Striking the Right Balance…Too sick for the office but fit for Remote Work
Balancing Individual Needs and Company Expectations
"It's a really interesting question, and I am drawn both ways on it. I think it happens a lot, although most organizations haven't seen a decrease in absence rates since pre-Covid times, so it's not necessarily showing the data results we would expect.
There are, of course, occasions where someone genuinely isn't well enough to travel but could do some work at home. I think it's 'probably' best to leave that decision down to the individual and then pick up on people who appear to be abusing the system as individual cases rather than make rules for all that are aimed at 10% of your workforce but penalize the 90%.
But you also need to be sure that if people are WFH, they are working and not just doing 10 minutes of emails and then retiring back to the sick bed for the rest of the day. So some clear guidance, perhaps on what being well enough to WFH means, would be helpful."
Simplifying the Approach
"The simplest solution is to say 'you're either off sick or well enough to work.' This approach worked very well before the advent of working from home. Alternatively, you could consider recording sickness absence in hours instead of half-days/days, but this has the potential to become quite onerous in terms of admin and relies on a good deal of trust that employees are working at home when they say they are (it will always be the few that spoil it for the many).
A few other important points: it shouldn't become the norm that employees feel they should WFH if they are genuinely unwell; those who aren't able to work from home are at a disadvantage in terms of accruing sick days, and lastly, working from home when unwell may result in sickness absence data being worthless."
Trusting Your Employees
"Do you trust your employees? If not, why do they still work for you? If so, why are you so keen to police their decisions?
We're heading into Covid season, and my team has already been hit with the virus bat. I am positively enthusiastic about people staying at home if they don't actually need to be in the office as it keeps people working and available, whilst having people actually off sick (as some of my team are) is a total headache.
Fundamentally, if someone takes a day sick, you lose all the benefit of their employment. 100%. They contribute nothing of value to the working day. If, on the other hand, they work remotely, even at a sub-par level because they're under the weather, you might get 80%, 50%, or even only 30% of their normal value from the working day, but you do get value. Meetings are met. Emails are sent. Calls are answered.
If you think someone just doesn't want to come into the office, you should rather be asking 'why not?' Is there someone they're avoiding? Is getting to the office incredibly inconvenient for them? Is some other model of working going to suit them better and still obtain the value of the labor that you need from them?"
Individual Needs and Line Management
"So in my sector, we have a 48-hour exclusion period after sickness, which meant we had a lot of staff off recently. It would definitely have been shooting ourselves in the foot to a) make them come in (as it's clear we managed to contain the outbreak quickly by being firm on the exclusion period) or b) not allow them to work from home when they could. The balance is to put the individual first (are they well enough to work at all, or is it in their best interest to actually sleep) and the contribution to workload second (what's reasonable to expect), without dissuading them from doing what they can. This is absolutely where good line management and communication are essential, rather than a blanket policy or formula."
In today's dynamic work environment, the challenge lies in balancing the individual's well-being with the organization's productivity. Finding that equilibrium can be complex, but as these comments suggest, a nuanced approach that takes into account individual circumstances, clear guidelines, and a trust-based culture can help address the question of whether someone is too unwell for the office but fit enough for remote work. Ultimately, the goal is to ensure that both employees and employers benefit, even in the face of illness or unexpected circumstances.