4 ms·

Please stay home if you're sick. The productivity loss due to you not coming in < the productivity loss due to you coming in and infecting your coworkers.

astrodust 10y ago
This is how it should be, but with some employers aggressively punishing people for being sick (e.g. docking pay, forcing make-up time, outright firing people for "poor performance") there's no incentive for people to look out for anyone else. Instead come in, muddle along, and infect everyone.
zeveb 10y ago
If my employer won't give me sick days, I'm not going to burn vacation unless I really, really don't feel like coming in.
- hkmurakami 10y ago
  Yup, employers often fail to see how they are incentivizing contagion in their offices by having the sick day policies they do.
detaro 10y ago
Productivity loss is a bad angle to argue this. Why should an individual worker put productivity of the company first if the company will penalize him for doing so?
- eli 10y ago
  Because in this case it aligns with their interests of not having to work while sick.
  - detaro 10y ago
    That's IMHO not a reason to value the argument of improved productivity any higher. I'm not saying that you shouldn't consider staying home, or that you shouldn't consider your coworkers health while making the decision. If company productivity is critical to you (keep company afloat) it's in your interest to value it highly as well, if not it is one of the weakest arguments.
BeetleB 10y ago
>Please stay home if you're sick. The productivity loss due to you not coming in < the productivity loss due to you coming in and infecting your coworkers. If my being sick is a problem with my employer, I am more than happy to let him reduce the productivity of his employees.
adrr 10y ago
Food service employees don't usually get sick days and sick days aren't required by law. Imagine how many people they infect.
jlarocco 10y ago
It's not right right to put that responsibility on individual employees. It's the employer's responsibility to maximize productivity across their work force. If they want to reduce infection to maximize productivity then it's their responsibility to make sure employees have enough sick time. If management doesn't care enough to have a reasonable policy, why should individual employees care about overall productivity?
switch007 10y ago
My company /says/ they don't want people coming in ill, but policies state you must get a doctor's note for even 1 day's absence (doctor's really don't like you wasting their time) and the HR portal shows you a score relating to your time off. Also, managers love coming in all to show how dedicated they are! Joy.

astrodust 10y ago

This is how it should be, but with some employers aggressively punishing people for being sick (e.g. docking pay, forcing make-up time, outright firing people for "poor performance") there's no incentive for people to look out for anyone else. Instead come in, muddle along, and infect everyone.

zeveb 10y ago

If my employer won't give me sick days, I'm not going to burn vacation unless I really, really don't feel like coming in.

hkmurakami 10y ago
Yup, employers often fail to see how they are incentivizing contagion in their offices by having the sick day policies they do.

detaro 10y ago

Productivity loss is a bad angle to argue this. Why should an individual worker put productivity of the company first if the company will penalize him for doing so?

eli 10y ago
Because in this case it aligns with their interests of not having to work while sick.
- detaro 10y ago
  That's IMHO not a reason to value the argument of improved productivity any higher. I'm not saying that you shouldn't consider staying home, or that you shouldn't consider your coworkers health while making the decision. If company productivity is critical to you (keep company afloat) it's in your interest to value it highly as well, if not it is one of the weakest arguments.

BeetleB 10y ago

>Please stay home if you're sick. The productivity loss due to you not coming in < the productivity loss due to you coming in and infecting your coworkers. If my being sick is a problem with my employer, I am more than happy to let him reduce the productivity of his employees.

adrr 10y ago

Food service employees don't usually get sick days and sick days aren't required by law. Imagine how many people they infect.

jlarocco 10y ago

It's not right right to put that responsibility on individual employees. It's the employer's responsibility to maximize productivity across their work force. If they want to reduce infection to maximize productivity then it's their responsibility to make sure employees have enough sick time. If management doesn't care enough to have a reasonable policy, why should individual employees care about overall productivity?

switch007 10y ago

My company /says/ they don't want people coming in ill, but policies state you must get a doctor's note for even 1 day's absence (doctor's really don't like you wasting their time) and the HR portal shows you a score relating to your time off. Also, managers love coming in all to show how dedicated they are! Joy.