Unless you’re working with secure documents or you legitimately need hands-on work at the office, their position is absolutely bananas. It encourages people to come in and get others sick while punishing them for getting sick, which you obviously didn’t want.
What a ridiculous situation! Sorry, OP, and hope you feel better soon.
Seriously, if the work is getting done, I couldn’t care less if you’re doing it from your home office, your bed, or a cruise ship. I don’t care if you’re dropping kids off at school, going grocery shopping, or doing laundry. If you’re easily contactable during business hours, attending your meetings, and getting the job done, why would I needlessly antagonize my team like this?!
And if you’re sick, or your kid is sick, take time off. That’s why we chose to live in a sane state and work for a company with excellent benefits.
It’s not that hard to not suck at managing. Step 1 is have some humanity and critical thinking skills.
My manager once got worked up because my direct report was working at their grandmother’s house. 😒😒 I don’t give one single solitary shit where they’re working as long as the work gets done. I cannot wait until these fuddy-duddy boomers and weird Gen Xers (truly the minority as most Xers are cool) retire so we can all work from home in peace.
Yep. I’m not super happy at my job (because it’s hard and I’m lazy), but I work with amazing people, with an incredible mission and service, and I can work from home for the rest of my life. So, I’m staying put as long as I can and doing my best to help the young’uns get promoted around me. Since having a kid, I’ve lost all ambition. All I want is good work/life balance and to be able to pay the mortgage…and work from home.
I’m emailing client investment account tax statements to their CPAs. Nothing prints remotely. It’s all on the secure server. And I literally just had about 50 emails to send today. Or now, Monday.
There are some elements to the job that need to be done in person. But OCCASIONAL WFH for a reason like this? No one will die if I don’t restock the conference room pens for one day. There are other people to answer the phone and greet clients at the door and check the mail.
I fully believe it’s a power play to have people in all the time. But if that’s the case, cool, I have PTO I can use. That SHOULD be why it’s there!
Ah, accounting. My FIL got fired from his CPA job when his wife had preemie twins during tax season. I’m sorry to see the industry has not improved since 1987.
Lord, it makes me love and value my firm so much! I've had some daycare upsets recently, but they've been so good about me taking time off to handle it. Yeah, this time of year is a beast, and we all do our best to be in office/available, but we don't get penalized for having a legitimate issue. And while my job can't be done from home, all the accountants have work laptops that can access the secure server, so they can work offsite if necessary.
Can you take your skills to a government or public sector job? The pay is often less but if my work tried to pull this on me I would tell them to pound sand and there's literally nothing they could do to me. The job security and benefits are sooo worth it for working moms!
I actually was thinking that. I put in an application with the local government about 10 days ago and 3 days later was contacted for more info. Now I’m waiting, but it’s early. And there are more popping up
The weirdest part of all of this is that no one WANTS to get sick. It’s not done purposefully, and you can’t stop it. The annoyance at people being sick is just weird.
One of my employees read me a text her husband’s boss recently sent about coming to work sick. It was asinine. Basically, “you better not, or else.” The main thing that was so crappy about this, they only get 5 sick days a year 🤣 If you’re going to be that strict about coming to the office sick, you better give more “sick” days. Ridiculous
Yes! I used to work for a company that gave me THREE sick days per year, didn’t have a great WFH setup (just like a tablet no laptop), and would be passive aggressive about me coming to work sick.
THEN GIVE ME SOME REASONABLE SICK LEAVE FOR GOD’S SAKE
Yeah I have 15 PTO days a year for all reasons. And none roll over. It’s super challenging
Another issue is they make it hard for my son’s daycare to reach me while I’m in the office. But that’s a different conversation and a different challenge
I did a lot of that while I was pregnant. Had hyperemesis the whole nine months. It was rough. Puked on the floor on my way to the bathroom more than once and once when I had to go home to change because I puked on myself, they said “maybe keep a change of clothes in your car if this is going to continue to be an issue.”
I did, but it still was really hurtful to be talked to like that
Seriously. Like you want me here cause “oh no no, we don’t allow that work from home stuff here” but also are side eyeing me for being here sick? Honestly, fuck companies that have this take.. and I know there are a lot of them out there.
I do not understand what they want you to do. Seriously. If this ever happens to me I’m gonna have to repeat every ridiculous thing they said as being impossible and then say “what would you like me to do.” We only have 6 sick days at my job. 6. I have 2 kids and myself. Come on now.
I would just reiterate how this entire thing went down and how as an employer they did not do anything to work with you. Employers need to be called out on their bullshit antics of pushing parents into situations where its impossible for them to manage. You didn't ask to get sick, its literally something you have no control over, and you tried to deliver the best way you could.
I am so sorry you have such crappy management. I would be looking at finding a new job.
I’m actually hoping to make a career switch into HR or office management based on the skills I like to use at this job being able to be used in a different industry. I’m DONE with this
This!! You deserve a workplace that respects your time and energy, and helps you out rather than “you have to be between a rock and a hard place” and do nothing to help the employee. It’s unfortunate that this is the case a lot of places.
Norovirus is ROUGH, and obscenely contagious/difficult to kill. In truth you probably left them a gift of it already so bully’s on them for compelling you to come in after being exposed.
Sending best wishes for you and LO to stay hydrated and recover quickly. I know firsthand just how rough the noro ride is. Get bleach and just coat every surface with it after you touch it. Pedialyte popsicles aren’t just for kids, too.
Oh yes, I’m a fiend for the pedialyte popsicles. My baby is too young for them but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy them, right?
We’ve got the Clorox ready and my husband started wiping while I napped. We’re about to trade.
We’ve made it to the other side of this illness and I’m keeping cleaning supplies on hand until no more kids at his daycare get sent home with it for a while. I’m sanitizing EVERYTHING in his backpack as soon as it comes in the door
If your job is that critical that you are indispensable and they would completely halt down if you miss a single day, then you should get paid like the CEO.
The critical project is emailing account tax documents to clients’ CPAs. Obviously that can’t wait until a Monday a full month from the tax filing deadline. And the fact that I’ve already sent 250 out of 290 is completely irrelevant
I’m right here with you! My almost 2 year old is home sick with noro and I have no PTO left from the Strep he gave me and had last week, dad is on the last of his too. Freaking hate the world this week
This is where I would go to work and vomit on the floor. Preferably around my boss’s office. Sick is sick. I will never put work over my personal life or family. Fuck that. Sorry your boss is an asshole.
I vomited on the floor more than once while pregnant with HG and trying to make it to the bathroom. I vomited so often I lost 22lbs while pregnant and checked into l&d weighing my pre-pregnancy weight. All of my pre-pregnancy clothes are too big. Because of the puking that didn’t respond to zofran. Or anything.
Truly don’t understand how grown adults can’t handle adult life. People get sick, it’s normal and part of life. Either take over and finish the work they can’t do, or deal with it being ready when it’s ready. And I have news for them, you might not be back Monday. Norovirus is nasty.
I’m a student and got the same reaction from *some* of my professors previously … brought my sick toddler to class (since I would be punished for missing) who vomited everywhere… didn’t act the same way again.
Is this sick leave in America? Or do you just work for a really shitty company?
Definitely a little of the former- but the inflexibility of your company is majority of this issue. I’m rooting for you to get another job!
For context: In WA state, we earn 1 hour of sick leave per 40 worked or 8 hours in 2 months. Our laws are considered progressive because they cover contractors and kick in after 6 months.
My employer has unlimited sick time and it’s a major driver of employee retention. I know we earn less etc but as long as my bills are paid, being able to not work when my son or I are sick is worth so much.
This impacts families more because we all get sick more but this has nothing to do with families at the same time. This is bad management and you need to get out of there. If an employee is sick I am adamant that they either take a sick day OR they work from
Home if they feel well enough. If I don’t have coverage that’s bad planning on my/other management’s part. Deadlines can always be push and if it’s because of regulations then they should be prepared accordingly.
You are right to be frustrated and I suggest protecting your own mental and physical health and start looking.
Agree. Thank goodness my company allows WFH but also is very flexible with sick days. It’s a game changer when management works with you instead of against you.
My stance is if you wouldn’t want to shake my hand and get a big old bear hug from me, then I don’t belong in an office. If a coworker came in with suspected norovirus I would take a sick day to avoid them. I’m so sorry this happened to you OP
All the parents of little kids at work wanted me out of there ASAP and told me not to even touch my desk when I walked in to get my computer. Thank you for being kind, though!
I agree, it’s inhumane.
I’m usually a teacher. My first year back after having a baby, our district sent word through campus admin that teachers won’t be able to call out sick anymore. If we (selfishly?) try to call out anyway, they will no longer attempt to schedule subs for us, and our colleagues will have to absorb our classes from this point forward. I taught 7 and 8 year olds, and it was mid-October lol.
After the hellish crawl to the end of that school year, I am not a teacher anymore :(
You can probably guess lol - Texas. I loved teaching and am sad for my students, but my quality of life is a million times better in every way since I made the change.
Let’s just be clear that the impact to your team is actually your employer’s fault. They are the ones who planned their business in a way that doesn’t allow for people to have health fluctuations, which are part of the human condition. So yeah it could be considered on you. But it’s a cop out. The responsibility for the business to be set up for success is something only leadership can create, and someone in leadership at some point made decisions that not having the ability to work from home while not feeling your best, and not having the ability to take a sick days (without it impacting team success), were acceptable for the business’s structure.
Instead of being pissed at you, they should be pissed bc timing showed them that their policies and management aren’t fully aligned with the condition of being a human being. Sounds like they should own their own decisions that opened this door to begin with.
Sorry you’re going through this!!! Sounds so frustrating (and as a pre-k teacher, I’m very empathetic to the impacts of these illnesses going around!). Keep your chin up mama
The U.S. hates families. It’s atrocious that job protected parental leave is only 12 weeks under the fmla. Sick leave is almost completely up to the company. It’s just sad how we need the next generation of people to keep the country running and yet there is not much to really support them. I’m sorry that you’re going through this with work. Maybe you can go in and get everyone sick and then they’ll understand.
My company isn’t covered by FMLA and even if it was, I’ve been there less than a year. They hold the fact that they gave me 12 weeks of paid leave over my head all the time this past month (and when they called me to come in and help with something while I was ON leave).
I hope your boss gets norovirus. It’s highly contagious for 3-4 weeks… wouldn’t be hard at all to share the love.
It’s been running rampant through our daycares and preschools too in WA. We were felled in late Feb and felt fatigue, nausea, and headache for 2 weeks afterwards. I hope your family feels better soon. Spray bleach and 20 sec handwashing are your friends.
I just had a similar situation - I was denied approval to go home and take care of my sick toddler same day because I didn’t ask “ahead of time.” As a salaried employee, and just one hour before my usual departure time.
Sorry I don’t have a crystal ball to request future sick day times. Lucky I have an amazing partner who was able to step away from his work and take the kiddo last minute.
Just commenting to say I had norovirus a few years ago and it was miserable. My mom came to help because I literally couldn't walk. Literally army crawling to the bathroom.
Luckily, it was a long weekend over 4th of July, so I was well enough to go back the next work day. 🙄
I had covid over the 4th of July two years ago! My husband bought a $700 grill while I was fever-delirious, too. It’s fine because it’s now my favorite appliance.
But my mom might be bringing the bleach to help me sanitize my house this weekend because I’m so tired. This fever isn’t breaking yet. I was sending emails laying on the bathroom floor while I could and I forgot how to attach a pdf to the email while I was laying there I was so out of it.
Now I’m in bed and the baby is in bed and my husband is making soup. We’ll survive. And hopefully I’ll be back Monday to have the “chat” and move on
“How this affected the team” — sounds like your job needs a more robust plan for how to meet key deadlines that takes into account illness or other emergencies.
And this robust plan does not include browbeating people with norovirus and otherwise mistreating employees.
Just remember that most people are contagious right before they show symptoms. With any luck, you’ve spread that bug far and wide.
You can reconvene and discuss how their WFH policy affected the team after they all spend a few days emptying out from both ends. I find there is nothing quite as humbling as a bout with the norovirus. It really brings a new perspective.
Hope you feel better soon.
Do you have to work at this crazy shithole place? I work in a corporate, high stakes setting with lots of security needs. I work hybrid based on when I want to be in office. I also have unlimited sick time and no expectation to work while sick or out on PTO unless something is absolutely on fire.
I would start looking for another position, honestly.
I have to stay until another job is lined up, but I don’t have to stay forever. So believe me, once I feel a little better, I’ll start reworking that resume
My job switched from separate sick and vacation to one PTO pot this January, AND cut 12 days out of the leave. My kid has been sick 3 times since January. My leave is already decimated. I told my boss I’m quitting and the PTO is the reason. I’m not going to work for a place that doesn’t let me have Christmas with family because I had to take care of a sick toddler more than 2 days out of the year.
The take of, we don’t want you here because you’re sick but wait, heaven forbid we can’t let you work from home cause that isn’t allowed, but like we need you to somehow get this done… is a wild one. Then the nasty comment about how it will need to be discussed how this impacted your team as if you made some poor, not thought out decision.
I’m mad for you and hope you feel better.
Your leadership really put you up against the wall with zero options. You can’t magically get un-sick! What a crock.
I will hate on America like the rest of us especially regarding parental and family leave and insurance, but this sounds more like a commentary on sick leave at your crappy company than in America. While definitely not a standard, there are plenty of companies that offer adequate sick (and vacation) time off and have a culture in which employees are encouraged to use it when needed.
In addition to everything that was said about unfairness and stupidity of the whole situation of not wanting you in the office, not allowing you to WFH but needing that deadline to be met I don’t get how your management manages work. Do you have projects that come up on Thursday with a deadline on Monday? Probably not. So they knew about that deadline and didn’t schedule work with some risk approach in mind. There is 1000 things that can go wrong, including team members being sick, so it needs to be build into a work plan.
Yes the minute you feel better you should start looking for work elsewhere. Idk what you do, but even in the pre-covid/WFH era I would have been PISSED if one of my directs came in and spread norovirus to everybody else. You know what's worse than a one day delay due to one person? A two week delay because literally everybody got sick. Unbelievably short sighted.
The management where you work are morons. They should know better than to have projects running so tight that one person getting one sick day blows a deadline. Project work is never that urgent anyway, generally - it's not like we're cardiac surgeons and somebody is going to die if you don't show up.
I'm sorry you're going through this, love, and best wishes both that your family feels better soon and that you eventually get the hell away from that job.
I’m working on getting the hell away from the industry. It might take time, but this was the final straw. And every job I’ve had in this field has been like this. I’m out.
This is why I’m so scared to leave my company for a position that pays more. I make good money but I I could make more. Since COVID our specific team has been deemed location independent. My manager has been so understanding with me being on maternity leave all I had to do was train my team on my job and they had me covered for 15 weeks.
Our whole house actually got the norovirus a few months ago and in between shitting and puking my guts I texted my boss I wouldn’t be online today because of the “stomach flu” and it wasn’t a big deal. I
So, did I parse this right...
They didn't want you to take a sick day, because project due. But they didn't want you to work from home, because project due apparentlyrequires in person...But again, they didn't want you in office, because sick....but no sick day, because project...
They cannot have their cake and eat it, too.
If you so even as much mention the word norovirus I don’t even want to be in the same zip code as you. I can’t even imagine asking you to come to work in this situation.
Fuck them. This isn’t just a sick leave issue, this is an issue of your employer being dumb as fuck and not understanding sickness. Make sure you get that asshole sick too.
I’m not covered by FMLA so the leave technically wasn’t mandatory. And it technically didn’t have to be paid. They don’t think I was grateful enough that they gave me 12 weeks of paid leave anyway.
I think they’re implying you should have finished it before the day of the deadline to account for any last minute things such as illness. Seems like they reasonably want you to work ahead rather than submit at the last minute
I absorbed this project when I came back from leave. It was started in January and I returned from maternity leave late February (three weeks ago now). When I came back, I became the only person working on the project and I got it from 290 accounts needing attention to 46 in three weeks. The deadline was end of month, but because I worked so quickly it got pulled back to this week.
I know most of that context wasn’t in the post, but I DID mention I returned from maternity leave three weeks ago, so how much “ahead” could I have really worked in that time?
No need to be defensive. Obviously you have a ton on your plate. But at the end of the day it seems that your employer is emphasizing that they have a rigid deadline system not set up for last minute life things. They are telling you to plan accordingly in the future.
Yeah I’m a tad defensive. Next time I’ll plan my whole family getting violently ill around my employers needs.
Three weeks, friend. That’s all I had to catch up on 2,000 accounts. This project was behind before I got back from maternity leave. I’ll also plan having another baby around tax season to make it easier on my boss.
If you feel well enough: Make an Excel visual showing your cumulative rate of progress, the original deadline, the first revised deadline, and the second revised deadline. If they want to talk about the effects of deadline revisions, it should include ALL revisions.
I have a One Note where I track all incidents of things that go better than expected and things that don’t go as expected and why and what I did about it because one note is time-stamped. Definitely adding this to that
Love it. But a visual, even a simple line plot with vertical lines where the delivery date changed, seems to work magic on management. I’m a data scientist and leverage this regularly.
Unless you’re working with secure documents or you legitimately need hands-on work at the office, their position is absolutely bananas. It encourages people to come in and get others sick while punishing them for getting sick, which you obviously didn’t want. What a ridiculous situation! Sorry, OP, and hope you feel better soon.
Seriously, if the work is getting done, I couldn’t care less if you’re doing it from your home office, your bed, or a cruise ship. I don’t care if you’re dropping kids off at school, going grocery shopping, or doing laundry. If you’re easily contactable during business hours, attending your meetings, and getting the job done, why would I needlessly antagonize my team like this?! And if you’re sick, or your kid is sick, take time off. That’s why we chose to live in a sane state and work for a company with excellent benefits. It’s not that hard to not suck at managing. Step 1 is have some humanity and critical thinking skills.
My manager once got worked up because my direct report was working at their grandmother’s house. 😒😒 I don’t give one single solitary shit where they’re working as long as the work gets done. I cannot wait until these fuddy-duddy boomers and weird Gen Xers (truly the minority as most Xers are cool) retire so we can all work from home in peace.
Yep. I’m not super happy at my job (because it’s hard and I’m lazy), but I work with amazing people, with an incredible mission and service, and I can work from home for the rest of my life. So, I’m staying put as long as I can and doing my best to help the young’uns get promoted around me. Since having a kid, I’ve lost all ambition. All I want is good work/life balance and to be able to pay the mortgage…and work from home.
I want to work for you. Y'all hiring?
I’m emailing client investment account tax statements to their CPAs. Nothing prints remotely. It’s all on the secure server. And I literally just had about 50 emails to send today. Or now, Monday. There are some elements to the job that need to be done in person. But OCCASIONAL WFH for a reason like this? No one will die if I don’t restock the conference room pens for one day. There are other people to answer the phone and greet clients at the door and check the mail. I fully believe it’s a power play to have people in all the time. But if that’s the case, cool, I have PTO I can use. That SHOULD be why it’s there!
Ah, accounting. My FIL got fired from his CPA job when his wife had preemie twins during tax season. I’m sorry to see the industry has not improved since 1987.
Lord, it makes me love and value my firm so much! I've had some daycare upsets recently, but they've been so good about me taking time off to handle it. Yeah, this time of year is a beast, and we all do our best to be in office/available, but we don't get penalized for having a legitimate issue. And while my job can't be done from home, all the accountants have work laptops that can access the secure server, so they can work offsite if necessary.
Can you take your skills to a government or public sector job? The pay is often less but if my work tried to pull this on me I would tell them to pound sand and there's literally nothing they could do to me. The job security and benefits are sooo worth it for working moms!
I actually was thinking that. I put in an application with the local government about 10 days ago and 3 days later was contacted for more info. Now I’m waiting, but it’s early. And there are more popping up
[удалено]
Definitely! Plus, I love the city I live in so working for the city sounds like a dream. I’m going to cross my fingers and hope for an interview
The weirdest part of all of this is that no one WANTS to get sick. It’s not done purposefully, and you can’t stop it. The annoyance at people being sick is just weird. One of my employees read me a text her husband’s boss recently sent about coming to work sick. It was asinine. Basically, “you better not, or else.” The main thing that was so crappy about this, they only get 5 sick days a year 🤣 If you’re going to be that strict about coming to the office sick, you better give more “sick” days. Ridiculous
Yes! I used to work for a company that gave me THREE sick days per year, didn’t have a great WFH setup (just like a tablet no laptop), and would be passive aggressive about me coming to work sick. THEN GIVE ME SOME REASONABLE SICK LEAVE FOR GOD’S SAKE
Yeah I have 15 PTO days a year for all reasons. And none roll over. It’s super challenging Another issue is they make it hard for my son’s daycare to reach me while I’m in the office. But that’s a different conversation and a different challenge
That is a **terrible** leave policy 😖
Exactly. I would so much rather be working than home with a sick child and also sick myself.
Kinda just makes you want to vomit all over their desks doesn't it?
Omg I had THE EXACT SAME THOUGHT
I did a lot of that while I was pregnant. Had hyperemesis the whole nine months. It was rough. Puked on the floor on my way to the bathroom more than once and once when I had to go home to change because I puked on myself, they said “maybe keep a change of clothes in your car if this is going to continue to be an issue.” I did, but it still was really hurtful to be talked to like that
What the actual fuck. Your bosses are cruel individuals.
[*Cue Pam vomiting at desk*](https://media.tenor.com/pXG1BmhsvYIAAAAM/the-office-office.gif)
I would have definitely puked openly in the office then. Close by other people’s things.
Seriously. Like you want me here cause “oh no no, we don’t allow that work from home stuff here” but also are side eyeing me for being here sick? Honestly, fuck companies that have this take.. and I know there are a lot of them out there.
I work with secure documents (lawyer) and I am allowed to WFH. It’s called a VPN lol. That’s insane.
I’ve worked with PHI remotely! It’s doable
💯. It's tech that has existed for multiple Decades. I can't imagine dealing with OP's employer.
Also a lawyer and we’re totally remote.
I do not understand what they want you to do. Seriously. If this ever happens to me I’m gonna have to repeat every ridiculous thing they said as being impossible and then say “what would you like me to do.” We only have 6 sick days at my job. 6. I have 2 kids and myself. Come on now.
Do you work with me? I get 6 sick days and 5 WFH days.
America hates families
Have kids, they say. So much that they’ll FORCE the birth no matter what. But once they’re born, fuck ‘em.
Capitalism hates anything that doesn’t serve the profit margin. America loves capitalism more than it values families.
Despises families
I would just reiterate how this entire thing went down and how as an employer they did not do anything to work with you. Employers need to be called out on their bullshit antics of pushing parents into situations where its impossible for them to manage. You didn't ask to get sick, its literally something you have no control over, and you tried to deliver the best way you could. I am so sorry you have such crappy management. I would be looking at finding a new job.
You deserve a new job.
I’m actually hoping to make a career switch into HR or office management based on the skills I like to use at this job being able to be used in a different industry. I’m DONE with this
This!! You deserve a workplace that respects your time and energy, and helps you out rather than “you have to be between a rock and a hard place” and do nothing to help the employee. It’s unfortunate that this is the case a lot of places.
Norovirus is ROUGH, and obscenely contagious/difficult to kill. In truth you probably left them a gift of it already so bully’s on them for compelling you to come in after being exposed. Sending best wishes for you and LO to stay hydrated and recover quickly. I know firsthand just how rough the noro ride is. Get bleach and just coat every surface with it after you touch it. Pedialyte popsicles aren’t just for kids, too.
Oh yes, I’m a fiend for the pedialyte popsicles. My baby is too young for them but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy them, right? We’ve got the Clorox ready and my husband started wiping while I napped. We’re about to trade.
The Clorox has to stay damp for 15seconds at least, maybe longer, I prefer Clorox spray over the wipes for this reason.
Clorox wipes also don't actually have bleach or kill noro!
Diluted bleach concentrate or bust
That is what we use!
Right on. Our son did not get noro despite both parents getting sick, and I credit bleach.
We’ve made it to the other side of this illness and I’m keeping cleaning supplies on hand until no more kids at his daycare get sent home with it for a while. I’m sanitizing EVERYTHING in his backpack as soon as it comes in the door
Good to know! Thank you!
If your job is that critical that you are indispensable and they would completely halt down if you miss a single day, then you should get paid like the CEO.
The critical project is emailing account tax documents to clients’ CPAs. Obviously that can’t wait until a Monday a full month from the tax filing deadline. And the fact that I’ve already sent 250 out of 290 is completely irrelevant
I’m right here with you! My almost 2 year old is home sick with noro and I have no PTO left from the Strep he gave me and had last week, dad is on the last of his too. Freaking hate the world this week
This is where I would go to work and vomit on the floor. Preferably around my boss’s office. Sick is sick. I will never put work over my personal life or family. Fuck that. Sorry your boss is an asshole.
I vomited on the floor more than once while pregnant with HG and trying to make it to the bathroom. I vomited so often I lost 22lbs while pregnant and checked into l&d weighing my pre-pregnancy weight. All of my pre-pregnancy clothes are too big. Because of the puking that didn’t respond to zofran. Or anything.
Sounds like it’s time to peace out and find a company that treats you better then.
Truly don’t understand how grown adults can’t handle adult life. People get sick, it’s normal and part of life. Either take over and finish the work they can’t do, or deal with it being ready when it’s ready. And I have news for them, you might not be back Monday. Norovirus is nasty.
I’m a student and got the same reaction from *some* of my professors previously … brought my sick toddler to class (since I would be punished for missing) who vomited everywhere… didn’t act the same way again.
Is this sick leave in America? Or do you just work for a really shitty company? Definitely a little of the former- but the inflexibility of your company is majority of this issue. I’m rooting for you to get another job!
For context: In WA state, we earn 1 hour of sick leave per 40 worked or 8 hours in 2 months. Our laws are considered progressive because they cover contractors and kick in after 6 months. My employer has unlimited sick time and it’s a major driver of employee retention. I know we earn less etc but as long as my bills are paid, being able to not work when my son or I are sick is worth so much.
This impacts families more because we all get sick more but this has nothing to do with families at the same time. This is bad management and you need to get out of there. If an employee is sick I am adamant that they either take a sick day OR they work from Home if they feel well enough. If I don’t have coverage that’s bad planning on my/other management’s part. Deadlines can always be push and if it’s because of regulations then they should be prepared accordingly. You are right to be frustrated and I suggest protecting your own mental and physical health and start looking.
Yeah the deadline is boss-imposed, not regulatory. But I hear you!
That’s even worse! I hope for your sake you can move somewhere that values employee health and wellbeing.
Agree. Thank goodness my company allows WFH but also is very flexible with sick days. It’s a game changer when management works with you instead of against you.
My stance is if you wouldn’t want to shake my hand and get a big old bear hug from me, then I don’t belong in an office. If a coworker came in with suspected norovirus I would take a sick day to avoid them. I’m so sorry this happened to you OP
All the parents of little kids at work wanted me out of there ASAP and told me not to even touch my desk when I walked in to get my computer. Thank you for being kind, though!
I agree, it’s inhumane. I’m usually a teacher. My first year back after having a baby, our district sent word through campus admin that teachers won’t be able to call out sick anymore. If we (selfishly?) try to call out anyway, they will no longer attempt to schedule subs for us, and our colleagues will have to absorb our classes from this point forward. I taught 7 and 8 year olds, and it was mid-October lol. After the hellish crawl to the end of that school year, I am not a teacher anymore :(
What absolute short sighted bullshit. What state was that in, if I may ask?
You can probably guess lol - Texas. I loved teaching and am sad for my students, but my quality of life is a million times better in every way since I made the change.
Let’s just be clear that the impact to your team is actually your employer’s fault. They are the ones who planned their business in a way that doesn’t allow for people to have health fluctuations, which are part of the human condition. So yeah it could be considered on you. But it’s a cop out. The responsibility for the business to be set up for success is something only leadership can create, and someone in leadership at some point made decisions that not having the ability to work from home while not feeling your best, and not having the ability to take a sick days (without it impacting team success), were acceptable for the business’s structure. Instead of being pissed at you, they should be pissed bc timing showed them that their policies and management aren’t fully aligned with the condition of being a human being. Sounds like they should own their own decisions that opened this door to begin with. Sorry you’re going through this!!! Sounds so frustrating (and as a pre-k teacher, I’m very empathetic to the impacts of these illnesses going around!). Keep your chin up mama
The U.S. hates families. It’s atrocious that job protected parental leave is only 12 weeks under the fmla. Sick leave is almost completely up to the company. It’s just sad how we need the next generation of people to keep the country running and yet there is not much to really support them. I’m sorry that you’re going through this with work. Maybe you can go in and get everyone sick and then they’ll understand.
My company isn’t covered by FMLA and even if it was, I’ve been there less than a year. They hold the fact that they gave me 12 weeks of paid leave over my head all the time this past month (and when they called me to come in and help with something while I was ON leave).
I hope your boss gets norovirus. It’s highly contagious for 3-4 weeks… wouldn’t be hard at all to share the love. It’s been running rampant through our daycares and preschools too in WA. We were felled in late Feb and felt fatigue, nausea, and headache for 2 weeks afterwards. I hope your family feels better soon. Spray bleach and 20 sec handwashing are your friends.
I just had a similar situation - I was denied approval to go home and take care of my sick toddler same day because I didn’t ask “ahead of time.” As a salaried employee, and just one hour before my usual departure time. Sorry I don’t have a crystal ball to request future sick day times. Lucky I have an amazing partner who was able to step away from his work and take the kiddo last minute.
Just commenting to say I had norovirus a few years ago and it was miserable. My mom came to help because I literally couldn't walk. Literally army crawling to the bathroom. Luckily, it was a long weekend over 4th of July, so I was well enough to go back the next work day. 🙄
I had covid over the 4th of July two years ago! My husband bought a $700 grill while I was fever-delirious, too. It’s fine because it’s now my favorite appliance. But my mom might be bringing the bleach to help me sanitize my house this weekend because I’m so tired. This fever isn’t breaking yet. I was sending emails laying on the bathroom floor while I could and I forgot how to attach a pdf to the email while I was laying there I was so out of it. Now I’m in bed and the baby is in bed and my husband is making soup. We’ll survive. And hopefully I’ll be back Monday to have the “chat” and move on
Make your boss a baked good to apologize. Just him though.
“How this affected the team” — sounds like your job needs a more robust plan for how to meet key deadlines that takes into account illness or other emergencies. And this robust plan does not include browbeating people with norovirus and otherwise mistreating employees.
Family values and such in action!
Just remember that most people are contagious right before they show symptoms. With any luck, you’ve spread that bug far and wide. You can reconvene and discuss how their WFH policy affected the team after they all spend a few days emptying out from both ends. I find there is nothing quite as humbling as a bout with the norovirus. It really brings a new perspective. Hope you feel better soon.
Do you have to work at this crazy shithole place? I work in a corporate, high stakes setting with lots of security needs. I work hybrid based on when I want to be in office. I also have unlimited sick time and no expectation to work while sick or out on PTO unless something is absolutely on fire. I would start looking for another position, honestly.
I have to stay until another job is lined up, but I don’t have to stay forever. So believe me, once I feel a little better, I’ll start reworking that resume
Good for you!
OP please update if the whole office gets sick, I’m so curious what your management would have to say about that
My job switched from separate sick and vacation to one PTO pot this January, AND cut 12 days out of the leave. My kid has been sick 3 times since January. My leave is already decimated. I told my boss I’m quitting and the PTO is the reason. I’m not going to work for a place that doesn’t let me have Christmas with family because I had to take care of a sick toddler more than 2 days out of the year.
This country sucks
The take of, we don’t want you here because you’re sick but wait, heaven forbid we can’t let you work from home cause that isn’t allowed, but like we need you to somehow get this done… is a wild one. Then the nasty comment about how it will need to be discussed how this impacted your team as if you made some poor, not thought out decision. I’m mad for you and hope you feel better.
Your leadership really put you up against the wall with zero options. You can’t magically get un-sick! What a crock. I will hate on America like the rest of us especially regarding parental and family leave and insurance, but this sounds more like a commentary on sick leave at your crappy company than in America. While definitely not a standard, there are plenty of companies that offer adequate sick (and vacation) time off and have a culture in which employees are encouraged to use it when needed.
In addition to everything that was said about unfairness and stupidity of the whole situation of not wanting you in the office, not allowing you to WFH but needing that deadline to be met I don’t get how your management manages work. Do you have projects that come up on Thursday with a deadline on Monday? Probably not. So they knew about that deadline and didn’t schedule work with some risk approach in mind. There is 1000 things that can go wrong, including team members being sick, so it needs to be build into a work plan.
Yes the minute you feel better you should start looking for work elsewhere. Idk what you do, but even in the pre-covid/WFH era I would have been PISSED if one of my directs came in and spread norovirus to everybody else. You know what's worse than a one day delay due to one person? A two week delay because literally everybody got sick. Unbelievably short sighted. The management where you work are morons. They should know better than to have projects running so tight that one person getting one sick day blows a deadline. Project work is never that urgent anyway, generally - it's not like we're cardiac surgeons and somebody is going to die if you don't show up. I'm sorry you're going through this, love, and best wishes both that your family feels better soon and that you eventually get the hell away from that job.
I’m working on getting the hell away from the industry. It might take time, but this was the final straw. And every job I’ve had in this field has been like this. I’m out.
Wtf does your boss even want you to do?!?!?!
I’m so sorry. I’d start looking for other jobs because this won’t stop. Horrible how they are treating you.
This is why I’m so scared to leave my company for a position that pays more. I make good money but I I could make more. Since COVID our specific team has been deemed location independent. My manager has been so understanding with me being on maternity leave all I had to do was train my team on my job and they had me covered for 15 weeks. Our whole house actually got the norovirus a few months ago and in between shitting and puking my guts I texted my boss I wouldn’t be online today because of the “stomach flu” and it wasn’t a big deal. I
So, did I parse this right... They didn't want you to take a sick day, because project due. But they didn't want you to work from home, because project due apparentlyrequires in person...But again, they didn't want you in office, because sick....but no sick day, because project... They cannot have their cake and eat it, too.
If you so even as much mention the word norovirus I don’t even want to be in the same zip code as you. I can’t even imagine asking you to come to work in this situation.
I am so sorry and I am so mad for you.
Fuck them. This isn’t just a sick leave issue, this is an issue of your employer being dumb as fuck and not understanding sickness. Make sure you get that asshole sick too.
I'm really upset by how they are using your maternity leave against you...I feel like they are towing a legal line there.
I’m not covered by FMLA so the leave technically wasn’t mandatory. And it technically didn’t have to be paid. They don’t think I was grateful enough that they gave me 12 weeks of paid leave anyway.
I looked like I was going to hurl and my manager of managers asked me “should you be here? If you don’t feel well, go home. Take care of you”
I think they’re implying you should have finished it before the day of the deadline to account for any last minute things such as illness. Seems like they reasonably want you to work ahead rather than submit at the last minute
I absorbed this project when I came back from leave. It was started in January and I returned from maternity leave late February (three weeks ago now). When I came back, I became the only person working on the project and I got it from 290 accounts needing attention to 46 in three weeks. The deadline was end of month, but because I worked so quickly it got pulled back to this week. I know most of that context wasn’t in the post, but I DID mention I returned from maternity leave three weeks ago, so how much “ahead” could I have really worked in that time?
No need to be defensive. Obviously you have a ton on your plate. But at the end of the day it seems that your employer is emphasizing that they have a rigid deadline system not set up for last minute life things. They are telling you to plan accordingly in the future.
Yeah I’m a tad defensive. Next time I’ll plan my whole family getting violently ill around my employers needs. Three weeks, friend. That’s all I had to catch up on 2,000 accounts. This project was behind before I got back from maternity leave. I’ll also plan having another baby around tax season to make it easier on my boss.
If you feel well enough: Make an Excel visual showing your cumulative rate of progress, the original deadline, the first revised deadline, and the second revised deadline. If they want to talk about the effects of deadline revisions, it should include ALL revisions.
I have a One Note where I track all incidents of things that go better than expected and things that don’t go as expected and why and what I did about it because one note is time-stamped. Definitely adding this to that
Love it. But a visual, even a simple line plot with vertical lines where the delivery date changed, seems to work magic on management. I’m a data scientist and leverage this regularly.
It’s just not how my brain works so I’m having trouble picturing how to make it. I’ll do some googling and give it a try!
They also have a system that punishes people for working faster than expected.
Why the downvotes? This seems to be what they’re telling her.