One of the unintended consequences of giving employees sick days and not letting them work from is that people come into work when they really shouldn’t.
People want to maximize the number of days they have off, and they don’t want to spend them stuck at home while sick. I’d imagine that organizations that use a paid time off (PTO) bank with no distinctions between sick, personal and vacation time struggle with this even more.
So what happens? People come to work when they’re pretty sick – not horribly ill, but relatively sick – and spread their germs to everyone else in the office. They don’t function quite as well, and neither do the people they get sick.
Of course, they function well enough to get some work done. They’re just not top notch. Why not let them work from home?
They get to keep their time off for when they can really enjoy it. You get work continuity and a healthier workforce.
Spread the Word:
RSS
Chris you nailed it!
My company designates sick time/personal time/ vacation, and I hate it!!
I still end up coming into work when I don’t feel good, or I work from home – not using my allocated sick time. If everyone could do that, and manage it responsibly, I think the idea of a PTO bank would go over much smoother. Then I’d have more time off to use for fun stuff.
@Dan – I actually think PTO exacerbates the problem. I think PTO would work a lot more effectively, though, with a solid work-from-home-when-sick-but-not-deathly-ill policy.
I totally agree w/ the work-from-home idea, unfortunately those who are not responsible w/ their paid time off ruin it for the rest of us good folks.
Don’t mind me, I’m just jaded b/c I want to work from home everyday, or a ROWE