๐ด *cough* Taking Sick Days Makes You a Better Employee *cough*
There seems to be two types of women in the workplace: ones who feel bad about taking time off and ones who donโt. Guess which one is the more efficient employee and has a gorgeous new hair cut? Itโs the one who took time off to treat herself.
Ask Your Work Wife is here to get you guilt-free in that salon seat or DMV line or beach chair or wherever you want to be thatโs not your desk. New episodes drop Wednesdays on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
In today's email:
Read: Why your manager wants you to take a day off
Listen: Your sick days are *yours*. Take them.
Join the convo: Some video doesn't require an entire hair and makeup team.... until it does ๐
Get what you want: Ask Your Work Wife has entered the video chat ๐
READ
Why Your Manager Wants You to Take a Day Off
โ FACT: sick days are given to employees as a benefit and are not earned.
โ FACT: theyโre called "sick days", but you can do whatever the hell you want.
โ FALSE: The best workers never take sick days. This can actually lead to presenteeism, which is when you're technically at your job, but youโre incapable of doing your job well because of burnout or distraction. This costs the US economy a cool $180 billion annually in lost productivity.
โ FALSE: Sick days can only be used if youโre being rushed to the emergency room.
๐ง Out sick today? Or just playing hooky? Either way, we donโt care. We have everything you missed in Episode 62 | Sick Days, Sad Days, Salon Days, Oh My! right here for you to catch up while lying in bed or on the waxing table. Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
โIโll Just Save Them Up!โ
Wellโฆ your company might expire accrued sick days at the end of the year to force you to use them. They want you to take a break! Even the usually-harsh free market understands everyone NEEDS time for themselves.
And they canโt fire you for taking time off even if it might feel like youโre โslacking.โ Who could focus on their job when they have to look for an apartment? Or shop for a bridesmaid dress? Or get a wax before the weekend beach trip?
Get your house in order and come back when youโre whole.
โVanessa
How to Tactfully Take a Day
Donโt worry about justifying or defending your day off. Itโs yours and you can do whatever your hardworking heart desires.
If youโre close to the team, make it water cooler talk (or more likely the casual video call), but only if you want to tell them.
In the unfortunate case youโre actually too sick to work, a last-minute notice is understandable and falls within your benefit of sick days.
Itโs hard to give notice, but saying something as simple as โIโm taking the dayโ will do the trick. Remember, itโs YOUR day.
One Major Exception...
Bereavement leave is a unique form of time off because they're unplanned and usually much longer than normal leaves of absence. Some employees take more than a month to log back on, and thatโs totally understandable.
There are different laws about bereavement leave depending on the state youโre employed in, so double check with HR to know how much bereavement leave youโre allotted.
Still Don't Believe Us?
If all these amazing points didnโt grab you, then think of sick days as free money. For example, if you have 100 hours saved up, and you get paid $20/hour, thatโs $2,000 youโre leaving on the table. That makes us so mad we want to flip the table.
Grab that cash, close your laptop and go have a great day off!
LISTEN
Your sick days are *yours*. Take them.
JOIN THE CONVO
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