Why you shouldn't work when sick

[@polychronistheo]

I live in France and work as a teacher i.e. in the "Fonction Publique" : relatively easy to take sick days. I was often under the weather this year. I had a lot of stressful situations to deal with ; twice as much work this year ==> less sleep/binging on junk food, which has lead my immune system to be less than operational. At least I hope this is the explanation. I vary on what to do. My principal is pretty cool and I can call in sick and have some of the missed hours put in a different timeslot. Case in point, I spent this weekend ill and in bed. I managed to teach today, but wasn't the usual efficient teacher I am. I don't know ; I haven't been really ill this year, just under the weather, enough to feel really terrible, but no visible symptoms (and my doctor needs me to be on my deathbed in order to give me a leave of absence document/authorisation). All this long ramble to say that it depends for me, sometims I power through, sometimes I don't. My principal is cool so I can call in sick and not be in trouble, but with different principals I wouldn't dare do that. Very nice video in any case, liked how you edited the video to fit your story telling and how unpretentious your style is.

[@jdknightingale]

Thank you for sharing! It's always interesting to hear different people's perspective. I think we can also be quite impatient with ourselves when we are sick. I know I often think I will recover immediately and then if it takes slightly longer than expected I feel disappointed in myself! Maybe we need to be more patient with ourselves! Anyway, I appreciate your kind words.

[@sephmne3645]

This is quite interesting. I'm actually just recovering from surgery and despite being told to take 2 weeks off from work, I've worked from my bed the entire time with the logic that "it's a physical wound and I'm still in bed so what's the difference?". Now I'm starting to think I should take some time off to recover 😅

[@jdknightingale]

That is a bit of a dilemma. I should preface what I am about to write with, I am not a doctor, so definitely prioritise what your doctor has suggested. In the main article I reference it quotes a study that suggests that non-contagious and not over debilitating illnesses/injuries are ok to work with. See the exert: 'When illness is neither overly debilitating nor contagious, there is some evidence that the benefits of going to work for employees might outweigh the costs. This view is supported by a study of over 2000 individuals affected by chronic occupational musculoskeletal disorders conducted by Howard and colleagues (2009). Employees who were designated ‘presentees’ were more likely to complete a functional restorative treatment programme and return to work full-time than those who took more sick leave. Working while sick might also be seen as an example of organisational citizenship behaviour and a sign of commitment and loyalty to the organisation.' Obviously it totally depends on what your surgery was, and how drained you feel. My advice would be, if you are allowed to have 2 weeks fully off, and you won't go mad with the time off, it will likely help! Hope this helps and you recover quickly!

[@quarkquark1]

2:13 Good old R2D2 bin looking smart! Has he been refurbished recently?

[@jdknightingale]

Yes! It was refurbished last summer!

[@SammiScoop_1]

Not sure if this is a thing in other countries but in the US we only get two weeks off of work a year. If we take a week off to get better from illness then that's 50% of your vacation you just used.

[@jdknightingale]

That’s really interesting. I can’t comment on other industries or companies but we don’t take ‘vacation time’ for a sick day. Instead you usually get an allowance of sick days I.e full pay for a few (possibly 5-10) days and then after this number of days it might drop to 50% pay. I’m not familiar with the US and sick days.

[@quarkquark1]

Fun editing style for the intro on this one! Sorry to hear you've been ill though.

[@quarkquark1]

5:20 Very interesting point about ‘head ill’ vs ‘chest ill’. I'd never considered that before.

[@jdknightingale]

Thanks Jonathan, trying to be a bit more creative!

[@jdknightingale]

Yes, I hadn't really thought of this before. It's basically a case of how ill actually am I?