Ronnie, I think you have hit the nail on the head ...

2009-06-24T08:40:16.491+02:00

Ronnie, I think you have hit the nail on the head - in my experience sicks days are "typically" correlated to exactly how engaged people feel. When they strive for some higher goal they are less likely to play hooky, contrast this to the people who only do this for the paycheck at the end of the month and couldn't care less.

However, there are some hygiene factors to consider: in most new-age working environments office space are compromised of wide open areas with loads of people working very closely together. A bug in the office can create havoc and spread like wildfire. Today somebody coughs, tomorrow everybody is sniffing. In these cases it makes sense to send the instigator home - not for a sick day, but rather to work off-site. (This obviously works better with knowledge workers.)

As a last point, you have to know your limits as well. My better half ended up in hospital with pneumonia since she didn't heed the warning signs and just slowed down a bit. The funny thing (as funny as a hospital stay could be) was that she ended up with another workaholic in her hospital room - this lady worked in the hospital and snuck down to her office at 3am to read e-mail.

Comments on Vottle.com: Interesting ...

Ronnie, I think you have hit the nail on the head ...