Companies may have already begun to forget lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. A new survey of office managers shows an alarming lack of concern about employee access to sick leave.
“Twenty percent of managers said they’ve encouraged workers who weren’t feeling well to still come into the office — 20%! That blew my mind,” said Julia Toothacre, career strategist at ResumeBuilder, which surveyed more than 1,000 managers about sick leave attitudes.
The survey also found one in four managers think employees who report to them abuse sick days by exaggerating or lying about their condition. That is called “sick shaming.”
“A lot of managers felt like employees were exaggerating their sick time. That is not for them to judge. If someone is sick, they are sick. But it is also when you minimize someone’s illness. When you assume that they can still show up and do their job or have the capacity to do that, and essentially force them. Because if you start questioning them, then they think they have to do this,” Toothacre said.
A third of managers surveyed said they often ask for medical documentation as proof of illness for workers who request a sick day. It’s not illegal to require a doctor’s note, but it’s illegal discrimination to use a medical diagnosis against an employee.
Another post-COVID twist to sick leave requests can increase resentment among employees who have had to give up remote or hybrid work options to return to the office. Many managers now see working off-site as an alternative to letting an employee take a sick day.
“‘Well, you are sick but you can work from home.’ Because there are certain positions that have the ability to work from home and they’ve done it, that may be what managers recommend. It is like ‘How sick are you?’ ‘Can you do your job from home?’ Really, you’re not even supposed to ask that,” Toothacre said.
Many managers said they do not believe it is always reasonable to take a day off for personal health, mental health or family emergencies.
ResumeBuilder’s survey found managers floundering on sick leave guidelines, with 65% saying more clear leave policies are definitely or probably needed in their workplace.
Check out ResumeBuilder’s full survey results and methodology online.
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