Today is National Sickie Day: a day when Britain's bosses are warned to prepare themselves for record levels of absenteeism. As with Blue Monday, the thinking behind it is undoubtedly based a load of trumped-up statistics, massaged to sound like there really is one day a year when we're most likely to be ill (or claim to be). But nevertheless, there are an awful lot of bugs going around at the moment™, and too many of us are doing our best to ensure they stick around causing misery for as long as possible.
The cause: those dilligent so-and-sos we all know who insist on coming in to work even when suffering with the kind of germs that any GP would refuse to have anywhere near their surgery. Home and preferably bed is the only appropriate place for these people, but under the illusion that society will crumble without them, they prefer to 'dose themselves up' on Lemsip and soldier on, infecting co-workers and fellow commuters alike in the process.
Every office has at least one of these individuals, and many of us have had a weekend ruined or our own working week written-off by their selfish and somewhat egomaniacal insistence on being a 'trooper' at some point in our careers. I'm not talking about working environments where a tyrannical boss takes a high-handed attitude towards sick leave (or worse, implements a pay-docking policy for any days off as is becoming disturbingly common). I'm talking about situations where people could quite productively work from home, and this is now true for many of us.
On a more serious note, employers do need to take a more relaxed attitude to flexible working, and the message needs to get out there that working from home does NOT equate to slacking! As a professional blogger, this is a personal bugbear I've been battling for years, and is the subject of a whole other Monday moan for another day. But 2012 really does look set to be the year of the mobile worker, as official state-backed advice during the Olympics is that all those who can stay at home to work should do so during the games.
Let's get into that habit now and stop spreading our germs around: it will do everyone a favour!
[Image: Lara 604 on Flickr]
