Policies about coming in sick

No matter who you are there have been some days where you have not felt 100%, meaning that you have been sick or haven't felt like your normal self. But in addition to that you have probably been faced with the fact that you still have work to do that day so you have to decide what to do. Many people find it very hard to decide if they should go to work or not when they are sick. The reason that people find this decision so hard is that most workplaces tend to discourage people calling in sick because they don't think that you are really sick. If you don't believe me think about the last time you called in sick to work, what did you tell them? Most people give their employers some kind of excuse besides saying that they are sick because they feel that their employers are not going to believe them or they feel that them being sick isn't a good enough excuse to stay home from work.

But in addition to the fact that employers tend to discourage people staying home sick from work you also have to face the fact that not everybody can afford to take time off from work. The reason for this is that most people are living paycheck to paycheck and missing one day of work can actually mean making the decision about paying a bill that is due or buying food. So these types of people tend to go into work even when they are obviously ill because of the fact that they can't afford to take the time off and most employers will not pay you for taking time off for being sick.

But regardless of why you go into work while you are sick that is not always the best thing to do. But the problem is that many workplaces are not interested in establishing any kind of sick policies about coming into work while you are sick. In fact more often than not they tend to ignore their sick employees and often tend to think that most people belong at work no matter what is going on. So you as a responsible employee need to make a decision about when you can come into work while you are sick and when you should actually stay home. But if you are an employer you are going to need to be supportive of your employees who are calling in sick and try to help them decide when they are too sick to come into work and when it is okay for them to come into work.

Basically what this means is that you are going to need to have some kind of policies in effect about coming in sick to work. Here are some things to keep in mind when coming up with these policies.

Tip one:
One thing that you should keep in mind is if your employee is running a high fever they should actually stay home from work. The reason for this is that most high fevers signal they fact that you have a serious infection and you should stay home and get plenty of rest.

Tip two:
If your employee is being non-productive because they are spending most of the work day away from their desk they should not be in at work. The reason for this is that they are actually too sick to work and you are paying them to not get work done in addition to paying other people to help pick up their slack.

Tip three:
Basically your employees can come into work if they have a simple cold or if they feel up to working. What you need to keep in mind is that your employee is going to be the best judge of if they should come into work and you need to trust your employees about making the right decision. Not to mention if they come into work sick you might end up with your entire staff getting sick.