Okay so here’s what I don’t get. I run a small team of 10. I am SUPER cool about people calling in. I don’t give people grief for it. I don’t have ridiculous performance expectations. I get that timelines have to slip when people call in. Even my upper management is pretty sane.
YET PEOPLE STILL COME IN SICK. WHY?!?
Motherfucker you’re in a union shop with 8 hours sick leave a month and 10+ hours of vacation time per month AND at least 3 floating days you can use whenever AND other leave benefits. Most of you assholes are sitting on like 200-500+ hours of leave in your banks. I tell people to take care of themselves and their families first on the regular. The hell else am I supposed to do? Give people a gold star and a BJ for calling in sick? Keep your goddamned plague at home.
The toxic culture is coming from the outside. They have no reason to trust you, because dozens of corporations institute wellness programs and talk about caring while still punishing people who take time off. Plus, some of them have just internalized the idea that they should just work through it.
One thing I have heard can help is if the boss takes time off, so since you have some authority, maybe make a point of taking your own time off and telling them when you do?
