Although I've never seen stats to support this claim, it's said that self-employed people take fewer sick days than people who work for an employer and receive paid sick days as a benefit. Having been self-employed for more than two decades, I don't need stats to know this has been true for me. After all, if we who are self-employed aren't working, we're not getting paid (unless we're able to structure our businesses to allow for a certain number of sick days per year).
I don't know if the claim that self-employed people take fewer sick days means that self-employed people are ill less often or that people with sick day benefits milk the system. In any case, an article in The New York Times about people coming in to work when they're sick got me wondering whether the opposite is the case—that is, whether sick people who should be taking days off are just coming in to work anyway.
I can relate. When I was an IT manager, I hated to call in sick, as if the very admission of being in less than optimal health was a sign of weakness. Fortunately, I rarely got sick, but the once a year I got a bad cold, I'd stagger in to work for at least half the day, then go home. That way, I'd have to call in sick for only another day or two. Still, there are ways to know if you're really too sick and should stay home, such as having a contagious illness, working with the public, or needing medication that makes you woozy. In a flu season that's as bad as this one has been, these are nontrivial issues.
The reality is that if you're sick, you'll be less productive than usual. Furthermore, the very act of dragging yourself in to work (unless you're one of the lucky ones who can work from home) probably means it will take you longer to recover.
If you really have to be at work despite an illness, there are some things you can do for yourself (and those around you), such as trying to find medication that doesn’t impair you, hydrating well, getting as much sleep as you can, and skipping meetings that you don't absolutely have to attend or postponing those that can wait. And of course, wash your hands—for your own sake and everyone else's.
What about when you're tempted to call in sick so you can take a day or two to recharge? In an ideal world, everyone would get a certain number of paid mental health days. In the meantime, if you're going to take the day off when you're not really sick, don't be too creative about the reason you give when you call in. All the good excuses are already taken.
