Sarah Green Carmichael, Columnist

Actually, Most Bosses Want You to Take a Sick Day

The “sick shaming” trend is overblown. Wouldn’t it be nice if more workers knew that?

February 20, 2024 at 11:30 AM UTC

Sarah Green Carmichael is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and editor. Previously, she was an executive editor at Harvard Business Review.

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It’s become the conventional wisdom: Sick days haven’t been the same since the Covid pandemic “raised the bar” for taking time off. Mass layoffs and strict return-to-office policies have left ailing employees feeling “sick shamed” by attendance-taking bosses. Have a sniffle? Tough it out — or at least work from home.

That might be how the current moment feels in some offices, but the data suggest most are more humane. In fact, more employees are taking sick days than before the Covid pandemic — and most managers support them. That’s ought to be reassuring news for anyone who gets sick. Which is, after all, all of us.