How To Call In Sick When You Work Remotely?

More than half of American workers will take up to 5 days of sick leave this year and around 90% of workers will take at least one sick day. 

Sadly, working from home doesn’t make you immune to getting sick and you may need to know how to call in sick when you work remotely.

So, we’ve put together a simple process to help you with this, check it out. 


How Sick Do You Need To Be To Call In Sick?

It’s a sign of our workaholic modern natures that we wonder about this. 

The simple truth is you need to be sick enough to know that working will be either unpleasant or detrimental to your health. 

A slight sniffle isn’t usually a good reason to take a day off. 

Full blown flu, on the other hand, is a great reason to close your laptop and crawl back into bed for a day or two.

Use your common sense. 

The best rule is probably, “If you’re sick enough that you wouldn’t have gone to the office, you’re sick enough not to work from home.”


When And How To Call In Sick When You Work Remotely

You don’t need to make calling in sick into a Herculean task. In fact, it’s best to keep things simple:

  1. As soon as you know that you’re going to need to call in sick – make the call. The earlier you let an employer know that you’re feeling unwell, the easier it is for them to make preparations to cover for you. We’d advise you to pick up the phone and call too, unless this isn’t possible – then you can send an email.
  2. Try to let them know when you think you’re going to be back to work – this isn’t always possible. You may need a doctor’s opinion or input. But if that’s the case, let your employer know you will be seeing a medical professional and you’ll come back to them as soon as you know what’s wrong.
  3. You may need to ask for or tell them you want paid leave – it depends on where in the world you’re working or your individual employer. For some companies, paid leave is automatic, for others, you need to ask for it. In others still, you may not be entitled to paid leave unless you follow a specific process. 
  4. If you can be available for something let them know – you may be feeling like death but if you can answer their call when it comes to understanding a major project or respond to the occasional email, this is the time to say so. 

Don’t Keep Working 

It’s very important that you don’t just keep working when you’re sick. 

A sick body needs rest and time to recover, by pushing yourself to keep working, you’re just going to be sick for longer and, potentially, you could even make yourself sicker.

As long as your sickness is genuine and not the result of a heavy night in the local bar, you have nothing to feel guilty about – your employer will cope for a day or two without you. 

You owe it to yourself to heal and this will allow you to get back to work as fast as possible and be more productive when you return.