Sick-day guilt: How to take time off without overexplaining

We know that this can be a time where some people start getting sick. We know we have flu season coming up, we have lots of different viruses out there, lots of different bacterias that can get you sick, and calling out sick can sometimes come with a side of guilt, especially when you know someone's going to have to pick up the slack when you call out. So workplace culture expert and author Natalie Johnson joins us now live with how basically to take that time you need without essentially worrying about the ramifications. Natalie, so I'm so glad you're here. Thank you so much for having me. And obviously this can be hard for some folks. A lot of people get sick days depending on the company they work at, but some people don't want to take that sick time. Why is it so important to take it if you actually need it? Well, it's really important to take it if you actually need it because the obvious thing is if we're sick and we feel either physically or mentally or emotionally not our best, we're not going to show up. We're not going to provide our best work, and we're certainly not going to be connecting with our teammates in the same way. We'll also sometimes be even contagious. And so sick days are often offered as a benefit, and it's a perk to have at work. But what we see in real life on a lot of teams and cultures is that you get this amazing benefit, take the time off. When you're sick, we need you to fully recover and come back, but the actual culture sends a different message. And so that culture sometimes can make people feel guilty. Why do so many people feel guilty even though it's essentially a benefit that a lot of places offer? Well, there's a couple things. There's the first thing, which is what we call FOMO. So people are afraid of what they're going to miss out on, and they're also a little bit afraid of if I'm not there, think about all the work that's going to pile up when I'm gone. And so that's the first part of it. But the other part is a lot of leaders and colleagues are not paying a lot of attention to how they respond to when someone calls in sick. And so something as simple as, I'm sick, I need to stay home, and then the response being, well, can you just jump on that one Zoom call at two o'clock today? Can you do it from home? Can you do it from bed? Where they're prioritizing the work over the person. And so the policy says one thing, it's a perk, it's a benefit, we appreciate you, we want you to take the time off. But yet in real life, the culture is saying, yeah, we're not so sure. And so there's a bit of a conflict there. So one part is the FOMO, of missing out and getting behind. And the other part is the culture at work sometimes makes people feel a little shameful about taking the time off. And so what should you actually say to your boss and how much information do you really need to actually provide? In all honesty, you don't have to give a lot of information. The policy is out there, you're given the sick day time, all you need to do is be really direct and candid. I'm not feeling well today, I don't think I can bring my full potential to work, I'm taking a day off, and I'll be back tomorrow. It's simple, it's straightforward, and you know, you don't necessarily need to give details around what's wrong with you or why you're using the sick day that's been given to you. Well, and so with remote work, I have friends who get to work from home, and they have told me all the time that they just basically, if they're sick, they just will work anyway because they're already at home, so it doesn't really matter much. Has that really kind of changed as we've started to see more of that remote working, and why is that a problem? I think this is really one of the main reasons why we have this sick day guilt, sick day shame. It's because we've learned that we can work really effectively from home. But the truth of the matter is, we don't work really effectively when we're sick, whether we're at home or we're at work, it's more of a convenience thing. And so if we can set up appropriate systems and processes at work where if you have to miss a day because you're sick, because your kid is sick, even if you work remotely, you should feel really comfortable in being able to step away and fully recover. It really becomes problematic when people try to power through and just work from bed because they're really not their full and their best self, and it builds up resentment with people not being able to take that time off if they feel guilty. And finally, before we let you go, what's one thing managers can do to be able to make it a more positive experience when someone calls out to make people feel more comfortable about taking the sick time? Such a good question. So there's two things. The first thing is when employers or teams are offering paid time off for six days, they need to get a little bit deeper beyond just offering the time. There needs to be conversations and what I like to call is intentional culture around when someone has to make work miss work because they're sick, their kid is sick, their dog is sick. We need to make sure that we have appropriate coverage and processes and systems in place so people don't feel bad about taking a step away. And the second thing that we can do is when someone says they're sick, we believe them and we tell them and encourage them to take the time and we as leaders and colleagues, we demonstrate doing the same. Natalie Johnson, I appreciate your time this afternoon to talk about this and thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me.