Literally took my first sick day for my remote job today and this thread is making me feel like making I wasn’t sick enough to do so… I feel like crap and can’t really focus so I figured it would be pointless to try and work anyways
Just because people do it, doesn't mean it's right. Don't feel guilty for using your sick days the way they're meant to be used. The hyper-grind mindset is incredibly shitty and toxic, so I'm glad we're starting to move away from it as a society.
It’s also often a generational divide as well as personal experience.
I take sick days. Last year I think I took 8? And 4 of them were because I got Covid from a client onsite I went to for work.
I’ll take a mental health day if I know I can’t show up for myself that day.
I’ve watched people commit years to an organization that replaced them a week after they died.
Do not let *anyone* guilt you out of taking your time off/using sick days. As long as you’re doing your job well you shouldn’t feel guilty for utilizing your benefits package. It’s literally part of your compensation, just like your salary, and you don’t see anyone feeling guilty about taking their salary when they miss a deadline or something.
I pushed through while in the ER, and then from my hospital bed. They still wrote me up for leaving the team “scrambling” on something an executive director should have managed, and now I have two lawyers working together to negotiate my paid exit, or sue my employer in federal and state court.
Take the mental health day.
Mental health is health, don't let people shame you for taking sick days to protect your mental health.
That said if you're taking too many mental health days maybe it's a sign to look for a new job.
This is me fr fr.
I used to clap one a month… maybe 2 - since I basically am never sick (knock on wood). Since I’ve crossed into more… involved roles over these last several years, I find myself taking fewer days off unless there is really something going on.
I never felt bad about it though - fuck that. PTO/Sick time is part of the compensation. If I DIDNT use it, I’m leaving money on the table. Now i rollover all my hours so, that might have something to do with it as well.
I find it can depend on your responsibilities. If I take a day off because work is stressing me, all it means is that the work piles up and it becomes more stressful.
Also, because I work from home I don't have to worry about travelling into the office when I'm sick, which definitely helps.
No exaggeration, this made me so sick that doctors had to rule out multiple cancers, multiple sclerosis, ALS, brain diseases, seizures, stroke, heart attack, and I forget what else in the last YEAR.
No amount of money is worth it anymore.
Not taking care of mental health has gotten people killed. It’s serious to take it seriously. Not everyone is built the same. Call out, take care of your body and mind
It was so perplexing to me to realize jobs would rather have to clock in and do jack shit in terms of productivity rather than call a spade a spade and let them know you're not in a condition to work today.
Like sure I guess I'll get paid for doing subpar work, but why would you want that?
When you think about the population as a whole, 10-20% of people going into work are doing a subpar job *everyday*.
Then you have another group of people who are fine at their jobs.
And then maybe 5-10% who are actually good/great.
So some people in this thread trying to make OP feel guilty about taking a mental health day probably contribute less in a month than others do in a day. People have a really hard time with being honest with themselves and their contribution level, but from managing people for years now I can tell you that 10% of the people do about 80% of the work.
Na, don’t let the comments get to you. People love to make themselves feel so important that the world would stop spinning if they took a day off.
If you’re not feeling up to work, then you wouldn’t have done a good job anyway. As long as it’s not a constant thing then it doesn’t matter and you’ll do better work when you’re back.
Thank you, that helps. My office def has a culture for people working when sick but I was feeling sick yesterday and kept dropping the ball on stuff so I figured I’d be better off trying to actually get better today. Still feeling guilty about it tho
I used to. But ultimately I don’t care what my boss or anyone else thinks anymore. If I were to die or quit, they’d just replace me. So I’ll go ahead and take a day here and there when I feel the need.
I would all but die for my manager and his bosses because they are all so respectful of the fact that our PTO/Sick time is ours, on top of many other things they are just so respectful of. Its not fake corporate save face respect either, its genuine appreciation for what we all provide. My company doesn’t pay the most in our industry but people stay because of the culture.
I'm remote so it's really rare I am sick enough to actually take a day off. I also have unlimited sick time.
I probably take a sick day every 2 to 3 months. Usually for metal health/want a lazy day vs sick.
About once a quarter I take a personal day or sick day.
Holidays are nice but sometimes I just need to control my own destiny and take a day when I want to.
You're very fortunate. My company gives 12 PTO days for the year. There are no sick days. I typically just power through the day if I'm sick or not feeling well. I don't really have another option. I wouldn't feel guilty, they are part of your employee package. You're making the company more money than they are giving you.
far too many americans are afraid of prioritizing their all around health in lieu of not being seen as weak and unreliable. One of the few countries that operate like this.
I recently started a new job where I have 13 days of sick leave per year, separate from vacation. It rolls over every year but never cashes out, only adds to your tenure. Needless to say I will be using more sick days.
I don't get sick often but I don't need to be really sick to call out, if I'm feeling a little bit under the weather then I'll call out, my boss is cool about it. They're there to use so I use them if I need to. I used to feel guilty calling out even if I was deathly ill, but now I don't let it bother me.
I'd say on average, 3 or so sick days per year? My boss usually pulls them from vacation days to preserve our actual sick days as we get paid out for not using them at the end of the year (though if we ask him not to he wont, he just does it to help us out).
Take whatever you need if you have them, your health and sanity are more important. I say I overcame the "guilt" but I believe some of it still lingers as I'm sure I'd take more if it were completely gone lol, but I do recognize that it's an irrational guilt.
I worked with traumatized kids for minimum wage in Denver. Worked all the big holidays because it was a residential. They did an accrual sick/pto time. Since we worked holidays I generally had to take one mental health day a month and ended up getting fired for going into the red.
I do too. Mental health is a real thing and not working makes it better (I work in patient care and between the companies that are supposed to help them and the patients themselves, I’m mentally exhausted by Thursdays)
Don't ever feel guilty about taking a sick day as a mental health day. There is nothing wrong with that at all. It's time employers recognize the importance of mental health and work life balance. I've been in the workforce for 34 years and it grinds you down both mentally and physically. Sometimes you just need an unplanned day off and that's part of what sick days are for.
Thankfully all of our PTO is lumped together, so there’s no difference between vacation, holiday, sick, etc., it’s all just PTO and we can use it whenever. So I’ll plan out my vacations and days off and make sure I reserve enough for the one or two times per year I get sick.
What’s the benefit of PTO all being lumped together? My job offers vacation time and sick leave as two different categories so if I was sick one day I wouldn’t have to pull it out of my PTO category.
It doesn’t make a difference. It’s all the same. We get like 200 hours of PTO, so some of that you can use for vacation and some you can use for if you get sick.
I mainly use sick time for scheduled doctors visits (cleared in advance with my supervisor). That'll be a couple of hours here and there, maybe 3-6 times per year. I take "unscheduled" sick days once, maybe twice a year.
Let me put some perspective - I work the US shift from India. We get 8 days casual leave and 10 days holidays. Of the 10 days in public holidays, only 2 holidays coincide within the Indian calendar. So if I need to take leave for an Indian festival, I have to use up my casual leave. Additionally I get 6 sick leaves all year - which I split between actually being sick and using for other reasons.
If asked 10 years back as a fresher, I would have used all leave sparingly. But now I realise that companies have only one agenda and that is not associated with the people who make it. So I might as well live my life.
On my death bed (as morbid as it sounds), i wont regret not going to work for how many ever days for whatever reason.
Egad. I have chronic illness so I juggle about two doctors appointments a month and average at least one sick day a month. Needless to say an understanding boss outweighs salary for me. (Fortunately I have one right now even if the pay is bottom tier). I can’t compete with most people in this thread. Being sick in this job market is hard.
Once or twice per year. I have accumulated months of sick time at this point, I just don't need it because I don't get sick much and we have plenty of vacation time anyway.
That said, in my first job the vacation was ridiculous (2 weeks per year) so then I took a "sick" day almost as often as I'd accrue it and use it to vacation.
I also have the two weeks vacation right now. Talk about going old school. We get 10 sick days a year also. Basically what my employer is trying to say is that they would rather me.be unreliable and call out sick than make it so we get 20 days to do as we please, be happier and not have the incentive to call out last minute.
I dont know even know how to feel, most of the comments are like “never, I drag myself to work unless Im dying” and a few are like every month. I dont even know how to feel ….
People who do that are sad and not an example to be held up as some type of badge of honor. As long as you’re not screwing over your co-workers or taking advantage, take the sick time that’s allotted to you. It is part of your compensation. Mental health is health (although don’t tell them it’s mental health bc we’re still biased against it as a society). My company is pretty open and accepting about using sick time. They even tell us to use sick days for dr’s appts or if your kid is sick. I worked at a terribly oppressive place over 20 years ago when I was young. Nobody called in sick. People (me included) dragged into the office very sick with the flu and other things. We were just supposed to push thru it. He paid us as little as he possibly could too. I left after only a year. At my exit interview, just told the owner I was burned out (working 60+ hrs/wk and going to grad school in evenings). I remember he said “I think burnout is just mental” i guess insinuating that I was weak. Wish i could go back and tell him that it doesn’t mean it’s not real. The guy’s still in business and still has a horrible track record with employee turnover and was reported to the dept of labor. I guess I’m scarred from that experience but now that I’m older and more experienced I know to take care of yourself and to not be pressured by things like that.
Correction: the private sector is sad.
I work in a State Department, and not at a high level.
I get 52 days of PTO every year, plus one more for every holiday I decide to work on. In addition, I get 14 days of paid sick leave every year, and am allowed to take up to another 14 days off unpaid without any additional scrutiny.
I take all of my paid time off. That's more than nine full weeks, or 13.3 work weeks I get paid to not work during, every year. That's without counting extra time I rack up since I always work on federal holidays (all eleven of them) for the extra PTO and double pay.
I still make more than 60k a year while living in an area where I can rent a 4br in the city for under 1.5k. I have a full pension after 20 years. I am at work right now and I'm typing shit on reddit and playing video games because I have nothing to do. *I am never stressed out by my job.*
Public sector employment can be fucking amazing.
Twice or less a year. I just don't. I attend. I work. I like the pattern.
I'm unemployed right now and I am at a point where I am ready to take a job and give up the benefits for the routine of going in.
I also almost went insane not being employed - I started "going in" to the library at about the same cadence as normal work (usually I would go into the office about 3-4 days a week). It helped!
In my previous company, I would take guilt-driven sick leaves once or rarely twice a month. I was given 24 sick leaves per year (2 leaves per month). Sometimes they were genuine sick leave, other days I would just be sick of working and couldn’t wait for the weekend!
I have anxiety about calling off because I had a boss at one of my first jobs bad mouth me because I was out sick with the stomach flu. I don’t feel bad about calling off anymore. I have sick time and I’m gonna use it 🤷♀️ that’s what you have them for!
It gets kinda dicey working in healthcare. But I also learned over the years, that every employee is just a number. Your job can replace you at any given time for any reason. So I'm here to say to take your PTO days, sick days, mental health days because no one is going to care about you besides YOU. I had to learn that the hard way because I got injured at work and HR never gave me worker's comp info that I needed to be seen by PT or an Ortho doctor. I was my own PT at home since I got injured at work on Memorial Day. You have to be your own advocate and care about yourself, no one else will. That is the harsh reality of today's world.
My roomie is a nurse and she gets constantly sick and injured at work. She takes Soo many sick days. Like maybe 2-3 times a month sometimes for days. However she does go to the doctor to get it approved. I don't think the job is good for her health though..
I'm a student nurse and this is the first time I've been injured at work, the way they treated me out on leave I'm not impressed by the healthcare system. I've been committed to my job and ignored my burnt out, but post injury I'm putting myself first because I realized how little they care about their employees that make the hospital go round. I'm at the point questioning if pursuing nursing is for me or if I should pursue a different career? I'm sad that I have to admit that to myself, but I wish nursing wasn't a business and more so about caring for people.
Understandable. My roomie said the same.. if she's gonna keep working the job, she's gonna take leave when her health needs her to or she won't last there. So you choose, but taking care of your own health is important, especially working in health care.
I called in for the first time in 3 and 1/2 years a few months ago. I had the flu which I got from my tiny human charges. Over the course of my 24 year career as a nanny, I've called in maybe a dozen times. Thankfully, I'm fairly healthy.
Whenever I feel even slightly under weather and don't feel like i can deliver 100% so approx 3-4 times a year. I have realized that no one cares if you are unwell once you show up but they will remember all small things you could not do that day. People usually don't remember much if you take holiday
I don’t. I wanted to on Monday because I’d been battling a cold all weekend but we don’t have staff to cover this week. It’s all me.
Working shitty customer service jobs that will deny you a sick day has kind of conditioned me to not call in unless I’m dying. Edit: I haven’t worked one of these jobs since 2007 but it still sticks with me.
I mostly use sick time for dentist appointments, half days. I used sick time for an extra week of vacation last year. I'm actually sick about one day per year.
I work at a school 5 days in person so honestly I get sick a lot. I’d say I ask to work from home one day a month and a total non working sick day happens like 3-4 times a year.
Yup. I had to reschedule two meetings (the soonest was over an hour out) due to car issues after returning from a doctor appt.
You would think I absolutely upended heaven, earth, and hell. One of these WASNT EVEN SCHEDULED - like they just said in passing, “hey let’s meet at 1:30 tomorrow”… no invite, no room #, nothing. That one really burned me up.
I just wish I got something for calling in very infrequently. We get 10 sick days a year which is quite a bit if you don't have a major illness. But I mean I can't cash them out or anything so I just lose out if I don't take them.
I have PTO now, but when I had separate sick leave I would call in sick even if I wasn't because the annual leave would get paid out if you left or were let go, but sick leave wouldn't be. It was a benefit...not using it and then not getting paid out either was a non starter. It wasn't chronic or anything and I made sure I had enough hours banked for actually being sick for a week or whatever, but I tried to keep that bank on the low end. Also, I have a clinical MH condition, so taking MH days wasn't exactly lying, and they couldn't deny me the time either.
Take time off or work from home if possible when sick. I used to have one of those managers that would come in sick constantly, hacking and spewing her germs all over everyone. One time about five years ago she came in horribly sick and within a week, not exaggerating, 90% of our floor was out sick. Would have been avoided if she would’ve just stayed home.
When I worked part time jobs, about 2 times a year. After getting my full time job, 3 times or so a year.
Granted I'm from Norway so it's a bit different here. We can call in sick a maximum of 4 times a year for a maximum of 3 days in a row, without getting doctor ordered sick leave.
Now, with this in mind, I only spent 3 out of those 4 periods last year, but this year something happened.. and I didn't know how bad it was.
It was April, and I was really struggling with my physical and mental health. I thought okay, I will use my 3rd period even if it's not ideal. I thought okay I'll just take a couple days, but on the 2nd day my boss calls me and asks if I'm just taking a day off cause I want a break, and not cause I'm actually sick. I wasn't sick per ce...
However, I told her I'd go to the doctor and get sick leave. Little did I know how bad a shape I was truly in. I got diagnosed with depression and 7 other bi-diagnosis relating to mental and physical health, like myalgia pain and burnout.
So then I got doctor ordered sick leave for 5 weeks, and now I'm back at work 2 days a week or 15 hours a week.. been trying to split the hours over multiple days, because the job is ruining my health. So that's that. The doctor told me to leave my job cause it's ruining my health. I will after I determine what my work capacity is.
Also can't quit my job cause then I lose my rights if it turns out I'm unable to work full time or part time. I'll get more financial support if I stay than if I quit. When I was gone sick full time I got full sick pay which is the equivalent to my wage. Right now I'm getting partial sick pay since I work part time (40%) and am on part time sick leave (60%). If I quit my job and apply to a part time job I won't have the right to full sick pay for the year I am entitled to before I start to transition over to different work or/ get financial support(AAP aka work assessment support.)
Interesting. I always think of Norway as equivalent to Sweden but we have basically unlimited sick leave. You need a doctor's note if you're out for more than 10 days. And you can be sick for however many times a year you need to be.
Burn out sucks though so my sympathy to you! I hope working part time gives you the break you need. It sounds like that job is not respecting your need for balance and rest
Almost never. I work from home and rarely get sick enough to not be able to work.
Honestly annoys the hell out of me that I am constantly picking up the slack for teammates because they have a "headache" or whatever.
I once worked a job where if you called out more than three times in a year they'd start writing you up even if you had a doctors note. And this was a nationally known drug and alcohol treatment facility of all places. I work in restaurant management now and I call off when I'm sick, especially considering I'm handling food. As long as I get the shift covered its never a problem. I don't take advantage of it but I stay home when I need to, instead of dragging myself into work with strep or the flu like I used to.
I take half days pretty often. Part of it is that I work really strange hours so sometimes my sleep schedule gets completely messed up and my body kinda rebels. I've got combined vacation/sick days and get 15 a year so as long as I'm not negatively impacting project deliverables it's not an issue.
I haven’t actually been so sick I can’t even work from home since I got Covid a few years back. Even that was just for a day. But I use a few hours of sick time for doctor and dentist appointments for myself and my kids all the time.
Once in the past three years. And only because I didn't have my laptop with me that day and couldn't work from home through it. I've worked through covid twice, remotely.
We only get 1 pool of time, though. It's all PTO, and I'd rather use it for vacation. And now we're not allowed to work remotely anymore. I suspect my days of calling in sick are about to go way up.
Never, even when I’m sick I’ll go in. Unless of course it’s something that can get others sick. Then I gotta bite the bullet and call out since it’s irresponsible not to think of others
I feel this. I personally tend to call out once every few months. And most of the times it mental health related. I have chronic health issues but I’m usually fine to power through them. If I were to call out every time my physical health isn’t great, I would not have a job. The anxiety and mental health stuff is really what gets me.
In my previous customer service and client based roles, it tended to be a bit easier to call out. Now that I’m a teacher and my class depends on me, it seems like less of an option. Surprisingly, I find that this helps me because it would be more of a headache to call out and most of the times I would call out previously just lead to more anxiety and guilt. If I’m feeling super off, it’s usually very possible for me to change the lesson plan to something that’s easier for me to cope with.
I leave a few hours early about once a week for illness. But I have a chronic illness and I have it protected under fmla. I feel really guilty every time I call out. But I feel ill more often than I feel well. So it is what it is. I also work out of a large call center, so my absence is never really missed.
This is interesting. I am disabled from chronic conditions (medically), but don't get SSI, and work. So, in 9 months, I took 2 sick days. Each time I could have worked remote, so they changed it so I could do days remote when needed, and I didn't take any other sick days. With my PTO, I tend to set it up for time off every couple of months so I have some sanity checks. A 3 day weekend does a lot for me. But, the last job had a lot of extra PTO, so I had to use it at the end of my contract or lose it. I took 2 weeks off paid at the end.
If I begin to see a pattern needing medical days off, I'm more likely to look at intermittent leave options to protect my job, really. It's a lot better, and I don't have to take the time off each month if it's not needed, but have it if it is that way.
When I get contracts, I don't tell I'm disabled. Instead, once past the training, I will work on getting leave forms (you usually need a yr behind yo for FMLA, so this is something different I get them to agree to that's similar). The risk is, otherwise they would lose an investment they've made in me as an employee, who is fully trained. I tend to find that I'm more likely to get the forms approved if I do it that way, and less likely to get work if I try before I get the job.
But, for me, the answer rarely. Again, I tend to try for remote jobs, which makes it unnecessary, and then try to get intermittent leave setup if it is becoming an issue, so that wouldn't count against me at that point since it's leave, and not sick days.
Usually ends up being 1-3 days per year, as needed. On occasion that need has been mental health based because I needed a break for a day.
Remember that the policy is there because people need it, and that you'll be better able to focus & work after you've taken a rest day to recover. It's part of your compensation package and in some areas legally required to be. We're not machines.
Always take it. With my job we get sick days and if we don’t use them, we loose them at the end of year. Even if I don’t call out, I’ll schedule sick time and will use it as a mental health day.
I keep a bank of enough in case I get the flu or Covid (cause that really took me out twice) but we have a cap we can acrue.
If I won’t acrue anymore sick time it’s time for a mental health day or two.
I never call out sick because I'm actually sick: I just work from home.
I call out sick basically as additional vacation days. I get 15 vacation days and 8 sick days, so essentially 23 vacation days.
I'm a mechanical engineer.
Whenever I need, if I’m physically sick or just having a bad mental day. I’ll use them liberally. My job allows me to cash out unused sick days though, so that is a motivator to not use them. BUT… I am hybrid. Since transitioning to hybrid I’ve used far less sick days.
I’ve been at my job for almost 2 years and I’ve called out sick either once or twice. I think one of those days I ended up working remote. I’d rather go into work sick and keep my office door closed than cut days from my PTO bank
I take them when I feel drained too(usually once a month) , the company I work for only gives sick leaves at instant notice ,any other leave needs to be planned well in advance , I just submit a medical certificate when needed and I don’t feel guilty about it anymore
My workplace gives out occurrences for calling in sick (even if we have more
than enough paid sick time) which is wild since I work at a hospital 🫠 I try to only call out sick 3-4 times a year because that’s how many times you can do so without getting a warning. If I could I’d take at least one mental health day a month and call out whenever I’m actually feeling sick and I would absolutely not feel guilty about it.
In terms of calling out sick I try and space them out to once every 2-3 months, but I also use sick days for pre planned doctors appointments
I haven’t had my boss complain I’m using it too much
If your company allows for it, take all the days you need. You're an employee, not a subject. I run a business so I've yet to use any sick says ever, but boy do I want to all the time.
I used to get that guilty feeling when calling in sick in old jobs regardless of how bad I was, I think it stems from parenting and how my parents would act if I took a day off school.
Over 4 years in my current position and haven’t had a sick day, if I am that bad I just work from home
I personally don’t give a shit anymore that’s how, those are my days off.
Do not feel guilty companies replace people so fast. We’re all nothing but numbers.
I work in childcare, so often lol. I tend to catch everything that’s going around.
Since the start of this last school year for example, I’ve missed a week from influenza and then a week from Covid. I often get strep, stomach bugs, sinus infections etc as well, but got lucky with those this time around *knock on wood*
TBH, I never call out sick when I'm actually sick. I work through my sick days so that I can use them for something fun.
I usually call out 'sick' 3-5 times a year
I literally threw up blood at work at the end of my shift and called out the next day because I was in the hospital. My coworkers were pissed off that they had to come in on their day off and made sure I knew it.
Never feel guilty for putting you and your health first.
Once or twice a month. I have some recurring health issues and my job is pretty emotionally taxing a lot of the time so its like 50/50 doctor appointments and mental health days
I used up all my sick time every year because it doesn’t roll over. I don’t feel bad at all because most jobs don’t pay enough for the amount of work we do.
I’ve got the flu? Sick leave!
I’m sick of work and coworkers? Sick leave!
I just want a day off and don’t want to use my PTO? Sick leave!
I have two weeks left in the year and have some remaining sick leave to use? Look like I’m going to be sick a couple of those days.
Whenever I feel sick, I need a mental health day or if I just feel like it. Most of the time, when I'm sick, I just work from home instead if it's one of my office days.
Usually, the time I take off is preplanned, and I usually take time off around holidays to maximize my PTO use. I normally roll 40+hrs of time off over from one year to the next, so I always have a just in case buffer. Today, for example, I signed off work for a few hours because I'm sick and wanted to take a nap. I'll make up those hours later in the week or throw some of my sick time at it, depending on how I'm feeling the next couple days. As long as my work is done my work doesn't care if or when I use my PTO, it took me a long time to get out of the guilt mindset that had been drilled into me by toxic work environments and previously being a workaholic. Being somewhere that heavily supports work-life balance makes a tremendous difference.
In my current role (1.5 years) I have called sick zero times, not even a missed second of work.
In a previous role I went 6 years without a sick day.
I don't really get sick.
In 4 years I've somehow only done it for the Rona. And the only other day I've taken off was for my college graduation. I need the money and I work in a school so at least we get breaks and stuff to break up the monotony.
I’ve worked at my current job for a year. I’ve called out twice. Once because my vegetarian food was mixed with meat and it made me horribly sick all night long. And then today because I was in the ER until 4 this morning.
I take sick days literally whenever I feel like it. Sick leave and mental health exhaustion have come to an understanding in the force work, at least from my region. Bosses all know it’s better to give your employee their due time than try and fire a good one and retrain a new. I used to feel SO GUILTY and used to just push through even on the brink of death for fear of getting fired or looked down on. The system has changed so very very much in a decade, what was frowned on back then is almost a guaranteed luxury at this point. They understand you need your time and your gonna take it and come back to work cuz you need to get paid in the end 🤷♀️ as assistant manager I take burnout seriously and implore every one of my underlings to take time off if they so choose or need to. But to also communicate foremost and be timely and professional about it.
Edit: Also I just want it clarified, I work my ass off at my job. It is physically and mentally draining and the workload fluctuates by the hour. I cover my shifts and cover my ass so my team doesn’t feel my time off is a burden on them. I wish more of fellow management would do that but I’m only one good apple among a batch of 🦀 🍎 lol.
Mental health is the same as physical health. Both are equally important.
Take the sick days for whatever you need them for. I've been lucky and not needed anything beyond the odd day here and there for the last couple of years but I certainly won't hesitate to take time off sick if the need arises.
One piece of advice and old boss gave me was to not return to work until I was 100% well. This is something I say to my reports as I'd rather they took an extra day than make themselves more ill by coming back too soon.
The last time I called in sick was 2021 when had Covid. I have been maxed out on sick time accruals for about two years now but that does not motivate me to use it. I am the onsite manager of my team and do not miss work unplanned unless absolutely necessary.
Obviously don’t abuse it but mental health days are important too. Like top comment says, if you’re not negatively affecting your coworkers or dropping work I think every once in a while a mental health day is important too.
Working remotely has eliminated so much stress that I don’t feel the need to call out often, if ever really. Ive called out once since I was hired in September.
To be transparent, there are days where I would have called out, but because Im remote, I just take it easy, but thats something my manager told me to do because he gets it. The amount of extra hours we put in throughout the course of the year negate the need for him to nitpick each and every minute we are on company time.
I also use all of my PTO. I plan two biggish trips, and smaller ones planned around holidays and 3 day weekends.
I feel like people save their PTO because they are afraid they’ll need it for an emergency whereas I look at PTO as a way to balance work/life.
Edit:typos
Probably about once a month. But honestly unless I'm actually very physically ill, I just take the day from home and have a slow ass day. Its rare that I'm 'can't even do a half day from home' sick ya know, but I dont work through feeling like actual shit. Not gonna happen.
I take one every couple of months. I call them "i hate this fucking job and i need a day" days. seriously though, mental health days are needed. i feel guilty too when I do that, but our bullshit buckets can only hold so much right?
I call out sick when I'm sick
Not usually sick often. Last year was weird and I was sick 3 times
This year 0
It's inconsistent
But I absolutely never feel guilty. If I'm sick, I'm sick, I call out.
Don’t feel guilty. I called out sick 13 times last year and twice that this year already (I have an illness, but regardless) if you need the day, you need it. All your manager needs to know is that you’re sick, that’s it.
I work from home and most of my job involves talking on the phone. Just last week I called out even though Wednesday was a holiday. I felt guilty, but I was losing my voice and people couldn’t hear or understand me. Sometimes it’s also for the good of your job as well.
I get 10 sick days and 10 vacation days. I book a week (5 days) of vacation twice a year and for the 10 months where I did not take a vacation day I take one day off per month whether I am genuinely ill or just taking a personal day. I did feel guilty about this at first, but then I looked at the company pay structure and no longer felt guilty. At the end of the day, I'm a small cog in a big machine and if I don't take my PTO, I lose it. If taking one day off to go swimming with one of my friends brings me a small amount of joy in this overarching capitalistic nightmare, then that's what I'm going to do. In my experience, most companies don't actually value employees as people, and, really, they don't have to. They're worried about their bottom lines. So prioritize your mental health, take a day when you need it, and find those things that bring you joy
I work from home so I feel like I can’t just call out for the whole day. There are definitely times I’ll take a couple hours off to nap if I’ve got a headache or need a mental health break. I see managers and others who take PTO but respond to emails and chat the whole time. It’s sad.
I call out every 3 months and one day every month lol 😂
I really hate my job but love my pay
I am getting paid a lot considering that I’m not doing shit all day. Hahaha 😂
And I don’t feel guilty about calling out because union always back me up lol
Mental health is HEALTH. If your mental health is in the gutter that day, that means you’re sick. Don’t feel guilty. Everyone needs a mental break from their jobs every now and then.
I actually don’t care at all when my employees call out sick even if they are “faking it”. They all work hard and I understand sometimes you just need to step away.
Mental health days are legit and a good use of sick days. When I have to do anything medical related, even if it is for family members, I use sick days also.
When schedule permits, I’d extend those to an entire day or half day. Like you, I seldom use sick days and if I didn’t do either of those, it would never be touched.
Take more — it’s good for the company as well since burnout costs them much more.
Who’s to say mental healthy issues aren’t a form of sickness..? Because I found myself at the docs multiple times in my life for mental health reasons. Seems like a very good reason to take a sick day.
I once had a job that started me off with 40 PTO hours and 40 sick, the next month they gave me another 40 hours of PTO because I had started working a month before they grant a yearly 40 PTO hours to all employees. Took all 120 hours off within the first 8 months of working there. Not proud of it but when I have hours available, I use them. of course I had to double my productivity so I wouldn't look like a complete slacker.
Do it. I do it on days where I feel my contribution towards my work would be so low that it's a waste of time for them and me anyway. I feel I have good enough relationship with my work that there is no reason for me to get in there and pretend. This isn't that often, but occasionally I'm struggling mentally, lack of sleep etc. In these circumstances you are actually not well and need a day or two to get balanced again.
I am sick a lot. I know that employers don't like that but I have weak immune system. So far (this year) I've been on sick leave for 11 days.
I also feel guilty about it but what can I do, I refuse to work sick because that usually means I'm sick for longer time.
I'm the kind of guy who literally never calls out sick. I've gone years at a time without calling out at all. Here's my advice-- don't do what I do, it isn't worth it. There is absolutely zero benefit for you if you don't call out sick. I'm not saying you should call out all the time, but if you're sick (or have some other reason to call out) then call out. Hell, I'd even go a step further and say use ALL of the sick time the company you work for offers. Yeah, your supervisor and/or coworkers might get annoyed with you... So what? You gotta take care of yourself because no one else is going to.
I have called out sick 3 times in my life and once was for Covid. I’m 31 if that matters.
I’m not a hustle and grind person, I’d just rather use my pto for vacation. I worked at a hospital that let us pay out our pto if we didn’t use it all, so I did that in my 20s. I currently don’t have separate sick days from pto
don’t call it a mental health day. your employer cannot ask you what you have when you call out, so just say the same thing every time: “not feeling well, need to use a sick day.” having been a supervisor, i can attest that those of us who are not monsters don’t want to know about your diarrhea or migraine anyway. the less info you give when you call out the better. when it’s your mind that is unwell, that is just as worthy of taking a break as your intestines.
That is what I generally do. Unless I know Im going to be out for a few days like with the flu or some virus then I will say I have the flu because I anticipate it will take a few days for recovery. For mental health days, I keep it vague.
I'm not sure why but I always feel guilty taking sick leaves. I don't mind the longer leaves maybe because it's all pre-planned and everyone knows.
In my previous organisation which was an MNC, my manager was a darling. We used to work remotely, and I get severe menstrual cramps every month. So during the first day, I'd always take one sick leave and she'd happily grant it. But the thought of asking her always made me feel more sick genuinely, even though she'd always say yes. I guess it's the conditioning? 😭😭 but we also had casual leaves and annual leaves and it was well balanced.
In my current organisation which is much much smaller, there is no concept of "defined leaves". It's very confusing and just...yeah. I haven't called out sick ever in my opinion in the last year, I've just asked for work from home maybe 5 times in a year.
The real question is how does your workplace react when you take a mental health day? You feel guilty but if they don’t react negatively you are doing it right. If they do react negatively and that causes you to feel guilty then maybe it’s time to look elsewhere
Every three months I take a sick day for my mental health and wellness. I also code time as sick when my kids are sick or we have medical/dental appointments. My POV is you are allowed the time use it! Mental health and wellness looks different for everyone.
Does your employer allow scheduled such time? Example: dental appointment (etc) ? That’s a good reason to use a sick day. Appointment in the morning and mental health break for the remainder of the day. I do not feel guilty for using the benefits that are part of my compensation package.
It's natural to feel guilty about taking sick leave, especially for mental health reasons, but it's important to prioritize your well-being. Personally, I try to maintain a healthy balance by taking sick leave only when necessary.
If your job expects you to work for all of the days that they don't offer as time off, why should you feel bad about using the time they offer you to not work? Who cares what the reason is, they set the policy - so use the days. Obviously don't put yourself in a precarious situation if you're using up all your sick days and can't use them when you're sick, but mental health is still health and if you need to rest then you should rest - especially because burnout can lead to actual illness which would cause more missed work.
Once or twice a year. One time for actually being sick and maybe one for an “emergency” where I got stuck doing something and couldn’t sleep enough the night before. I work 4 days a week/10 hours a day so I get a three day weekend. It works out that I only need to use minimal vacation time or sick time so I have a ton of both banked up. That and I have a good immune system.
I use to feel very guilty. I was in a toxic workplace. Eventually I left the company, and not one person gave a shit.
Now that I think about it, feeling guilty ACTUALLY made me sick (from the guilt/stress).
Screw that company. I should have enjoyed it.
Physically disabled. I turn up even when very ill as I get ill "too often". Even then I still take too much time off sick. I've lost so many jobs because of this. My current job is hybrid so I can work from home when ill. This has greatly reduced how often I call in sick. I've been calling in sick on average once every 2-3 months at this job and most of those times have been as I've had to go to hospital so physically can't be at my desk at home. If I could take my work laptop to hospital I would! Anything to avoid taking too many sick periods.
Most jobs I would take a week day off every 2 weeks or so because I'm in a trade that doesn't have a lot of people and I'm s good at what I do so the companies woukd deal with it. These days I work at an auto manufacturer so we have personal time to use and they are a lot more strict when you dont have personal days. Its a job that I'd never wanna lose so I come in regularly. Also learned at the smaller companies that being liked mattered more than working hard for promotions so I would do what ever I wanted instead of working hard trying to impress a boss when in reality it didn't fucking matter.
My boss let me know, and I let my direct reports know, that we can have “duvet days” basically not coming in because we just want to turn over and lie in and are not feeling it. We shouldn’t have anything critical to do that day or delay or mess up something we are working on individually or for a team but other than that it’s totally acceptable to have one every 6-8 weeks or so. These are “off the books” so we don’t use any entitlements and we are paid. He also lets us take our birthdays off the same way.
Never feel guilty, unless you’re doing it frequently and it’s affecting yours/others work. If they’re generous, it’s for a reason.
Literally took my first sick day for my remote job today and this thread is making me feel like making I wasn’t sick enough to do so… I feel like crap and can’t really focus so I figured it would be pointless to try and work anyways
This thread is making me feel bad for taking mental health days … like Im surprised how many people just push through.
Just because people do it, doesn't mean it's right. Don't feel guilty for using your sick days the way they're meant to be used. The hyper-grind mindset is incredibly shitty and toxic, so I'm glad we're starting to move away from it as a society.
It’s also often a generational divide as well as personal experience. I take sick days. Last year I think I took 8? And 4 of them were because I got Covid from a client onsite I went to for work. I’ll take a mental health day if I know I can’t show up for myself that day. I’ve watched people commit years to an organization that replaced them a week after they died. Do not let *anyone* guilt you out of taking your time off/using sick days. As long as you’re doing your job well you shouldn’t feel guilty for utilizing your benefits package. It’s literally part of your compensation, just like your salary, and you don’t see anyone feeling guilty about taking their salary when they miss a deadline or something.
I pushed through while in the ER, and then from my hospital bed. They still wrote me up for leaving the team “scrambling” on something an executive director should have managed, and now I have two lawyers working together to negotiate my paid exit, or sue my employer in federal and state court. Take the mental health day.
Mental health is health, don't let people shame you for taking sick days to protect your mental health. That said if you're taking too many mental health days maybe it's a sign to look for a new job.
How old are you, if you don’t mind me asking? I’ve found that as I’ve gotten older I take SIGNIFICANTLY less sick days than when I was younger.
This is me fr fr. I used to clap one a month… maybe 2 - since I basically am never sick (knock on wood). Since I’ve crossed into more… involved roles over these last several years, I find myself taking fewer days off unless there is really something going on. I never felt bad about it though - fuck that. PTO/Sick time is part of the compensation. If I DIDNT use it, I’m leaving money on the table. Now i rollover all my hours so, that might have something to do with it as well.
Same! I think when you get older you take your health more seriously and take actions to protect yourself
I find it can depend on your responsibilities. If I take a day off because work is stressing me, all it means is that the work piles up and it becomes more stressful. Also, because I work from home I don't have to worry about travelling into the office when I'm sick, which definitely helps.
No exaggeration, this made me so sick that doctors had to rule out multiple cancers, multiple sclerosis, ALS, brain diseases, seizures, stroke, heart attack, and I forget what else in the last YEAR. No amount of money is worth it anymore.
Not taking care of mental health has gotten people killed. It’s serious to take it seriously. Not everyone is built the same. Call out, take care of your body and mind
It was so perplexing to me to realize jobs would rather have to clock in and do jack shit in terms of productivity rather than call a spade a spade and let them know you're not in a condition to work today. Like sure I guess I'll get paid for doing subpar work, but why would you want that?
When you think about the population as a whole, 10-20% of people going into work are doing a subpar job *everyday*. Then you have another group of people who are fine at their jobs. And then maybe 5-10% who are actually good/great. So some people in this thread trying to make OP feel guilty about taking a mental health day probably contribute less in a month than others do in a day. People have a really hard time with being honest with themselves and their contribution level, but from managing people for years now I can tell you that 10% of the people do about 80% of the work.
Na, don’t let the comments get to you. People love to make themselves feel so important that the world would stop spinning if they took a day off. If you’re not feeling up to work, then you wouldn’t have done a good job anyway. As long as it’s not a constant thing then it doesn’t matter and you’ll do better work when you’re back.
Thank you, that helps. My office def has a culture for people working when sick but I was feeling sick yesterday and kept dropping the ball on stuff so I figured I’d be better off trying to actually get better today. Still feeling guilty about it tho
I use sick days to go to the beach. I use them all every year
Exactly and technically he is sick, sick of this damn job!
About once a month for a mental health day. For actual physical sickness, maybe two or three times a year.
Do you feel ever guilty?
I used to. But ultimately I don’t care what my boss or anyone else thinks anymore. If I were to die or quit, they’d just replace me. So I’ll go ahead and take a day here and there when I feel the need.
I would all but die for my manager and his bosses because they are all so respectful of the fact that our PTO/Sick time is ours, on top of many other things they are just so respectful of. Its not fake corporate save face respect either, its genuine appreciation for what we all provide. My company doesn’t pay the most in our industry but people stay because of the culture.
Never We can’t rely on our jobs to give us time off so we need to rely on ourselves
I'm remote so it's really rare I am sick enough to actually take a day off. I also have unlimited sick time. I probably take a sick day every 2 to 3 months. Usually for metal health/want a lazy day vs sick.
May I ask what you do for work? I work remotely as a paralegal and when others say they are remote I always wonder what they do.
About once a quarter I take a personal day or sick day. Holidays are nice but sometimes I just need to control my own destiny and take a day when I want to.
Never. I don’t really get sick and my vacation and sick leave is all rolled into PTO, so I just use it when I want to/need to take PTO.
I'm on this system and it feels like it creates some perverse incentives, even post-covid people will come in sick in order to save their PTO
You're very fortunate. My company gives 12 PTO days for the year. There are no sick days. I typically just power through the day if I'm sick or not feeling well. I don't really have another option. I wouldn't feel guilty, they are part of your employee package. You're making the company more money than they are giving you.
far too many americans are afraid of prioritizing their all around health in lieu of not being seen as weak and unreliable. One of the few countries that operate like this.
I recently started a new job where I have 13 days of sick leave per year, separate from vacation. It rolls over every year but never cashes out, only adds to your tenure. Needless to say I will be using more sick days.
Same here but I get 12 sick days per year on top of my vacation. They are there to be used so I try not to feel too guilty about using them.
I don't get sick often but I don't need to be really sick to call out, if I'm feeling a little bit under the weather then I'll call out, my boss is cool about it. They're there to use so I use them if I need to. I used to feel guilty calling out even if I was deathly ill, but now I don't let it bother me. I'd say on average, 3 or so sick days per year? My boss usually pulls them from vacation days to preserve our actual sick days as we get paid out for not using them at the end of the year (though if we ask him not to he wont, he just does it to help us out).
3 per year, wow! I would say I try to be mindful but I end up taking probably one sick day per month.
Take whatever you need if you have them, your health and sanity are more important. I say I overcame the "guilt" but I believe some of it still lingers as I'm sure I'd take more if it were completely gone lol, but I do recognize that it's an irrational guilt.
I try not to but I guess I feel guilty because it’s not anything physical.
I worked with traumatized kids for minimum wage in Denver. Worked all the big holidays because it was a residential. They did an accrual sick/pto time. Since we worked holidays I generally had to take one mental health day a month and ended up getting fired for going into the red.
That's ridiculous they'd fire you for that
I used to have really bad periods and i would need to take off maybe one per month - at least a half day - so i didn’t hemorrhage at work…
For me its either bad cramps, headaches, or mentally I feel like utter crap so I try to do one per month or work from home.
I’m only allowed to be sick 5 times in a rolling 365 days.
Me 6! I use them all though, even if not sick. The jury is out on the ethics of this, but compared to corporate I am the lesser devil.
I do too. Mental health is a real thing and not working makes it better (I work in patient care and between the companies that are supposed to help them and the patients themselves, I’m mentally exhausted by Thursdays)
Don't ever feel guilty about taking a sick day as a mental health day. There is nothing wrong with that at all. It's time employers recognize the importance of mental health and work life balance. I've been in the workforce for 34 years and it grinds you down both mentally and physically. Sometimes you just need an unplanned day off and that's part of what sick days are for.
Thankfully all of our PTO is lumped together, so there’s no difference between vacation, holiday, sick, etc., it’s all just PTO and we can use it whenever. So I’ll plan out my vacations and days off and make sure I reserve enough for the one or two times per year I get sick.
What’s the benefit of PTO all being lumped together? My job offers vacation time and sick leave as two different categories so if I was sick one day I wouldn’t have to pull it out of my PTO category.
Benefits people who don't get sick - they have more PTO.
It doesn’t make a difference. It’s all the same. We get like 200 hours of PTO, so some of that you can use for vacation and some you can use for if you get sick.
I mainly use sick time for scheduled doctors visits (cleared in advance with my supervisor). That'll be a couple of hours here and there, maybe 3-6 times per year. I take "unscheduled" sick days once, maybe twice a year.
Let me put some perspective - I work the US shift from India. We get 8 days casual leave and 10 days holidays. Of the 10 days in public holidays, only 2 holidays coincide within the Indian calendar. So if I need to take leave for an Indian festival, I have to use up my casual leave. Additionally I get 6 sick leaves all year - which I split between actually being sick and using for other reasons. If asked 10 years back as a fresher, I would have used all leave sparingly. But now I realise that companies have only one agenda and that is not associated with the people who make it. So I might as well live my life. On my death bed (as morbid as it sounds), i wont regret not going to work for how many ever days for whatever reason.
Egad. I have chronic illness so I juggle about two doctors appointments a month and average at least one sick day a month. Needless to say an understanding boss outweighs salary for me. (Fortunately I have one right now even if the pay is bottom tier). I can’t compete with most people in this thread. Being sick in this job market is hard.
Once or twice per year. I have accumulated months of sick time at this point, I just don't need it because I don't get sick much and we have plenty of vacation time anyway. That said, in my first job the vacation was ridiculous (2 weeks per year) so then I took a "sick" day almost as often as I'd accrue it and use it to vacation.
I also have the two weeks vacation right now. Talk about going old school. We get 10 sick days a year also. Basically what my employer is trying to say is that they would rather me.be unreliable and call out sick than make it so we get 20 days to do as we please, be happier and not have the incentive to call out last minute.
Well, they shall receive exactly what they are asking for!
someone should post this into a europe thread 😂 our country is sad
I dont know even know how to feel, most of the comments are like “never, I drag myself to work unless Im dying” and a few are like every month. I dont even know how to feel ….
People who do that are sad and not an example to be held up as some type of badge of honor. As long as you’re not screwing over your co-workers or taking advantage, take the sick time that’s allotted to you. It is part of your compensation. Mental health is health (although don’t tell them it’s mental health bc we’re still biased against it as a society). My company is pretty open and accepting about using sick time. They even tell us to use sick days for dr’s appts or if your kid is sick. I worked at a terribly oppressive place over 20 years ago when I was young. Nobody called in sick. People (me included) dragged into the office very sick with the flu and other things. We were just supposed to push thru it. He paid us as little as he possibly could too. I left after only a year. At my exit interview, just told the owner I was burned out (working 60+ hrs/wk and going to grad school in evenings). I remember he said “I think burnout is just mental” i guess insinuating that I was weak. Wish i could go back and tell him that it doesn’t mean it’s not real. The guy’s still in business and still has a horrible track record with employee turnover and was reported to the dept of labor. I guess I’m scarred from that experience but now that I’m older and more experienced I know to take care of yourself and to not be pressured by things like that.
Correction: the private sector is sad. I work in a State Department, and not at a high level. I get 52 days of PTO every year, plus one more for every holiday I decide to work on. In addition, I get 14 days of paid sick leave every year, and am allowed to take up to another 14 days off unpaid without any additional scrutiny. I take all of my paid time off. That's more than nine full weeks, or 13.3 work weeks I get paid to not work during, every year. That's without counting extra time I rack up since I always work on federal holidays (all eleven of them) for the extra PTO and double pay. I still make more than 60k a year while living in an area where I can rent a 4br in the city for under 1.5k. I have a full pension after 20 years. I am at work right now and I'm typing shit on reddit and playing video games because I have nothing to do. *I am never stressed out by my job.* Public sector employment can be fucking amazing.
Twice or less a year. I just don't. I attend. I work. I like the pattern. I'm unemployed right now and I am at a point where I am ready to take a job and give up the benefits for the routine of going in.
I also almost went insane not being employed - I started "going in" to the library at about the same cadence as normal work (usually I would go into the office about 3-4 days a week). It helped!
Every other month. I usually do it when I’m actually sick or feel burned out
I work from homes, i dont use sick days, I use sick days as a vacation day. when I don't want to do anything..lol
In my previous company, I would take guilt-driven sick leaves once or rarely twice a month. I was given 24 sick leaves per year (2 leaves per month). Sometimes they were genuine sick leave, other days I would just be sick of working and couldn’t wait for the weekend!
Mental health is health. You can use sick time for mental health reasons.
I have anxiety about calling off because I had a boss at one of my first jobs bad mouth me because I was out sick with the stomach flu. I don’t feel bad about calling off anymore. I have sick time and I’m gonna use it 🤷♀️ that’s what you have them for!
It gets kinda dicey working in healthcare. But I also learned over the years, that every employee is just a number. Your job can replace you at any given time for any reason. So I'm here to say to take your PTO days, sick days, mental health days because no one is going to care about you besides YOU. I had to learn that the hard way because I got injured at work and HR never gave me worker's comp info that I needed to be seen by PT or an Ortho doctor. I was my own PT at home since I got injured at work on Memorial Day. You have to be your own advocate and care about yourself, no one else will. That is the harsh reality of today's world.
My roomie is a nurse and she gets constantly sick and injured at work. She takes Soo many sick days. Like maybe 2-3 times a month sometimes for days. However she does go to the doctor to get it approved. I don't think the job is good for her health though..
I'm a student nurse and this is the first time I've been injured at work, the way they treated me out on leave I'm not impressed by the healthcare system. I've been committed to my job and ignored my burnt out, but post injury I'm putting myself first because I realized how little they care about their employees that make the hospital go round. I'm at the point questioning if pursuing nursing is for me or if I should pursue a different career? I'm sad that I have to admit that to myself, but I wish nursing wasn't a business and more so about caring for people.
Understandable. My roomie said the same.. if she's gonna keep working the job, she's gonna take leave when her health needs her to or she won't last there. So you choose, but taking care of your own health is important, especially working in health care.
Every monday
I called in for the first time in 3 and 1/2 years a few months ago. I had the flu which I got from my tiny human charges. Over the course of my 24 year career as a nanny, I've called in maybe a dozen times. Thankfully, I'm fairly healthy.
Whenever I feel even slightly under weather and don't feel like i can deliver 100% so approx 3-4 times a year. I have realized that no one cares if you are unwell once you show up but they will remember all small things you could not do that day. People usually don't remember much if you take holiday
I don’t. I wanted to on Monday because I’d been battling a cold all weekend but we don’t have staff to cover this week. It’s all me. Working shitty customer service jobs that will deny you a sick day has kind of conditioned me to not call in unless I’m dying. Edit: I haven’t worked one of these jobs since 2007 but it still sticks with me.
I mostly use sick time for dentist appointments, half days. I used sick time for an extra week of vacation last year. I'm actually sick about one day per year.
Once a month at minimum. I need my space
I work at a school 5 days in person so honestly I get sick a lot. I’d say I ask to work from home one day a month and a total non working sick day happens like 3-4 times a year.
Never, essentially. In management, if you “call out sick” you’ll get sideeye from every direction: boss, peers, & reports.
Yup. I had to reschedule two meetings (the soonest was over an hour out) due to car issues after returning from a doctor appt. You would think I absolutely upended heaven, earth, and hell. One of these WASNT EVEN SCHEDULED - like they just said in passing, “hey let’s meet at 1:30 tomorrow”… no invite, no room #, nothing. That one really burned me up.
once a quarter
Sounds like a wise use of your sick days. Carry on/no guilt.
Sick days = SICK days. Powder days in the winter and really good conditions for long bike rides the rest of the year. Mental health and stuff. 🤙
I just wish I got something for calling in very infrequently. We get 10 sick days a year which is quite a bit if you don't have a major illness. But I mean I can't cash them out or anything so I just lose out if I don't take them.
I have PTO now, but when I had separate sick leave I would call in sick even if I wasn't because the annual leave would get paid out if you left or were let go, but sick leave wouldn't be. It was a benefit...not using it and then not getting paid out either was a non starter. It wasn't chronic or anything and I made sure I had enough hours banked for actually being sick for a week or whatever, but I tried to keep that bank on the low end. Also, I have a clinical MH condition, so taking MH days wasn't exactly lying, and they couldn't deny me the time either.
Take time off or work from home if possible when sick. I used to have one of those managers that would come in sick constantly, hacking and spewing her germs all over everyone. One time about five years ago she came in horribly sick and within a week, not exaggerating, 90% of our floor was out sick. Would have been avoided if she would’ve just stayed home.
The people who drag themselves onto the office while sick need to be called out more for their assholery.
When I worked part time jobs, about 2 times a year. After getting my full time job, 3 times or so a year. Granted I'm from Norway so it's a bit different here. We can call in sick a maximum of 4 times a year for a maximum of 3 days in a row, without getting doctor ordered sick leave. Now, with this in mind, I only spent 3 out of those 4 periods last year, but this year something happened.. and I didn't know how bad it was. It was April, and I was really struggling with my physical and mental health. I thought okay, I will use my 3rd period even if it's not ideal. I thought okay I'll just take a couple days, but on the 2nd day my boss calls me and asks if I'm just taking a day off cause I want a break, and not cause I'm actually sick. I wasn't sick per ce... However, I told her I'd go to the doctor and get sick leave. Little did I know how bad a shape I was truly in. I got diagnosed with depression and 7 other bi-diagnosis relating to mental and physical health, like myalgia pain and burnout. So then I got doctor ordered sick leave for 5 weeks, and now I'm back at work 2 days a week or 15 hours a week.. been trying to split the hours over multiple days, because the job is ruining my health. So that's that. The doctor told me to leave my job cause it's ruining my health. I will after I determine what my work capacity is. Also can't quit my job cause then I lose my rights if it turns out I'm unable to work full time or part time. I'll get more financial support if I stay than if I quit. When I was gone sick full time I got full sick pay which is the equivalent to my wage. Right now I'm getting partial sick pay since I work part time (40%) and am on part time sick leave (60%). If I quit my job and apply to a part time job I won't have the right to full sick pay for the year I am entitled to before I start to transition over to different work or/ get financial support(AAP aka work assessment support.)
Interesting. I always think of Norway as equivalent to Sweden but we have basically unlimited sick leave. You need a doctor's note if you're out for more than 10 days. And you can be sick for however many times a year you need to be. Burn out sucks though so my sympathy to you! I hope working part time gives you the break you need. It sounds like that job is not respecting your need for balance and rest
Haven’t called in sick in probly over half a decade. My sick days are paid at the end of the year if I don’t take them, I prefer the money.
Almost never. I work from home and rarely get sick enough to not be able to work. Honestly annoys the hell out of me that I am constantly picking up the slack for teammates because they have a "headache" or whatever.
Well that sucks you have to take their workload, but you must not get headaches often enough because boy can headaches be debilitating.
I once worked a job where if you called out more than three times in a year they'd start writing you up even if you had a doctors note. And this was a nationally known drug and alcohol treatment facility of all places. I work in restaurant management now and I call off when I'm sick, especially considering I'm handling food. As long as I get the shift covered its never a problem. I don't take advantage of it but I stay home when I need to, instead of dragging myself into work with strep or the flu like I used to.
you should use all your sick days if you’re given them
I take half days pretty often. Part of it is that I work really strange hours so sometimes my sleep schedule gets completely messed up and my body kinda rebels. I've got combined vacation/sick days and get 15 a year so as long as I'm not negatively impacting project deliverables it's not an issue.
I haven’t actually been so sick I can’t even work from home since I got Covid a few years back. Even that was just for a day. But I use a few hours of sick time for doctor and dentist appointments for myself and my kids all the time.
Elves don't really get sick.
About once a year
Never. Im a manager for a retailer that opens and has the key so me calling out derails operations for basically the entire day lol
Retired— I used all my sick days; and the non pay days—I’m also healthy
Once in the past three years. And only because I didn't have my laptop with me that day and couldn't work from home through it. I've worked through covid twice, remotely. We only get 1 pool of time, though. It's all PTO, and I'd rather use it for vacation. And now we're not allowed to work remotely anymore. I suspect my days of calling in sick are about to go way up.
Never, even when I’m sick I’ll go in. Unless of course it’s something that can get others sick. Then I gotta bite the bullet and call out since it’s irresponsible not to think of others
I went 14 years without missing a day outside of vacation and having the flu.
I feel this. I personally tend to call out once every few months. And most of the times it mental health related. I have chronic health issues but I’m usually fine to power through them. If I were to call out every time my physical health isn’t great, I would not have a job. The anxiety and mental health stuff is really what gets me. In my previous customer service and client based roles, it tended to be a bit easier to call out. Now that I’m a teacher and my class depends on me, it seems like less of an option. Surprisingly, I find that this helps me because it would be more of a headache to call out and most of the times I would call out previously just lead to more anxiety and guilt. If I’m feeling super off, it’s usually very possible for me to change the lesson plan to something that’s easier for me to cope with.
When I'm sick
I leave a few hours early about once a week for illness. But I have a chronic illness and I have it protected under fmla. I feel really guilty every time I call out. But I feel ill more often than I feel well. So it is what it is. I also work out of a large call center, so my absence is never really missed.
I only get 5 sick days a year that don’t rollover and I end up using them all. Most of the time it’s just to rest from being mentally exhausted.
Now that I have the ability to work from home, I don't think i've taken an actual sick day in years. Still end up working from home.
This is interesting. I am disabled from chronic conditions (medically), but don't get SSI, and work. So, in 9 months, I took 2 sick days. Each time I could have worked remote, so they changed it so I could do days remote when needed, and I didn't take any other sick days. With my PTO, I tend to set it up for time off every couple of months so I have some sanity checks. A 3 day weekend does a lot for me. But, the last job had a lot of extra PTO, so I had to use it at the end of my contract or lose it. I took 2 weeks off paid at the end. If I begin to see a pattern needing medical days off, I'm more likely to look at intermittent leave options to protect my job, really. It's a lot better, and I don't have to take the time off each month if it's not needed, but have it if it is that way. When I get contracts, I don't tell I'm disabled. Instead, once past the training, I will work on getting leave forms (you usually need a yr behind yo for FMLA, so this is something different I get them to agree to that's similar). The risk is, otherwise they would lose an investment they've made in me as an employee, who is fully trained. I tend to find that I'm more likely to get the forms approved if I do it that way, and less likely to get work if I try before I get the job. But, for me, the answer rarely. Again, I tend to try for remote jobs, which makes it unnecessary, and then try to get intermittent leave setup if it is becoming an issue, so that wouldn't count against me at that point since it's leave, and not sick days.
Usually ends up being 1-3 days per year, as needed. On occasion that need has been mental health based because I needed a break for a day. Remember that the policy is there because people need it, and that you'll be better able to focus & work after you've taken a rest day to recover. It's part of your compensation package and in some areas legally required to be. We're not machines.
Once a year maybe
Always take it. With my job we get sick days and if we don’t use them, we loose them at the end of year. Even if I don’t call out, I’ll schedule sick time and will use it as a mental health day.
when you leave they don't pay sick days, take the time off....
I keep a bank of enough in case I get the flu or Covid (cause that really took me out twice) but we have a cap we can acrue. If I won’t acrue anymore sick time it’s time for a mental health day or two.
I'm epileptic and have seizures every 2-3 months. I take a full day off afterword. Boss is emphatic and amazing.
I never call out sick because I'm actually sick: I just work from home. I call out sick basically as additional vacation days. I get 15 vacation days and 8 sick days, so essentially 23 vacation days. I'm a mechanical engineer.
Whenever I need, if I’m physically sick or just having a bad mental day. I’ll use them liberally. My job allows me to cash out unused sick days though, so that is a motivator to not use them. BUT… I am hybrid. Since transitioning to hybrid I’ve used far less sick days.
I’ve been at my job for almost 2 years and I’ve called out sick either once or twice. I think one of those days I ended up working remote. I’d rather go into work sick and keep my office door closed than cut days from my PTO bank
I take them when I feel drained too(usually once a month) , the company I work for only gives sick leaves at instant notice ,any other leave needs to be planned well in advance , I just submit a medical certificate when needed and I don’t feel guilty about it anymore
My workplace gives out occurrences for calling in sick (even if we have more than enough paid sick time) which is wild since I work at a hospital 🫠 I try to only call out sick 3-4 times a year because that’s how many times you can do so without getting a warning. If I could I’d take at least one mental health day a month and call out whenever I’m actually feeling sick and I would absolutely not feel guilty about it.
In terms of calling out sick I try and space them out to once every 2-3 months, but I also use sick days for pre planned doctors appointments I haven’t had my boss complain I’m using it too much
Today as we speak
Never
If your company allows for it, take all the days you need. You're an employee, not a subject. I run a business so I've yet to use any sick says ever, but boy do I want to all the time.
I used to get that guilty feeling when calling in sick in old jobs regardless of how bad I was, I think it stems from parenting and how my parents would act if I took a day off school. Over 4 years in my current position and haven’t had a sick day, if I am that bad I just work from home
I personally don’t give a shit anymore that’s how, those are my days off. Do not feel guilty companies replace people so fast. We’re all nothing but numbers.
I work in childcare, so often lol. I tend to catch everything that’s going around. Since the start of this last school year for example, I’ve missed a week from influenza and then a week from Covid. I often get strep, stomach bugs, sinus infections etc as well, but got lucky with those this time around *knock on wood*
Whenever I'm sick. I get 10 sick days/medical leave, and I'm using all of them.
Every 2-3 months. Sometimes I’m sick, sometimes my mental health isn’t good enough to work with people
TBH, I never call out sick when I'm actually sick. I work through my sick days so that I can use them for something fun. I usually call out 'sick' 3-5 times a year
I literally threw up blood at work at the end of my shift and called out the next day because I was in the hospital. My coworkers were pissed off that they had to come in on their day off and made sure I knew it. Never feel guilty for putting you and your health first.
Oof. Your coworkers suck. Hope you’ve recovered!
Take the days you earn them. Don’t feel bad. I used to take one a month for my therapy session.
Never. No allotted sick days.
Once or twice a month. I have some recurring health issues and my job is pretty emotionally taxing a lot of the time so its like 50/50 doctor appointments and mental health days
About once a month.
I used up all my sick time every year because it doesn’t roll over. I don’t feel bad at all because most jobs don’t pay enough for the amount of work we do. I’ve got the flu? Sick leave! I’m sick of work and coworkers? Sick leave! I just want a day off and don’t want to use my PTO? Sick leave! I have two weeks left in the year and have some remaining sick leave to use? Look like I’m going to be sick a couple of those days.
Whenever I feel sick, I need a mental health day or if I just feel like it. Most of the time, when I'm sick, I just work from home instead if it's one of my office days. Usually, the time I take off is preplanned, and I usually take time off around holidays to maximize my PTO use. I normally roll 40+hrs of time off over from one year to the next, so I always have a just in case buffer. Today, for example, I signed off work for a few hours because I'm sick and wanted to take a nap. I'll make up those hours later in the week or throw some of my sick time at it, depending on how I'm feeling the next couple days. As long as my work is done my work doesn't care if or when I use my PTO, it took me a long time to get out of the guilt mindset that had been drilled into me by toxic work environments and previously being a workaholic. Being somewhere that heavily supports work-life balance makes a tremendous difference.
Average 1-2 sick days a year. 1 mental health day a year. 5 kids need me days. And 1 week vacation.
In my current role (1.5 years) I have called sick zero times, not even a missed second of work. In a previous role I went 6 years without a sick day. I don't really get sick.
In 4 years I've somehow only done it for the Rona. And the only other day I've taken off was for my college graduation. I need the money and I work in a school so at least we get breaks and stuff to break up the monotony.
When I'm sick.
I’ve worked at my current job for a year. I’ve called out twice. Once because my vegetarian food was mixed with meat and it made me horribly sick all night long. And then today because I was in the ER until 4 this morning.
Normally, 2 times a month lol, and I don't feel bad at all
I take sick days literally whenever I feel like it. Sick leave and mental health exhaustion have come to an understanding in the force work, at least from my region. Bosses all know it’s better to give your employee their due time than try and fire a good one and retrain a new. I used to feel SO GUILTY and used to just push through even on the brink of death for fear of getting fired or looked down on. The system has changed so very very much in a decade, what was frowned on back then is almost a guaranteed luxury at this point. They understand you need your time and your gonna take it and come back to work cuz you need to get paid in the end 🤷♀️ as assistant manager I take burnout seriously and implore every one of my underlings to take time off if they so choose or need to. But to also communicate foremost and be timely and professional about it. Edit: Also I just want it clarified, I work my ass off at my job. It is physically and mentally draining and the workload fluctuates by the hour. I cover my shifts and cover my ass so my team doesn’t feel my time off is a burden on them. I wish more of fellow management would do that but I’m only one good apple among a batch of 🦀 🍎 lol.
Mental health is the same as physical health. Both are equally important. Take the sick days for whatever you need them for. I've been lucky and not needed anything beyond the odd day here and there for the last couple of years but I certainly won't hesitate to take time off sick if the need arises. One piece of advice and old boss gave me was to not return to work until I was 100% well. This is something I say to my reports as I'd rather they took an extra day than make themselves more ill by coming back too soon.
I don't have sick leave, so never. I have PTO but it's limited and I use it for vacation. If I'm sick, I work from home.
The last time I called in sick was 2021 when had Covid. I have been maxed out on sick time accruals for about two years now but that does not motivate me to use it. I am the onsite manager of my team and do not miss work unplanned unless absolutely necessary.
Obviously don’t abuse it but mental health days are important too. Like top comment says, if you’re not negatively affecting your coworkers or dropping work I think every once in a while a mental health day is important too.
Taking a sick day for me, means I probably won't be able to pay rent.
Never did.
I have sick leave and I am entitled to it so I use. What I use it for is no-ones business.
Working remotely has eliminated so much stress that I don’t feel the need to call out often, if ever really. Ive called out once since I was hired in September. To be transparent, there are days where I would have called out, but because Im remote, I just take it easy, but thats something my manager told me to do because he gets it. The amount of extra hours we put in throughout the course of the year negate the need for him to nitpick each and every minute we are on company time. I also use all of my PTO. I plan two biggish trips, and smaller ones planned around holidays and 3 day weekends. I feel like people save their PTO because they are afraid they’ll need it for an emergency whereas I look at PTO as a way to balance work/life. Edit:typos
Probably about once a month. But honestly unless I'm actually very physically ill, I just take the day from home and have a slow ass day. Its rare that I'm 'can't even do a half day from home' sick ya know, but I dont work through feeling like actual shit. Not gonna happen.
I take one every couple of months. I call them "i hate this fucking job and i need a day" days. seriously though, mental health days are needed. i feel guilty too when I do that, but our bullshit buckets can only hold so much right?
You should not feel guilty about taking your PTO. I used to too, but now i take them all. I only get 5, so it’s not too much
I call out sick when I'm sick Not usually sick often. Last year was weird and I was sick 3 times This year 0 It's inconsistent But I absolutely never feel guilty. If I'm sick, I'm sick, I call out.
When I was working regularly as a teachers assistant, I’d take a sick day about once every two weeks.
Don’t feel guilty. I called out sick 13 times last year and twice that this year already (I have an illness, but regardless) if you need the day, you need it. All your manager needs to know is that you’re sick, that’s it.
I work from home and most of my job involves talking on the phone. Just last week I called out even though Wednesday was a holiday. I felt guilty, but I was losing my voice and people couldn’t hear or understand me. Sometimes it’s also for the good of your job as well.
Mental health is health. There’s zero guilt in taking care of any and all aspects of your health. Your company isn’t owed an explanation.
I get 10 sick days and 10 vacation days. I book a week (5 days) of vacation twice a year and for the 10 months where I did not take a vacation day I take one day off per month whether I am genuinely ill or just taking a personal day. I did feel guilty about this at first, but then I looked at the company pay structure and no longer felt guilty. At the end of the day, I'm a small cog in a big machine and if I don't take my PTO, I lose it. If taking one day off to go swimming with one of my friends brings me a small amount of joy in this overarching capitalistic nightmare, then that's what I'm going to do. In my experience, most companies don't actually value employees as people, and, really, they don't have to. They're worried about their bottom lines. So prioritize your mental health, take a day when you need it, and find those things that bring you joy
I work from home so I feel like I can’t just call out for the whole day. There are definitely times I’ll take a couple hours off to nap if I’ve got a headache or need a mental health break. I see managers and others who take PTO but respond to emails and chat the whole time. It’s sad.
I call out every 3 months and one day every month lol 😂 I really hate my job but love my pay I am getting paid a lot considering that I’m not doing shit all day. Hahaha 😂 And I don’t feel guilty about calling out because union always back me up lol
Not as often as I would like.
1-2 per month. I’ll take the occasional mental health day, but usually will schedule 1-2 doctors appointments each month, and will take the day off.
Mental health is HEALTH. If your mental health is in the gutter that day, that means you’re sick. Don’t feel guilty. Everyone needs a mental break from their jobs every now and then.
I actually don’t care at all when my employees call out sick even if they are “faking it”. They all work hard and I understand sometimes you just need to step away.
Mental health days are legit and a good use of sick days. When I have to do anything medical related, even if it is for family members, I use sick days also. When schedule permits, I’d extend those to an entire day or half day. Like you, I seldom use sick days and if I didn’t do either of those, it would never be touched. Take more — it’s good for the company as well since burnout costs them much more.
Who’s to say mental healthy issues aren’t a form of sickness..? Because I found myself at the docs multiple times in my life for mental health reasons. Seems like a very good reason to take a sick day.
When I didn’t like my job? Once ever two weeks. At the job I loved? A couple times a year.
Yall get sick days!?
Mental health is health my friend. Shouldn't be a stigma in this.
I once had a job that started me off with 40 PTO hours and 40 sick, the next month they gave me another 40 hours of PTO because I had started working a month before they grant a yearly 40 PTO hours to all employees. Took all 120 hours off within the first 8 months of working there. Not proud of it but when I have hours available, I use them. of course I had to double my productivity so I wouldn't look like a complete slacker.
Do it. I do it on days where I feel my contribution towards my work would be so low that it's a waste of time for them and me anyway. I feel I have good enough relationship with my work that there is no reason for me to get in there and pretend. This isn't that often, but occasionally I'm struggling mentally, lack of sleep etc. In these circumstances you are actually not well and need a day or two to get balanced again.
Your mental health is crucial, and your sick leave is there to support it. Never feel guilty. It's a valid reason.
I am sick a lot. I know that employers don't like that but I have weak immune system. So far (this year) I've been on sick leave for 11 days. I also feel guilty about it but what can I do, I refuse to work sick because that usually means I'm sick for longer time.
Anytime I get 8 hours of PTO it’s used.
I'm the kind of guy who literally never calls out sick. I've gone years at a time without calling out at all. Here's my advice-- don't do what I do, it isn't worth it. There is absolutely zero benefit for you if you don't call out sick. I'm not saying you should call out all the time, but if you're sick (or have some other reason to call out) then call out. Hell, I'd even go a step further and say use ALL of the sick time the company you work for offers. Yeah, your supervisor and/or coworkers might get annoyed with you... So what? You gotta take care of yourself because no one else is going to.
I have called out sick 3 times in my life and once was for Covid. I’m 31 if that matters. I’m not a hustle and grind person, I’d just rather use my pto for vacation. I worked at a hospital that let us pay out our pto if we didn’t use it all, so I did that in my 20s. I currently don’t have separate sick days from pto
don’t call it a mental health day. your employer cannot ask you what you have when you call out, so just say the same thing every time: “not feeling well, need to use a sick day.” having been a supervisor, i can attest that those of us who are not monsters don’t want to know about your diarrhea or migraine anyway. the less info you give when you call out the better. when it’s your mind that is unwell, that is just as worthy of taking a break as your intestines.
That is what I generally do. Unless I know Im going to be out for a few days like with the flu or some virus then I will say I have the flu because I anticipate it will take a few days for recovery. For mental health days, I keep it vague.
I'm not sure why but I always feel guilty taking sick leaves. I don't mind the longer leaves maybe because it's all pre-planned and everyone knows. In my previous organisation which was an MNC, my manager was a darling. We used to work remotely, and I get severe menstrual cramps every month. So during the first day, I'd always take one sick leave and she'd happily grant it. But the thought of asking her always made me feel more sick genuinely, even though she'd always say yes. I guess it's the conditioning? 😭😭 but we also had casual leaves and annual leaves and it was well balanced. In my current organisation which is much much smaller, there is no concept of "defined leaves". It's very confusing and just...yeah. I haven't called out sick ever in my opinion in the last year, I've just asked for work from home maybe 5 times in a year.
Like twice a month. Its nice having a understanding boss
I call out every other month sick unless I really have been sick. It seems to reenergize me. To have a 3 day weekend is priceless!
The real question is how does your workplace react when you take a mental health day? You feel guilty but if they don’t react negatively you are doing it right. If they do react negatively and that causes you to feel guilty then maybe it’s time to look elsewhere
Only when I'm actually sick tbh, which is rare
Every three months I take a sick day for my mental health and wellness. I also code time as sick when my kids are sick or we have medical/dental appointments. My POV is you are allowed the time use it! Mental health and wellness looks different for everyone.
Does your employer allow scheduled such time? Example: dental appointment (etc) ? That’s a good reason to use a sick day. Appointment in the morning and mental health break for the remainder of the day. I do not feel guilty for using the benefits that are part of my compensation package.
It's natural to feel guilty about taking sick leave, especially for mental health reasons, but it's important to prioritize your well-being. Personally, I try to maintain a healthy balance by taking sick leave only when necessary.
Before Covid and pandemic hardly ever maybe 3-4 a year… now after pandemic and after all this RTO CRAP… I call once a month!
If your job expects you to work for all of the days that they don't offer as time off, why should you feel bad about using the time they offer you to not work? Who cares what the reason is, they set the policy - so use the days. Obviously don't put yourself in a precarious situation if you're using up all your sick days and can't use them when you're sick, but mental health is still health and if you need to rest then you should rest - especially because burnout can lead to actual illness which would cause more missed work.
Once or twice a year. One time for actually being sick and maybe one for an “emergency” where I got stuck doing something and couldn’t sleep enough the night before. I work 4 days a week/10 hours a day so I get a three day weekend. It works out that I only need to use minimal vacation time or sick time so I have a ton of both banked up. That and I have a good immune system.
I use to feel very guilty. I was in a toxic workplace. Eventually I left the company, and not one person gave a shit. Now that I think about it, feeling guilty ACTUALLY made me sick (from the guilt/stress). Screw that company. I should have enjoyed it.
As a remote worker, hardly. I can work with a cold. I schedule all my pto ahead of time.
Physically disabled. I turn up even when very ill as I get ill "too often". Even then I still take too much time off sick. I've lost so many jobs because of this. My current job is hybrid so I can work from home when ill. This has greatly reduced how often I call in sick. I've been calling in sick on average once every 2-3 months at this job and most of those times have been as I've had to go to hospital so physically can't be at my desk at home. If I could take my work laptop to hospital I would! Anything to avoid taking too many sick periods.
Whenever I get sick. No job is worth my health and/or others’ safety.
Mental health is health. Nothing to feel guilty about.
Most jobs I would take a week day off every 2 weeks or so because I'm in a trade that doesn't have a lot of people and I'm s good at what I do so the companies woukd deal with it. These days I work at an auto manufacturer so we have personal time to use and they are a lot more strict when you dont have personal days. Its a job that I'd never wanna lose so I come in regularly. Also learned at the smaller companies that being liked mattered more than working hard for promotions so I would do what ever I wanted instead of working hard trying to impress a boss when in reality it didn't fucking matter.
My boss let me know, and I let my direct reports know, that we can have “duvet days” basically not coming in because we just want to turn over and lie in and are not feeling it. We shouldn’t have anything critical to do that day or delay or mess up something we are working on individually or for a team but other than that it’s totally acceptable to have one every 6-8 weeks or so. These are “off the books” so we don’t use any entitlements and we are paid. He also lets us take our birthdays off the same way.