Donna Flagg

Peeve of the Week: Being Coughed On
September 25, 2008

Sick days come at a high price to companies of all sizes both monetarily and in productivity. But I dare say that the intention of providing sick days to employees was well meaning at first and designed merely to create some level of control over absenteeism.   But in reality, in my opinion, it has backfired. Between the employees who use their sick days to go shopping (or do something else that is not related to being ill) and those who don’t use them at all and instead come to work sick only to cough, sneeze and sniffle on the rest of us, the concept of allocating time to employees so that they can rest and recover has fallen short.

We have a very simple policy that works and goes something like this…

1. If you’re sick, you’re sick. Stay home unless there is a “do-or-die” situation at work in which case, the best you can do is apologize for infesting the place with germs and infecting those working around you.
2. Rather than giving employees sick days, give them paid personal days to take however they want. 
3. If absenteeism becomes excessive and hinders operations or the flow of work, have a conversation about the needs of the business and how to mitigate the pattern. 
4. If that doesn’t work, a termination conversation is in order.

As far as policies go, it’s cleaner, it’s easier and it treats employees like the adults they are supposed to be.

Posted by Donna Flagg on September 25, 2008 | Comments (0)