When Should You Stay Home From Work? (2024)

FAQs

When Should You Stay Home From Work? ›

All employees should stay home if they are sick until for at least 24 hours, both are true: their symptoms are getting better overall and they have not had a fever* (temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit or 37.8 degrees Celsius or higher) and are not using fever-reducing medication (e.g., medicines that contain ...

Certain symptoms, like a fever, a sore throat; vomiting and diarrhea, or a contagious rash are good signs that you need to take a sick day.

“In general, if you have a fever, cough or fatigue, you should stay home,” says Kevin Hur, MD, a rhinology specialist at Keck Medicine of USC.

If you have a high temperature or do not feel well enough to do your normal activities, try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people until you feel better.

With a cold – You may be tired and weak, but this feeling is typically mild and never turns into extreme exhaustion. With the flu – It's extremely common to feel tired and weak for two weeks or longer. You may also have extreme exhaustion that comes on suddenly.

Symptoms include a raw or painful throat, headaches, body aches, fevers, and fatigue. Some people have "common cold" symptoms at the same time: runny nose, sinus pressure, ear fullness, sneezing, and coughing.

If you start to feel sick at work and your symptoms feel so severe that you're having trouble focusing on conversations or your work duties, it's typically best to go home and rest or schedule an appointment with your doctor. Some people may feel slight symptoms of a cold, like a sore throat or a small ongoing cough.

*Many authorities use either 100 (37.8 degrees Celsius) or 100.4 F (38.0 degrees Celsius) as a cut-off for fever, but this number actually can range depending on factors such as the method of measurement and the age of the person, so other values for fever could be appropriate.

If you wake up with a headache, it may be a cold or flu, especially if you have other symptoms such as sneezing, stuffy nose, and body aches. You may need to stay home a day or two while you're most contagious and feel the worst.

What day do people call in sick to work the most? ›

America's sickest day of the year? August 24 is the day most workers call out, study says.

These are some coping strategies that can help if you don't feel like working today. An obvious one, if you are able, is to take the day off. If you're feeling physically unwell, take a sick day. If you're feeling mentally and emotionally burnt out, take a mental health day to rest and recuperate.

Call in sick when: You have symptoms of physical illness: If you experience a fever, vomiting, diarrhea, sore throat, coughing, or other physical symptoms, call in sick to work to avoid possible viral spread to your fellow employees. If you have mild symptoms, consider wearing a face mask in public.

If you are feeling burned out and need time to relax—a mental health day can be the most appropriate step to take. A personal day off can hit the reset button necessary to recharge energy levels. Some company policies permit such days off without specified reasons.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), you should stay home from work for at least 24 hours after a fever of 100° F (or above) is gone.

But if you also have a cough and sore throat, you might have a cold. That means you're contagious, so take the day off. Remember that a cough by itself doesn't necessarily mean a cold. If you just have a tickle in the back of your throat without the other symptoms, that's a sign of allergies, and you're not contagious.

Your time management. If you're working from home, you might be saving hours by eliminating your commute and may find it easier to focus without regular office interruptions like impromptu meetings, questions or conversations. However, you've likely noticed that there is no shortage of distractions at home as well.

Employees may stay home because they are sick, need to care for sick household members, or because schools have been dismissed and they need to care for their children.