getting everyone sick. Your organisation might be young, healthy, all that kind of thing, but you’ve gotta think about that secondary infection like it was with Covid; they might be going to see their 85-year-old grandmother, if they get a cold it might be quite a different outcome.

“There’s nothing wrong with saying to your employee or your workmate, ‘I’m worried you seem a bit unwell, why don’t you take the day and if you’re not sneezing and coughing, we’ll see you back’. You can do it in quite a nice way.”

-RNZ