A reader writes:
Lengthy-time avid reader with a query I’d love your tackle earlier than I convey it to my supervisor.
I’m a supervisor for an eight-person crew for a place that requires 100% of labor to be performed in-person, on-site, at set instances. It’s price noting that this in-person crew is often the bottom paid and most blue collar in our group. Nearly everybody else in my group has some flexibility by way of the place and once they work, starting from full-time distant to someday every week WFH. For these WFH positions, our group is tremendous versatile with issues like appointments, flex schedules, sometimes working with sick youngsters at residence, and dealing from residence whenever you’re sick sufficient to not are available, however not so sick you want a sick day.
These days I’ve been seeing our on-site crew coming to work sick with chilly and flu signs. We do provide sick time and PTO, however I do know a few of them are operating low on sick time resulting from household diseases and this horrible chilly and flu season.
Wouldn’t it be affordable and/or authorized to supply full-time non-remote employees extra sick depart than individuals who have distant flexibility? It appears affordable since I, as somebody who can make money working from home as wanted, can select to work for a day with my sick child or gentle chilly signs, however they don’t have any possibility however to burn via a sick day or come to work sick.
YES.
Sure, sure, sure, sure.
Please advocate for this. It’s the answer to a number of issues:
• First, it addresses the very actual actuality you identified, that on-site staff find yourself needing to make use of extra sick days as a result of they don’t have the choice of working from residence whereas sick that a few of their colleagues have. (Additionally they could be extra more likely to get sick within the first place, since they’re coming to work and getting uncovered to different people who find themselves in the identical scenario they’re.)
• Second, it should assist maintain germs out of your office, thereby conserving different folks in a position to come to work and proceed doing their jobs. That’s a win for the everybody, together with your employer.
• Third, it acknowledges the totally different burden placed on on-site staff, and might be an actual step towards easing a number of the comprehensible resentment some on-site staff have developed towards distant colleagues over the previous few years. (Hell, should you actually wish to present appreciation to your on-site employees, you possibly can go a step additional and provide them some Life Occurs days too, which they’ll use for the life administration stuff that requires being at residence — cable man, damaged washer, no matter it’s — however which their WFH coworkers are in a position to work via.)
Each employer with a mixture of staff the place some can make money working from home and a few can’t ought to provide additional paid days off to their on-site workers. Counsel it!
