Dealing with illness in the workplace

Many things fall into the category of unacceptable workplace behaviour, but since Covid-19 arrived the simple acts of coughing and sneezing may as well be added to the list. Turning up for work while sick is no longer seen as dedicated or heroic, but rather foolish, thoughtless and even reckless.

So how will the office of the future deal with staff who will still regularly come down with colds, flus and other bugs, as well as Covid-19? Have attitudes towards illness changed forever and how does that impact businesses who are left short-staffed as a result?

Jenny Martin, senior associate in William Fry’s employment and benefits department, says there is no doubt that attitudes to illness in the workplace have changed since the pandemic.

“Pre-pandemic, there was a general onus, albeit unspoken or subconsciously held, on employees to struggle through work when unwell and generally, a higher tolerance of working while unwell,” Martin says. “Now, there is a general intolerance of people coming into the workplace when they are unwell and a growing inclination to err on the side of staying home when symptomatic.”

Martin notes that some of the law firm’s clients are feeling a “weight of expectation” to actively manage relatively low-level, viral illnesses in the workplace because of heightened anxieties and fears. “Prior to the pandemic, employers — and colleagues — would have largely ignored those illnesses,” she admits.

Unsurprisingly, employee absences due to illness and/or recommended self-isolation have impacted productivity and output over the past number of months across the board. “We are aware, through client engagement and published data, of a striking reduction in the number of sick-leave days in 2020 when it was mandatory to work from home,” Martin says, noting that this suggests people may be less inclined to call in sick when working from home is an option. “To maximise attendance at work, therefore, it seems clear to me that any employer whose business permits remote working, should introduce a flexible, hybrid-working policy.”

AIB, which employs almost 9,000 people, is one workplace that is maintaining a more flexible, hybrid working model that equips the majority of its staff to work from the office or remotely. According to AIB’s chief people officer, Geraldine Casey, during the pandemic the bank was “acutely aware of sustaining employee wellbeing during what was a very turbulent period for everyone”.

“From the outset, we made a major effort to provide appropriate resources and regular communication to reinforce our commitment to adhering to the public health guidelines. Our well-established and progressive sick-leave policies meant that staff did not feel pressured into coming to work,” Casey says.

“At AIB our people are without doubt our most important asset, and we take our duty of care to them very seriously. We have robust, well-established and progressive policies in place to support staff wellbeing during times of illness, and these have not changed since the onset of the pandemic.”

According to Casey, the flexibility of blended working is driving a reduction in the instances of non-Covid related illnesses, where people have been logging on from home when they feel well enough to do so. This doesn’t mean, however, that employees are encouraged — or persuaded — to work even when feeling unwell.

“The wellbeing of our people is at the forefront of our strategy, and we always encourage staff to take the time they need to recover fully from illness,” she says. “We have also implemented a number of work-life balance guiding principles to enable us to cultivate a respectful culture that supports people achieving a sustainable work-life balance as we navigate the new ways of working.”

Not all employers are so supportive, nor can all workplaces take up the slack if there is persistent absenteeism due to illness. Martin notes that legally, if someone is medically certified unfit to work, their employer should not allow them to work, whether from home or on-site. “Compliance with an employer’s obligations under workplace health and safety legislation dictates this. Employers also have a general duty of care towards employees,” she says.

There is also no legal basis to compel an employee to work from home if sick. “Whilst there is nothing to specifically prohibit an employer from asking an employee who appears unwell to work from home, taking such a measure should be exercised with caution and taking data privacy laws and employment equality legislation into account,” Martin says. “The introduction of statutory sick pay may encourage employees to take sick leave where they might not have done so in the past for fear of losing pay.”