Just 53% of Canadian workers with severe symptoms call in sick: poll

Just 53 per cent of Canadians will take a sick day if their symptoms are severe, a poll by Monster Canada has found.

The finding, of course, suggests almost half of employees will still make the trek to the office, sneezing and hacking the whole way.

Productivity declines while employees are sick, says Arturo Gallo, content manager for Monster Canada in Montreal. “You might not read emails correctly, you may respond aggressively without even noticing because you’re coming down with something. Of course, your productivity is not at your best. So why jeopardize your own career by going into work when you’re not feeling well?”

Plus, sick employees can pass their colds to their colleagues, and one person at home for a day is better than a whole team being off for a week.

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Employers can encourage staff to stay home when they’re under the weather by offering sick days and the option to work from home, Gallo notes.

“The best thing is to find common ground between employees and employers,” he says. “If you want loyalty back, you have to build trust. If your employee [says] he’s sick and he’s taking a day off, I don’t think we should penalize them. It’s a right to rest and to get better and to become more productive. . . . If [employees] can make up for the time [they] were off, [they] should do it, instead of getting penalized.”

To build trust with employees, Gallo recommends scrapping any requirements for a doctor’s note, unless a suspicious pattern, like multiple Mondays off, pops up. “If it’s a random sick day, you might as well open this door to trust, and your employees will be loyal enough to come back and work more productively,” he says.