Sick Leave during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 situation has been going on for years now, and one of the many effects it has had, is on employment. Working from home, in particular, has been a bit of a sore spot, specially for Boomer bosses, the kind I used to refer to as those suffering from the Chinese Towkay Syndrome.

So imagine the outrage last month when the Singapore government announced that employees should not be required to go to clinics for an MC if they came down with COVID-19 symptoms, and instead be allowed to stay home for isolation and recovery. Because if there's a super-infectious disease running rampant in society, the last thing you want is for infected individuals to have one more place they can spread it.

Things got worse when it was announced, a week earlier, that errant employers would face penalties for not adhering to the recommendation outlined above.

COVID19 positive!

These perturbed employers were, like, what if employees abuse that privilege? What's going to stop them from simply pretending to be sick?

Well, I have a couple things to say about that. First and most obviously...

Faking MCs has nothing to do with COVID-19

Does anyone seriously think that if an employee was determined to malinger, said employee couldn't simply get sick leave from any clinic? This employee would not even need to be particularly good at acting sick. Sick leave gets offered even on the occasions I consult a doctor for something minor, without me even asking for it.

Consultation.

Why, then, does COVID-19 make a difference? Because the employee wouldn't need to make the effort of going to the doctor and pay the consultation fee? That's a pittance and we know it.

If you have employees you can't trust, you are the problem

Think about it. What kind of idiot hires people that he or she can't trust? If you doubt the integrity of the people working for you, stop wasting each other's time and get rid of them.

And if you can't trust your employees because on principle, you can't bring yourself to trust people to be professional without your oversight, then where does the problem lie, exactly? Hint: you'll find the answer in any reflective surface.

You're looking
at the problem.

My boss trusts me not to malinger - because he knows I would keep working if at all possible. Because I work from home, and just because something prevents me from getting to the office, it won't stop me from giving my utmost. And if something does stop me from working, it won't be anything short of a broken leg or, well, something potentially debilitating like COVID-19.

Finally...

It's tragic that there seems to be a general lack of trust between employers and employees. Sure, employers seek people to get as much work done for as little as possible. And employees want to be paid as much as possible for as little work as possible. The two extreme positions are diametrically opposed. But there's a happy middle ground where the two should meet, and this mutual mistrust is unhealthy.

You can't go through life suspecting that everyone's out to take advantage of you. That's no way to live.

Oh, the COVIDity!
T___T