It’s obvious that if you have a job, you need to be in the office to complete your work. Of course, some companies allow for their employees to work from home, but that is highly dependent on the company. Generally speaking, if you are hired by a company and are an employee for them, you need to be in the office every day. If you can remember the Spark News article published months ago, being professional on your job is one of the most important things. A big part of being a professional is being a reliable worker. While we all have had days where we wanted to play hooky and the days when we were actually sick, it’s so important to keep tabs on the days you miss work and not let it get out of control.
Flash back to all of those days you woke up groggy, annoyed, lazy and a little temperamental. You would be lying to yourself if you didn’t admit that the little, evil voice in your head was rolling through the list of excuses you’ve amassed for missing work. “Oh no! My car is dead,” or “Gee, I feel really sick today.” How about, “I have a migraine and it’s impossible for me to work today.” Of course, we all know the one that you can go to if you really don’t want anyone to question you: “The food I ate yesterday must have been bad because I think I have food poisoning.” ie., I have chronic stomach issues that force me to be next to the bathroom all day. Ew- no one wants to question that, believe me.
These are all the excuses people employ to miss a day of work. I’m not saying this is acceptable or OK, but in order to be real with ourselves we need to admit that, hey, it happens. The real issue takes place when we start misusing our sick days and take too much time off. If this is something you or one of your employees is doing, it had better be addressed right away. If it’s you that is taking too much time off, stop and think, “What in the world am I doing?” Are you taking advantage of your “sick” time because you dislike your job and can’t stand to go in everyday? Or are you lazy and have a really poor work ethic? If it’s because you hate your job, then take the initiative and start looking for a new one. Shape up in the mean time because your current employer won’t have very nice things to say about you. If you are simply lazy, it’s time for you to realize that you will get no where in your career with this attitude and work ethic.
People don’t make it to the top by being lazy and taking a day off every two or three weeks. The fact of the matter is, whether you like it or not, this is your j.o.b. Your coworkers and employers count on you to be there to do your work every day. If you aren’t reliable and miss countless days of work, then it’s likely that your coworkers or managers will have to pick up your slack. This can breed resentment and anger in the workplace and you won’t be very liked. On top of that, after a while it no longer matters what your excuse is- your missing too much work and you could be fired. If you actually are sick and must take all of this time off as a true necessity, then you need to do something about it pronto. Go to the doctor and pinpoint what is going on with you. Is it your lifestyle? Change it, because you can take all of the sick time in the world when you are no longer employed.
Long story short, the occasional hooky isn’t OK but it’s inevitable. When it starts to get out of hand and you are pulling excuses left and right as to why you can’t come into work today you had better figure out why soon and change it or look for a new job because if you keep it up, your employer might give you months of sick time in the form of “you are fired.”
IMAGE: Courtesy of Crowd Shifter
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