WORKPLACE WELLNESS & POLITICS
Workplace Wednesdays
February 6th, 2019
Between cold and flu season (or nursing that Super Bowl hangover) now is the time of year when we should be using more of our sick days.
But It’s Not Easy Calling Out Sick …
—In the U.S., around 71 percent of private sector workers have some form of paid sick leave. Yet, many don’t take full advantage of this time off. A survey by market-research firm CivicScience found 54 percent of respondents reported going to work while sick.
—This inability to take time off is fueled by what academics have coined “presenteeism”—a sense of obligation, whether due to job insecurity, worries of letting down coworkers, or discomfort in asking for time off, that drives us to push through, even when we’re under the weather.
The Must-Have Conversation
If we do stay away from the office, it doesn’t mean we’re abstaining from work. “The shifting definition and expanding mobility of the office—thanks to remote work and the rise of contractors in the gig economy—is also making the sick day somewhat passé,” writes Steven Kurutz in The New York Times.
We can fondly look back on the days we’d take off from school and nurse a bottle of ginger ale while watching The Price is Right. But these days, it seems there truly is no rest for the weary.
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