I’d never heard of this. The company nor the concept. I work in America in the corporate world for a giant company that’s been around since the 1800’s, for perspective. That’s staying anonymous as I don’t want to be detected.
I had to call in sick this morning. It’s been a rough start to the year health-wise, and this is my third sickness with a cold, cough, or bronchitis since its beginning, which is not usual for me. I’ve been sick for a week, working every day and only excruciatingly slowly getting better. Today I woke up and knew I needed to just rest. I have a cough that won’t go away, with slight chills and occasional low grade fever.
Unfortunately, this has been my 8th sick day this year. I had bronchitis last month and tried working through it but had to miss 5 sporadic days to rest up, I had a doctor’s note and all, but my company doesn’t take them for employee privacy reasons, they just go by your word, which is nice. Prior to that, in January, I had my first cold of the year for a week and took two non-consecutive days off to recover.
I started with this company in the middle of last year and didn’t have any sick days in 2021, but I know this looks bad for 2022. It shouldn’t have to. We shouldn’t live in a world where you’re scared to be sick, or where you’re expected to work through all of your sickness. My boss agrees, stating that 4 allotted sick days a year is not enough, but as a manager in the corporate world, she has no say.
Now I’m worried for my position. Is there anyone with words of advice for my situation?
I hate being the one person on a small team that has been missing work, I know how frustrating it is being on their end. I have been, and plan to continue to be, flexible for when they need me to cover for them, I’m trying to even the balance somewhat. Because though I do not care about the corporation past being an honest and good employee, I do care about my teammates. They’ve been so good to me.