Going to work can make you sick

As already mentioned I was off for most of last week with the dreaded lurgy. However, I used some of the time to catch up on my reading of the “Safety and Health Practitioner”, which is the house mag of IOSH. Read a very interesting article (July 07) by researcher Zara Whysall that “Presenteeism” at work is a “larger drain on productivity than either absenteeism or short-term disability”. “Which can have potentially catastrophic effects on both individual and organisational health”! So much for “Sick note Britain”

It concludes that it is better for the individual (as well as the organisation) to stay at home and recover rather come into work and infect everyone else (and I suppose anyone sitting near them on the buses or train). They also tend to recover more quickly at home.

Fair enough this seems common sense– most of us have come across the saying “Coughs and sneezes spread diseases...” (This was first put on public information service posters in World War Two)

Controversially, she also thought that research showed that workers who come into work despite being unwell may mean that their illness is unnoticed and is allowed to become more serious. Research into male civil servants showed “.....those that did not take any sick leave over the three year study period were more likely to experience serious coronary events than those unhealthy employees with moderate levels of sickness absenteeism”.

You can imagine this happening in practice. Someone who is so worried say about losing their job if they are sick, would come into work and ignores chest pains and other early signs of heart disease. Instead of getting the condition controlled by timely treatment they carry on working and they have a serious attack.

Organisations which have too harsh sickness policies could actually being making things worse not only for their staff but also their own bottom-line.

Bullying the sick and vulnerable?

Wikipedia defines bullying “In colloquial speech, bullying often describes a form of harassment perpetrated by an abuser who possesses more physical and/or social power and dominance than the victim”

I’m just going to let off steam and have a rant (I can’t go into specifics) at the trend by many so-called “caring, responsible employers” to use discipline procedures and terminology to deal with very sick and vulnerable staff.

To make things clear I will only refer to what happens to staff who it is fully accepted by all sides, are genuinely chronically sick or have a very serious underlying medical condition. For example staff, who have recognised chronic mental health problems such as severe clinical depression, Bipolar disorder or Schizophrenia. Who are also doing all they can to manage or overcome their conditions.

However, some employers treat sick employees as “criminals” and have adopted sickness policies that send out extremely threatening “standard” letters and arrange “frightening” management meetings (“at which you could be dismissed”) for such employees. These letters are utterly unsympathetic, instructing employees to intend “Final Absence meetings” where they could receive written “Final Written warnings” for extensive periods during which they could be dismissed if there is any further sickness regardless of their disability.

Look, I’m not talking about someone where it is even suspected that they are “playing the system” (extremely rare) but people who it is recognised are chronically ill, even suicidal but employers still insist on sending out such letters. I had a case a few years ago when there was an employee off sick with a chronic mental health illness who was instructed to intend a “Final Absence Meeting” and given a written final written warning for 18 months over his sickness, even though he was hospitalised for his illness and confessed that he felt suicidal over the “written warnings”. The member felt that being “disciplined” in such a way for being ill meant it was their fault that they were ill. This just added to the illness.

If someone is very ill and there is no reasonable chance of recovery and all possible treatment, redeployment and adaptations seriously considered then there will have to be a process to end their employment. But that doesn’t mean employers should be allowed to bully vulnerable people out of a job.

I have no doubt that in the future (if it has not already happened) someone will kill themselves over such letters and warnings. What’s the best way to deal with these “rogue” employers? Will the New Commission for Equalities and Human rights do anything? Check out ban bullying at work day 7 November 2007