by Nancy Hreha

Created on: May 23, 2009   Last Updated: May 30, 2009

Think "the job" can't afford to do without you - even when you're ill? Get the distinct impression your company frowns on using sick days? Do you bite the bullet and suffer through until the weekend? Whether you are electing to show up to work sick because you are indispensable or feeling pressured by management, the fact is going to the office when suffering from cold or stomach flu winds up costing businesses more in the long run than allowing employees to apply common sense to using sick day benefits.

Fatigue and lack of focus that are commonly associated with illness, lead to an increase in mistakes, loss of productivity and can even delay recovery. Compounding the diminished productivity, heading to the office while suffering from flu, intestinal virus or severe cold creates a risk of spreading the virus to a larger group. When multiple staff members are functioning at "half throttle", productivity suffers (as does team work and moral).

Good business managers know that correcting mistakes is time consuming and costly, especially if the mistake results in a loss of business. Good managers consider the human element when establishing the unpublished protocol for sick day use. They avoid the most serious consequence of a policy that frowns on employees using their sick days-a perceived lack of caring toward staff. That perception last long after illness has passed and there is no easy cure for the erosion of teamwork and personal investiture that results.

Deciding if you're well enough to go to work is a matter of personal integrity and simple biology. Don't let common sense be replaced with guilt or martyr complex. As Corporate America seems to have stepped away from a long held understanding that profit alone is not the bottom line,the challenge employees face in whether or not to use a sick day, contributes to the cry to return to the social conscience that was once part of American business.

Occasional illness is part of nature. Humans are part of a natural world order. Healing from an illness is a biological process that takes a prescribed period of time, regardless of the title we hold in the professional world.

Perhaps the most worst part of flu its humbling effect on the ego. Powerful corporate leaders can be reduced to a lump of agony during flu season. Reminding us that germs make no distinction based on salary or title! Yet, we've all seen coworkers walk through the door armed with tissues, bottles of water, meds and even

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>